the final countdown
Hello world!
Firstly, when I wrote this, I`d actually forgotten that my last blog was at this current host family and school, so there may be some overlap. Have no idea what i wrote in the last blog, and dont have time to go through this one and take out any repeats of info so you`ll just have to deal with it people!
Well, I’m nearly there. Two more sleeps and then I’ll get on a train, then another train, then a plane, and then I will touch down at Brisbane international airport in the wee hours of Monday morning. I cannot believe that it’s nearly over, mainly because time is so weird when you’re away. Days and even weeks seem to drag, but months go by very quickly. and all of a sudden you’re at the end, although it feels like just yesterday you were starting out. i’m glad though. I’m really looking forward to going home. Looking forward to sunshine and sweltering heat! And a meat pie with tomato sauce. And never eating anything with radish or soy beans in it ever again! Hahaha ok maybe not ever again, but certainly not in the foreseeable future. Everyday for three months has worn out my liking for quite a while. And I cannot wait to see my darling cats again, and even George, our doggie. Want to make baby noises here to represent how cute they are and how much I love them, but I can’t figure out how to spell it. something like “ooh wooshawhooshawooo.” Sigh. How I’ve missed my aminals.
Oh yeah, and u know, I guess I kinda wanna see my family and friends too. a bit. Maybe. ;)
Having said that, I am sad to leave. Despite the stresses and frustrations and exhaustions and patience testers and ill health, I have really enjoyed the majority of my time here. The hardest part was most definitely the last three weeks of prac, where I felt a lot of pressure to perform, felt there was too much to do and not enough time, and where I had my lovely hospital visit. But other than that, despite other stresses and hospital visits (more on that later) the rest has been fairly enjoyable.
For the last three weeks I have been with yet another host family and yet another primary school. The family I’m with now is a mum, dad, grandmother, two girls 15 and 10, and a 20 year old boy who lives in Tokyo. They are just lovely and I have really enjoyed staying with them. They are more relaxed than I’ve found other households, and probably because their family dynamic is much more similar to my own family, I have been very comfortable with them. They have just moved into a new house, which is absolutely beautiful. And when I say ‘just’ moved in, I mean it. I.e. they moved in December 1st. I moved in December 2nd. I haven’t been able to tell though, because all the major furniture and stuff is there and there are no boxes laying around (unlike our moves where I think there are still unpacked boxes 2 years on!). But that is probably because their old house is right next door! So I don’t know exactly how much stuff is missing from their usual life, I’m sure they feel frustrated about it and every now and then somebody will exclaim ‘ooh, I am just going to the other house to get the whajamacallit’ but otherwise all the essentials are in the new house. Including the piano! Which has made such a huge difference in my mental state J and especially because it’s in it’s own little room so I can go in there and play and sing to my heart’s content without feeling embarrassed or like I have to perform because people are listening in. The baachan (grandmother) quite often opens the door and claps for a moment or two and rattles something of at me in Japanese that I am pretty sure is praise, although I don’t understand it, and then shuts the door and leaves me to myself again, but it’s not the same as when I had to make do with playing the piano in the lunch hours at school where all the kids would crowd at the door. Oh, except when the boy was visiting from Tokyo the other day and the grandmother dragged him into the room and made me play for him. I think we were both as embarrassed as each other then though, so it was ok. The boy normally lives in Tokyo for uni, but has had some kind of commitment the last few weeks here in Komatsu/Kanazawa (I think it’s some kind of job interview/training thing) so he’s been back and forth a few times. The family keeps saying it’s lucky because otherwise I wouldn’t have met him as he normally never comes home! haha. I still haven’t got to see much of him because he’s always out, but at least when I have met him he’s quite chatty (which is unusual…Japanese young people, and boys in particular, seem to be in general cripplingly shy. Met the cousins the other day, and their parents pretty much had to force them just to say hello! It was hilarious! Yet frustrating. Yes, I’m a girl! And Yes! I’m a gajin! (foreigner). It won’t kill you to speak!) The girls are also relatively chatty. The older one is very busy with school and extra curricular activities so I don’t see so much of her, but I completely understand, having been involved in all that stuff myself. But Yuki-chan goes to the same school I’m now at so we walk together every morning and because she’s around the house more, we hang out a bit. I’ve been to a few of her extra-curricular activities too. She goes to calligraphy on Tuesday nights so I’ve been going to that which I really enjoy. It’s hard, but I think it’s a fantastic cultural experience. And I like the Zen of it. The baachan is also around all the time, and she is hilarious! Quite often I have no idea what she’s saying because she speaks so fast and uses a lot of dialect, but we do generally manage to communicate quite effectively. And when we are having difficulties, it’s all the more hilarious! And she quite often explains things to me two or three times, forgetting that she told me the same story the day before. And I couldn’t believe it, but she bought me a yukata!!!! (a kind of summer kimono). It’s just beautiful, it has a sakura (cherry blossom) pattern on a purple background and the obi is a pinky/peach colour. I am so very grateful to her for it, and we put it on last night, which was fun.
Actually, everybody has been so generous here. We had the KIA Christmas Party the other night and I got so many lovely presents from people. One of the previous host families has had a hanko made for me of my name in kanji! A hanko is basically a personal stamp, and everybody in Japan has one of their last name in kanji that they use on official documents and things. Mine is of my first name, because that is all I have had translated into kanji, and I love it. I can’t remember now whether or not I put it in a previous blog, but the kanji that fit with the pronounciation of my name in Japanese (which is ‘eren’) means ‘blessing love.’ Which is noice isn’t it? J and the ‘blessing’ part also can be translated as ‘grace’ which I particularly like because it’s my middle name! So yeah my previous host family had a stamp made for me with my kanji and I was very touched. It was a very thoughtful gift. And the calligraphy teacher (the one whose lessons I’ve been going to with Yuki-chan) not only mounted the calligraphy I had done onto some nice card, but also made me one herself that says ‘rabbit’, which is the Japanese year I was born. (there is a 12 year cycle of different animals, next year is the year of the rat). So that was just lovely. And many other people have given me many other little gifts. It’s all so nice, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy J.
Just got back from my farewell to the gr 3 class I was working with here and I wanted to insert a paragraph here while I’m talking about gifts. The school I am at this time is much smaller than the previous one. At first I really missed the previous school because I’d already learnt lots of people’s names and gotten to know the routine and things. But because this school is smaller it didn’t take me too long to get used to it, which was good. Everyone has been so lovely and generous, always giving me chocolates at lunch time and stuff, which I like! Haha. And I have been to every class (only 6, one for each grade) and taught a lesson about Australia (just an explanation of differences between Aust and Japan, like the fact that the seasons are reversed and how much bigger Australia is than Japan, and also an intro to Australian animals and showed them some Australian money and stuff. Oz 101 I call it. ) and with the gr 3s, 5s, and 6s I made Aboriginal dot paintings which was fun. I have been to various lessons and grades for random classes, my favourite of which was when I learnt how to make haiku with the gr 3s! And also I have read ‘The very hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle to the older grades in both Japanese and English as a little English lesson for them and a Japanese lesson for me! I was supposed to read it to the gr 3’s, who have been ‘my class’ while Ive been here, last week but I got sick so I was away. So we did it in the farewell lesson. And they liked it so much that the got me to read a Spot book too them as well. And then one of the kids goes rifling through the bookshelf and pulls out Possum Magic by Mem Fox! I just about cried! I don’t know why, but it really got me excited to see it and I was very energetic when reading it to the kids. It was great J It is a fantastic book. If I’d known they’d had it before, I could have very easily worked it into my Oz 101 lessons because it talks about Australian capital cities and animals and foods. It did mean I could sort of recap, but I think it confused the kid s a little when I tried to remind them of stuff I’d explained to them the other week, when they were having enough trouble following the story. With the very hungry caterpillar, I read the English version, and then the Japanese version if they want. Usually they have understood the English though because it is very simple, and they’ve all read it before in Japanese so they know the story. But Possum Magic is a much harder book, even in English. And there isn’t a Japanese version (at least not at this school) so I had to translate as I went. Plus it is filled with Australian stuff that they can’t understand, or that requires explanation, so it was altogether a bit more confusing for them, but I think they enjoyed it, particularly cos I got very excited about it and did all the voices and stuff. It was so much fun!
And then, after answering all their questions, I thanked them and did a bit of a speech. And gave them the present of a postcard of Yeppoon and a haiku I had written about them. Then THEY gave ME presents, which I totally didn’t expect. They had written some haiku for me too, which was a lovely coincidence, and also made a funky magnet in the shape of a piano! And the teacher gave me a really nice pen which is so nice. Altogether, it was delightful and I really am going to miss those kids. Charming little skamps.
One other thing I did that was particularly interesting was participate in the family’s service/ceremony in memory of their ancestors. I’m not sure exactly how to explain it even in English, not just because it was explained to me in Japanese but also because I don’t know much about Buddhism, but basically from what I can tell, every house has a small shrine in it and once a year the family gets together and a monk comes to the house and everybody gathers around the shrine and chants and says prayers and things. It just so happened that this happened on the second weekend I stayed with this family, so that was quite a unique expereicne I think and I found it very very interesting. I didn’t understand really any of what was said, and I couldn’t keep up with reading the chants in the little book they gave me, but it was still interesting.
Another AWESOME thing that happened in the last three weeks was Bek came to visit from Tokyo. Originally the plan was that she would stay in a youth hostel but my host family wouldn’t hear of it and insisted she stay with them so we ended up spending about 24 hours straight together which was AWESOME. She arrived at 8am Saturday morning and left 11.30 Sunday morning, and I don’t think we stopped talking except to draw breath almost that entire time! Words cannot express how good it was to see her and talk to her and laugh with her and reminisce with her. I could go on forever about it but it would be boring to read because it would all just be gushing about how much I enjoyed that weekend. It was just fantastic to be together, and I was reminded very strongly of when Alicia came to visit me in Italy. The way it feels so completely normal and natural and comfortable to be sitting chatting to each other over coffee, until you remind yourself that you are both in a foreign country a million miles away from home and every one around you is speaking a different language. It was a great weekend though. We spent the morning at a local community festival thing making straw wreaths for new year and mochi (Japanese rice cake things) which was fun. Then we went to Kanazawa and did a spot of window shopping and had a nice walk around the lovely station entrance (it’s all pretty architecture and stuff). We came home and cooked spaghetti for the family, and then stayed up late chatting. And then the next morning we got up, packed up and went to back kanazawa so bek could catch her bus home. And all the while we were talking 100 miles a minute catching up on a year’s worth of events and thoughts and memories and lessons learned. I’d better stop here, or I’ll just keep gushing for another 1000 words.
Also in the last three weeks I have been to hospital again. Twice. But fortuantly it hasn’t been nearly as bad as the first time. What happened was last Thursday afternoon I felt really crappy and my head was all yukky and I thought it must have been the start of a cold. Next morning woke up with a sore throat and sort of panicked a little. Last time I put off going to hospital or indeed telling the family I felt unwell for several days, which probably also meant that by the time I got to a doctor I was much sicker than I needed to be. Plus, it was only a week to go and I was really worried about being sick on the plane home or worse, when I got home, and then not being able to go to woodford! So I immediately spoke up and told my family I needed to go to hospital cos I was pretty sure I had tonsillitis again. It was early days but I know the signs so well that I was fairly sure that was what it was, and figured the sooner I get antibiotics the sooner I get better. So went to hospital and waited for hours in the waiting rooms and saw the doctor. Foratunely I didn’t have a fever this time and I had already explained to my host mum about my tendency to faint or cry or throw up, and that needles are really something that ought to be avoided if they don’t want me to do all those things at once. Saw the doctor and she said I had a cold. I didn’t need any needles, thank goodness, but she did prescribe me with 4 different pills. I’m not sure what they were for, because a cold is a virus and you can’t prescribe anything to make it go away except rest…as far as I know. they may have been to combat the symptoms. Anyway, I wasn’t very happy with her diagnosis. Firstly, like anybody I don’t like to be told I am wrong, so to be told it wasn’t tonsillitis like I thought was annoying. Plus, I then felt like I had totally overreacted and wasted my host family’s time in taking me to the hospital for a little cold. But went home and slept the afternoon away in relative comfort at the host family’s lovely house.
Next day still felt rather crappy, throat still hurt, but tha’ts to be expected right? Only been a day. Spent morning in bed but that night was the Christmas Party and aside from the fact that I really wanted to go to see the other girls and my other host families for the last time before I leave, I also had a speech to do, not to mention having to sing Australian Jingle Bells with the other girls. So I dragged myself to the party feeling rather crap, and panicky because I forgot to bring a copy of the words to the Australain version of Jingle Bells. It all worked out in the end though, I managed to remember most of them and wrote them out on a bit of paper, and made up the rest, and we all sang it with gusto. And apart from feeling pretty crappy (think I had a bit of a temperature) and the notable moment where I forgot there was a microphone infront of me and started talking to jemima about losing weight while we were waiting for the others to make their way up to the stage (am totally mortified by that), it was a fairly pleasant night.
But the next day….my throat was MUCH worse! How could this be? I only have a cold, my throat shouldn’t hurt this much. But I went out last night, that must be why. If I’d stayed home in bed surely this wouldn’t have happened. I’ll just give in a couple more days…Except that I’ve already waited a few days and it got worse! What if it keeps getting worse? But no, it’ll be fine. It’s just a cold. Right?
Such was the struggle within my mind. But eventually I had to remind myself that it was NOT normal for symptoms to get WORSE while on medication, and I DO NOT want to get sicker and then not be able to go to woodford, or worse still, not be able to go home for Christmas! So I spoke to my family about it, and we decided that if it was still worse the next day I would go back to hospital. It was, and I did. And this time the doctor took one look in my mouth and said ‘oh, you have tonsillitis.’ SURPRISE! Grrrrrrr. Not happy Jan. I hate to say it but I TOLD YOU SO! Anyway, fortunately I got the right kind of medication this time and immediately my throat got better. Thank God. Still a bit less than 100% but much better than I was, and I didn’t need any more needles so all in all it was ok. A pain in the neck (literally!) but it’s over now.
Anyway, I better start wrapping this up. I still can’t believe the three months is nearly over. It is hard to believe that in just a few days I’ll be home again. This time next week I’ll be at woodford! I’ll probably be looking back on the fact that this time the week before I was writing this blog! And actually, this time last week I think I was at the hospital! Time flies desu-ne. Only 2 sleeps to go.
Probably my favourite part as far as our schedule goes has been the three weeks at Komatsu College, and this is probably because we didn’t have to do anything! Well, we did, but not in the same sense that we had to teach at the schools or anything. At the tandai (college) we were just uni students like the rest of them, and although there were moments where we were the centre of attention, it wasn’t quite the same as having hoards of children staring at you every hallway you walk down, or being marked on how well you can explain something in a second language! I think also the fact that all 6 of us were together was great. We spent a lot of time laughing, which was very good for our mental health I think. And it was just nice to hang out and speak English and vent about various frustrations, and even more, it was nice to have somebody to share some of the memories with. So thanks girls J
As for the rest of the things I’ve experienced, I’m not sure I could pick just one favourite, although catching up with Bek was absolutely fantastic. But I sort of feel bad if I say that is my favourite because it isn’t a Japanese cultural experience! So as far as unique experiences go, playing the Koto was awesome (that was way back in the first week), all the calligraphy has been wonderful, the kimono and yukata, archery, mochi making, pottery painting, it’s all just been incredible. I really am so blessed to have had such a wonderful experience and I am so very grateful for it. My Japanese has gotten better, and I have actually opened up a whole new world of interests to me in the japanese culture. As surprising as it might sound, I’ve never been that interested in Japanese culture before. I mean in a superficial sense I was, but I suppose because I’d never been here before there were a lot of things that I just didn’t get. Now however, I have a million things I want to learn more about. Mum said something to me before I left when I was feeling like I didn’t want to come. She said that this trip might be the start of a life long love affair with this country and I think she might be right. Mum’s usually are. Thanks mum J
The end
ps J = :)
posted by Ellen of Taranganba @ 9:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home