Saturday, December 29, 2007

Zippys and Poker

I'm sitting at the Narita Airport meeting point, taking advantage of 500yen/day internet, and watching Muppet Treasure Island.  24 hours ago I was eating Zippys chili with my friends.

The past week was a whirlwind of friends and food.  I think I gained 5 pounds.  Trips home always seem to center around seeing people and eating as much as possible (usually at the same time).  Although it rained the entire time and I didn't set foot on a beach, I ate spinach-garlic pizza at Boston's, dimsum from Chinatown, Genki sushi, manapua, and Zippy's chili twice (and that made it feel like home).

I also beat my friends at poker.  That was a nice bonus :)

Friday, December 28, 2007

Home for Christmas

Christmas in Hawaii: trip to the Big Island, Chinese food, Christmas Eve church service, photos in front of the tree, opening presents, drama, and flying home.

We lost our dog.  Fluffy (don't laugh, I named her when I was 5 years old), our one-eyed, blind, deaf, 17 year old dog with liver problems somehow managed to get out from her little enclosure sometime in the night of the 23rd.  The next morning my mom and uncle searched for two hours around and under the house, but she was no where to be found.  I arrived on the Big Island later that day and we searched again, but we still could not find her.  It rained really hard that night and the next two nights.  We asked the neighbors, called the humane society, and searched everywhere around the house.  Nothing.

Honestly, I'm sad.  We adopted Fluffy as a distraction from a larger family issue (unknown to me and my sister at the time), and she's been a part of my life since then.  Her health has been declining for a few years, and when I left for Japan in August, I knew there was a good chance that I would never see my dog again.  While it's a relief to know that my mom won't come home from work one day to find Fluffy's lifeless body, it hurts to think that she might be cold, hungry, and lost with only the hope that someone will find her.

The image that keeps flickering on close-up on the 3-D IMAX of my mind (who gets the reference?) is of Todd sitting in our red reclining chair with Fluffy in his lap.  She loved him, and every single time he came over to my house, she would jump into his lap and stay there while he patted her head.

Anyway, I leave on Saturday to go back to Japan.  I'm now 99% sure I will be re-contracting with JET.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

そんなの関係ね!

I guess I shouldn`t be surprised at where I am right now. Not the literal “at the computer in the office of my junior high school,” but in life. I`m incredibly lucky to have essentially fallen into doing things that make me happy. I fell into Willamette on a whim, and ended up being extremely happy (my friend couldn`t make her Willamette interview, so she offered her time slot to me. I went and met Teresa, who is an absolutely amazing human being, and in an hour she effectively convinced me to at least apply to Willamette. One thing led to another and months later, her words still buzzed around in my head and I accepted their offer with a “why not?” attitude). Now I find myself in Japan. While I considered applying for the program for awhile, I wasn`t fully motivated (as some of my fellow WU grads were/are) and I only started my application three days before it was due (including references and an essay).

Anyway, as Koshino Yoshio would say, “そんなの関係ね”(What does that matter?)

I don`t know. It`s the last day of school and I have nothing to do, and I just felt like writing a post that wasn`t simply a re-cap of my latest crazy weekend.

I`m going back to Hawaii tomorrow. I will be in warm, sunny weather in less than 48 hours (I`m making myself believe that it`s tomorrow morning, because technically, for me, it is). I leave Japan at 8pm on Saturday (tomorrow evening), and I arrive in Hawaii at 8am on Saturday (tomorrow morning). Ah, the joy of time zones.

I have to turn in my paperwork about whether I`m going to recontract or not. Although I`m 75% sure I`m going to stay, I decided to wait to make my final decision until after I come back from Hawaii. The combination of having a full-time job and being in Japan has really forced me to think about what I want to do for the next years of my life. Today one of my co-workers asked me when I decided I wanted to become a teacher. I responded that I still haven`t decided yet. The latest newsletter from the Programme said that procrastination is not a good reason for recontracting. I don`t think of this job as procrastination as much as I think it`s research.

Last week I called the summer school office for fun, and my friends updated me about hiring and the new computer system. The summer school office is a great temporary job. It`s fun, in a comfortable environment with people I enjoy, allows me to use Japanese, and plays to my organizational skills. I would be lying if I said I wasn`t a little jealous of the new hires. If that office was in Japan (and I was an average Japanese young single female), it would be an ideal job for me. Many of my friends who are average Japanese young single females and they are looking for essentially the same kind of work; something fun where they can use their English skills. The trick is that these women are not expected to work for longer then 10 years (if not 5). A shrinking majority of women in Japan quit work after they have children (I say shrinking because lately not many women are having children, but that`s a whole other story). If I had school-age children who would benefit from my employment, it becomes a whole other situation. However, I don`t.

What does this matter? I believe if I go back to Hawaii, I will probably end up going to UH grad school for English Literature and/or working at the summer school office. Last year, around this time, I was telling people that I would probably end up in Japan teaching English the following year. Five years ago, around this time, I was telling people that I would probably end up at a small liberal arts school, probably in Oregon. Both came true. Both worked out well. Both made me extremely happy, although they were, initially, my back-up plans.

I don`t know if anything will change if I stay in Japan another year. Yes, my Japanese will get better (I hope). Yes, I`ll make new friends and easy money and gain two years of classroom experience to put on my resume. On the other hand, I don`t want to go into travel, tourism, or international business, and Japanese ability won`t help me get a job as an English teacher (although it helps in the summer school office).

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Construction and TIUA Predeparture

My Saturdays for the past three weeks have been consumed by construction and that makes me sad.

December 1st (aka my first free Saturday since October): Fire alarm man came to my apartment to install fire alarms. He then proceeded to go into a 5 minute long explanation of how to work the fire alarm in Japanese. The only thing I understood was that I should change the battery every 10 years. Eventually he noticed my blank look and asked if I understood. I shook my head no, explained my situation, and he said "pii pii pii botan poosh" which I directly translate as "beep beep beep button push." About an hour later another guy came to do something with the pipes. After about an hour of loud noise and general construction stuff, he said he would come back to finish next week (he had simply put holes in my walls and stuffed them with newspaper). Pipe man also requested that I move my cabinet, refrigerator, and cupboard out of the way and take everything out from under the sink and the bathroom.

Fastforward one week to December 8. I move everything I have been instructed to move. The info sheet said they would come between 8:30 and 4:30. I wait. I wait longer. I wait longer. Finally, 5pm rolls around and no one has shown up. Sadness. I check the sheet of paper they gave me. "17 12 16" (aka December 16). (Apparently he said "saraishu"(next next week) instead of "raishu" (next week).

Fastforward one week to December 16. My apartment is in general disarray. I wake up at exactly 8:30 to the sound of my doorbell. Pipe man hath arrived. Commence with frantic moving of furniture. My water is shut off. I have not yet showered, brushed my teeth, etc. He leaves at 4 after asking me if my children like my Christmas tree. After my answer in the negative, he asked if I would put my husband's present under the tree. At least he helped me move my furniture back.

On the bright side, construction is over. My water now tastes different and it foams with bubbles if I turn it on high power.

Meanwhile, Wayne and others from the TIUA staff came over from Oregon for the predeparture meeting from the 4th through the 8th. It was a long week of enkais and reunions and okonomiyaki.

Friday night was Bollywood night at an English Pub in Omiya. It was generally an odd night, but I got to catch up with my friends who will be off in Thailand until next year.

Last night was a huge TIUA 2006 reunion party. It was awesome.

Which brings us to now. I'm sick. I leave for Hawaii on Saturday. I have almost zero shopping done. My apartment is a mess. However, construction is over, I'll be on or near a beach in a week, and it's holiday season.