So the weekend of Adams birthday (11/11) we went to Kyoto to hang out with Camilla and see some temples. It was a really nice and fun, yet relaxing weekend, which was very nice for a change! The first night we got there, we went out for Nepalese food which was delicious!! Its a lot like northern Indian food with slight variations, of course. Then as we were walking back to her place before heading to the bar, it started to rain... now this wasnt a problem really (i mean im from seattle, right?) but i hadnt realized until then, that I had a hole in the bottom of my favorite pair of PUMA shoes!!!! Needless to say, my feet were soaking wet within a period of 2 minutes! Luckily I had another pair of shoes with me (im a woman, haha) and so i was temporarily saved.. the only problem was that they hurt my feet if I walked a lot in them....(i know.... problems and drama seem to plague me no matter where I go. ive come to the conclusion that i might thrive on it....at least it keeps things interesting!) Ok so, i decided right then and there that i needed a new pair of shoes. our mission was set for the next day! woohoo!
We then continued to our favorite bar there which is really just a small room with a bunch of what look like picnic tables. You sit wherever theres a seat, even if there are random people there. Makes for some interesting times, and we're never let down! This time we ended up sitting at this table in the corner and in walk a bunch of gaijin (foreigners) in their 40s most likely, who looked a bit nerdy.Of course they end up sitting by us. We were slightly disappointed at first cuz we did want to meet some japanese people, but whatever. As it turns out, though, they were Solar Physicists!! they were here for a conference and then were heading to Hawaii or something. They were all from different countries and it was really cool talking to them. They told us a bit about what they do, which went right over our heads, and then we told them about what we did and then got started talking about languages and linguistics. As i babbled on for about 5 minutes on the differences between this, that and the other language, I realized that what I was saying was as incomprehensible to them as Solar Physics was to me! Made me feel a lot better and also made me realize that everyone is good at different things. And even though someone might seem a genius, talk about something they dont know about and theyre just like everyone else. So anyway, we were talking and they were getting loopy over cheap japanese beer and then Camilla figured out that her boyfriend (whos an astro-physicist!) worked at the same place as the guy we were talking to did! But they didnt know each other... His name was Dr. Peter...... something.... curse my memory!! oh well. its a small world though, eh?
ok so the next day we went out to buy new shoes and I had to settle for mens cuz the womens shoes here only go to a size 9 (occasionally..) and i have a whopping size 10-10.5 clonkers... they looked at me funny when i asked for a size 30 (japanese size) so i just showed them my feet and then heard the characteristic sound of surprise, "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....." (im not joking!) Anyway the gorgeous PUMAs i bought ON SALE (!!) are pretty unisex in style and are now my favorite shoes! Ill take a pic and post it above! Buying shoes just kinda gives you that spiritual lift and self-confidence boost, especially when followed by a purchase of 3 pairs of earrings for about $2.50 each! Go Angie!
Then we finally got to the temple sight-seeing and even though the temple was beautiful and the little girls running around in kimonos were cute as pie, the coolest part of the trip was the cemetery we visited. It was built on the side of the mountain and since they cremate people here, there were just a bunch of mini-shrines going all the way up the mountain. when we got to the top, the sun was just setting beyond the mountain in the distance and it was absolutely breath-taking! Very cool experience!
This last week was a bit frustrating though. On Tuesday when I went to my other school Id been invited to do a special class with some other Americans that lived in the area. The thing is that a couple of them were missionaries. Now that wouldnt have been a problem, but the one guy was just a bit too fanatical for me. Not only did he give a presentation to the students about the philosophy of the purpose of life (at the end, finding the truth in god was the answer....), which they probably didnt understand in the least, but THEN as we were all eating lunch and we were talking about the difference in cultures, he was saying how suicidal the society is! "You can tell by the way they drive their cars and run across the street when the light is red, and ride their bikes. They just dont even care about life." Excuse me, but what?!?!?! This dude has lived here for over 20 years! And he speaks Japanese fluently! He was talking about them the whole time as if they were nothing but stupid savages (honestly, im not exaggerating). Ill admit i get frustrated with the japanese society every now and then, but thats normal and NEVER would i talk about them with the disdain and arrogance that he did. It made me sick to my stomach. He then told me that in order to be able to live here and around them, all we had to do was go back to the scriptures and yadda yadda yadda... I was astounded that my teacher had let him do a presentation here. He also was really rude to her, which really pissed me off. She was being so nice and obliging and sweet. She offered us coffee after lunch and after handing a cup to him with a pack of sugar he picked it up and said to her, "Oh no, this is NOT enough sugar. Im American, NOT Japanese. I need much more sugar than this!" (!!!!!!!!!!!!) He then laughed as if it was a joke, but she didnt get it... it wasnt funny and i wanted to reach across and slap him upside the head. He just treated her so rudely. ARRRRGGGHH!!! The other two guests were very sweet and nice and when he was babbling on to me about the bible and whatever, i turned and looked at the woman and she gave me a sympathetic smile (whew!). Anyway, it was just a very uncomfortable situation because I couldnt say anything to him about it. Not only would he not be swayed by anything i had to say, but me arguing with him would only have made me and my school look bad, so i shut my mouth and suffered the lump of anger in my stomach. The thing they dont realize is that most Japanese really dont know a lot about christianity, but nor do they care. its pretty much a moot point to try and teach them about it or impose your beliefs on them. theyll just think youre nuts! Mainly,I just felt really bad for my teacher. she didnt deserve to be treated that way.
ok so then on thursday i had to teach with the teacher im not fond of but whose classes are great. the game i was doing for my class was really great, but a little noisy, so the other teachers had arranged to hold the class in other classrooms where they wouldnt disturb anyone. However, even though i give my JTEs (jp. teachers of eng.) the lesson plan a week in advance and tell them to let me know if there are any problems or changes that need to be made, he NEVER looks at it until the day of the lesson!!! So after the first class i taught with him, which of course was noisy, and disturbed the lessons around it, i had about 10 mins before the next class with him. During this short break he tells me he got complaints and that we have to cut out the game. This game takes up about 20-25 mins of class by the way. I asked him what we should do instead and he told me to talk, make up a story about Thanksgiving, and extend the other sections...... great.. thanks a lot, butt-muncher. I ask him to help me with this since its NOT my fault he cut the game and its NOT my job to teach the class alone, and he agreed "oh yeah! we'll do some spontaneous conversation, no problem!" So what did he do? Ignored me like the rest of the students, sat in the back of the room and giggled and joked with 2 of the girls WHILE I WAS TALKING and making a fool of myself in front of the class!!!!!!!! i was livid.. no MORE than livid and as soon as the class ended, i stormed out of class, went to the ladies locker room and choked back the tears that were threatening to pour down my face in rage. THEN, THEN (!!!) he had the nerve to come to me after class and tell me that the lesson wasnt all that great and was kinda boring!!!!!!!! OHHH ive never wanted to bitch someone out more! But i didnt. I smiled and said, "Well, its hard for me to fill 20 mins of time with nothing but talking when it wasnt my choice to cut out the game...." ugh.... i felt that if i said anything more than that, id end up screaming. I felt soooo bad for the students most of all because they were the only students who didnt do the game. they also heard all the noise and laughter from the previous class next door and were probably wondering why they werent having fun too... grrrrrrrr.
Ok but apart from that, things have been well!!! sorry about the rant. I guess my predecessor had problems with him too. good to know it wasnt just me. so this past weekend we (adam, liv, aaron, and I) went to osaka and went up to Hep 5, a mall, where theres a Ferris wheel on top. It was beautiful and you could see the whole city. pretty cool!! other than that we stayed at home, relaxed and had a good weekend.
So thats about it, i guess.... (thank the goddess, right?)
more installments and pics will come!
1 comment:
hmmmm...hehehe. not sure if thats a good or bad thing. i think thats normal though. its much easier to express your thoughts when you can actually see them and then go back and edit them. you cant do that when you speak... unfortunately!
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