Two Days of Online Perusing

I’ve been watching loads of CNBC & MSNBC stuff thees past few days. The following is a list of things I’ve randomly thought or learned over that time. I’ve also thrown in things from a few other websites.

Erin Burnett
She is the co-host of Squawk on the Street and the host of Street Signs on CNBC. I recently saw a few clips with her in it and I think she is a cute, strong, smart woman and I like her a lot. Also, in a business where many strive to speak “standard American English” (as is taught in Japan), she has still managed to keep her (East Coast) accent.

Horation Alger, Jr.
Mentioned in passing during a discussion about the presidential race. He was a famous author of dime novels in America during the mid and early 1800’s (shortly after the Civil War). I read that his novels rivaled that of Mark Twain during his time (I don’t know how accurate that is). Some of his books are available online. I couldn’t help but smile. He first became famous from his series entitled “Ragged Dick.”

Plastics
It’s become and ubiquitous and indispensible part of our modern day life. Yet, what is the price we are paying for this convenience?

For example, drinking from plastic bottles for more than one use may be slowly poisoning our bodies.
Video: Are plastic bottles safe?

And then there is the debate about how environmentally friendly it is and how it is disposed of. It takes about 1,000 years to degrade. Also, it is “believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans.”

Yet, another scientific community is presenting “hope” that carbon dioxide (the most prevalent greenhouse gas) from smokestacks can be extracted and turned into a type of plastic. One that can be used to make CDs, DVDs, and . . . . plastic bottles.

Lung-less Frog!
Like a super hero! Breathes through it’s skin, so it can live underwater in super cold conditions and flatten itself to great lengths.

Maid Cafe Too Immature? Try a MOM Cafe
Japan has taken a new step in a long history of odd sexual norms.
Blog entries that comment on this development:
Asian Offbeat!!
Tofugu

Ok, done for now!

Recent School Happenings - Part 1

Thoughts on Being a Slight Tool–written in March
Just the night before, I had been smiling at our end of the year enkai, or party. Usually, I’m all for the tradition of grabbing a tall beer bottle and socializing by pouring drinks, but last night I took it easy since I was recovering from a cold. Instead, I simply sat and ATE everything on my plate.

Teachers pay around $50 to attend these mandatory events without the pretense of eating their money’s worth. Most teachers abandon their table after about 10 minutes, leaving nearly whole meals in their wake. Though this is bad in the grand scheme of things, it’s a blessing for me: I ate THREE desserts the size of halved, large oranges.

At one point I gained an entourage. Or did they gain me?

The math teacher, who understands simple English well, taught me a phrase:
Yokuni hakarae douzo
よきにはからえ　どうぞ

It’s supposed to be a phrase an important figure, like the Shogun, would say to a subordinate. Something akin to “take it easy” or “be free.”

So, the Math Teacher, English Instructor, and Music Man started touting me around to different tables, looking for “kind” people on which to test my newly learned phrase.

Basically, I was the foreigner taught a “new trick,” one that a Japanese person could not pull-off in the same way. I felt a bit like a tool.

And for a brief moment I considered stopping in my tracks, refusing any further talk, and sitting down. But, I realized that they were all warm-hearted people and just meant to have fun. And, it was a convenient way to socialize with me with only speaking a limited amount of English. Thus, my “road show” was launched and successfully toured around 3 tables.

Japanese Learned on My First Day Back
Recently my family came to visit Japan for nearly three weeks. Although I had a lot of fun, I was going a little crazy from being the guide and not having my own space at times. Yet, when I said good-bye to them, I cried on the train for about 10 minutes. I was surprised. I had NEVER cried when saying good-bye to my family before.

I surprised myself again in school. One of my English teachers asked how my family’s visit went. I said it went well, but that they were leaving tonight. She replied that I must be lonely. And then I started to tear up and cry a little. I couldn’t believe it. REALLY, I’m not that much of a cry baby! Even worse, my teacher started to cry too! She taught me:
もらい泣き
morainaki

Literally giving tears/crying. They were her sympathy tears for me.

I only came to school to take a photo. After that I was free until the party at 5:30 pm. To kill time, I spent a 1.5 hour chunk talking to some of the 弓道(kyudo, Japanese archery) boys. They tried to teach me the difference between:
恋(koi) vs. 愛(ai)

The explanation was mostly in Japanese and simple English, so I didn’t understand it fully, but 恋(koi) is “puppy” or dirty love, I think. Not true love. 愛(ai) is “pure love.” According to them, one experiences 恋 sometime between birth and 17 years of age. 愛 is experienced sometime between 18 and 30 or 40 years old.

I was laughing because they kept saying 恋 is “dirty.” DIRTY DIRTY!

Really though, if someone knows the difference, please tell me.

Marriage Race
It started with a compliment.

“______(my name) is very beautiful.”

My head turned instantly as I strived to find and speak to this obviously intelligent student before cleaning time ended.

“Why thank you,” I said naively.

“____ isn’t very pretty,” he replied.

“Um, do you mean ‘Isn’t ___ very pretty?” I was still hoping for another ego booster. Silly me.

“____ is a VERY LONELY girl!”

“What?!“ Now I was just mortified. “What do you mean?”

Student: “結婚した。(married) You’re not?”
Me: “Noooooooooooooooooooo. まだ、まだ。I’m still young.”
Student:“Don’t you . . . want to?”
(He asked so innocently I couldn’t be mad, but still, NEVER ask a single girl this question. NEVER. Anyone with questions can watch “Bridget Jone’s Diary)
Me: “Later, I’m still young.”
Student: “日本人 (Japanese person) ok?”
Me: “Yes, I guess so.”
Student:“ ____ 先生、どう?　(How about ___ teacher.)”
(To his credit, ___ teacher is the only young, male, English teacher at my school. He chose well.)
Me: “NO. Nonononono.”
Student:“Why?”
Me: “Just because. He’s ok, but no.”
Student:“Why?”
Me: “Soooooo, how old do you want to be when you get married?” (distraction tactic)
Student:*thinks for a bit* “Twenty . . . eight.”
Me: “That’s about MY age! How old are you?”
Student:“Sixteen.”
Me: “Well, you have 12 years to beat me. Gambatte!”

Since then, this boy is known as “Lonely Boy.” The last time I saw him, he said that we are lonely “together” in a “lonely” race. Unfortunately, I have a feeling he’s going to beat me to the altar. Lol. =)

I have more to write, but unfortunately it is 2:17 am and I have a long day tomorrow. I will probably post Part 2 tomorrow. Peace out!

Bye Bye Super Supervisor

Changes are a Foot–written in March
Today I received the HORRIBLE news that my supervisor is moving schools. That means I will get a new, as yet unchosen person. I’m just scared that it’ll be one of those horror-story supervisors, but my friends keep saying it’ll be eye-candy. We shall see.

UPDATE: Today was the first day of work for the new term. My new supervisor is one of the teachers I am already familiar with and I trust them, so I am VERRRRRRRRRRRY relieved.

Usotski
I had a kick-ass supervisor and I am going to miss her.

Not only was her English superb, but she would NOT hold me hostage at school when there was no work to be done. What I appreciated most was her sense of humor (one of the best I know of) and mischievousness. She ALWAYS joked around; so much so that I would call her “usotski,” or liar, nearly everyday.

Amongst the most recent “incidents” I was an accomplice to were:

Feigned Anger Scare Tactic
I have a class schedule that is different every single day. Due to this, sometimes class conflicts arise. Before testing week, the teachers were busy reviewing lessons and forgot their own class schedules as well. So my supervisor accidentally signed up to have me during the wrong period; the actual period was already taken by another teacher. Luckily, this teacher only needed me for the second half of class. My supervisor decided to take me for the first.

The game she (my supervisor) had planned would take the entire period. We’d have to abruptly stop the students in the middle of it. What to say to them . . .

“You should pretend to be angry and say ‘I can’t stand this anymore,’ that they need to study more, and walk out of class.”

This was my supervisor’s suggestion. ‘I can’t stand . . .” was one of the terms they just learned.

“And you can’t laugh,” she continued. “You must be serious and scare them, then go to your next class. This will make them want to study harder.”

And, being the passive creature I am, I agreed.

Class began smoothly. This class is very intelligent and were zipping through the questions. Time passed quickly, and soon it was show time.

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!”

Everyone froze. The girls upfront looked like deers caught in a headlight. It was dead quiet.

“I . . . can’t STAND . . . this. ,” I managed to blurt out.

My once planned, eloquent tirade had to be reduced to grade school speech. All of my composure was going into not laughing. I could only say two words at a time. Complete sentences, beyond my grasp.

“Study . . . hard. I . . . must . go. Tomorrow . . . see you.”

SHUT. I closed the door and went to my next class.

When class finished I ran to my supervisor immediately.

“What did you say,” I asked . . slightly afraid she had ACTUALLY let the class believe I had meant to castigate them.

“That you had to leave for another class, but they’d see you tomorrow,” she said. Whew! However, the English class in the next room also had a few comments. “The students in our class were afraid. They’ve never seen you angry, but they heard your yelling from next door! They couldn’t believe it was you.”

Let’s just say that my acting days are hereby done.

Win a Key to My Apartment
For my supervisor’s games, the prize bag contained a mixture of candy and unwanted items from the innards of our desks. This included anything from a Finding Nemo coaster to a 100 yen scarf to heat packs to a partially used eraser. For her last few classes, we also threw in her car keys and my apartment keys.

It was a simple little act. We’d demonstrate what to do and when I won, I would reach into the bag and pull out her keys.
Me: *gasp* “Sensei, look what I have! It looks like car keys.”
Her: “Those are MY car keys! How did that get in there.”
Me: “They’re mine now!”
Her: (to the class) “Wendy’s apartment keys are in there too. If you do well, you can pick a prize.”
And expectedly, the class would laugh a little.

Usually, my keys were not actually in the bag, but one boy student searched the prize bag for a long time. Another boy student was coaching him nearby.
(roughly translated from Japanese)
Boy 1: What’s in here?
Boy 2: Did you find the apartment key?
Boy 1: I’m looking, but I don’t feel it.
Boy 2: Don’t you want it?
Boy 1: I don’t think it’s in here . . .

Someone please tell me what intent teenagers have for my apartment keys. They don’t even know where I live!

During the last class, my supervisor pulled out my apartment keys and had the gall to put them back in! Luckily, I snatched it out of the student’s hand before they ran away.

Color’s 青
During the culture festival last year, my supervisor’s class won first place with their homemade movie. It’s title: Color’s 青(blue). It was composed of vignettes of school and student lives.

It holds a special place in my heart because the students felt confident enough to make fun of themselves in it. It’s hilarious. A few teachers made appearances. I enjoyed being an extra, capitalizing on my chance to throw paper balls at two students without guilt. The principal made a cameo appearance. My favorite is the teacher who drives up in a convertible and pretends to be taking a student on a date. Eeep!

It should also be mentioned that despite being neophytes, they put much passion in to making this movie. This was evidenced by their fight scene. It only took one hour of seeing mock-bullying to spur the neighbors into calling the police.

If any of you want to see it sometime, let me know.

A copy of the movie was given to me as a small departing gift from her. When I watched it today, I remembered the fun times we had together and I will always treasure this little movie that was made.

Luv Luv Class Survey

Love Love Class Survey
About 4 months back, I created a “Love Love Survey” asking questions such as “How old do you want your boyfriend/girlfriend to be? a. Older, b. Younger, c. Same age, d. I don’t care.” or “If you had one piece of birthday cake left, who would you give it to? a. Your friend, b. Your family, c. Your boyfriend, d. Yourself.” (A surprising #, including me, chose d. My birthday, MY cake.) Since then, it has been edited and redone quite a few times.

In the most recent incarnation I eliminated the multiple choice option, forcing them to create their own answers.

The first question was: “What quality do you most want your boyfriend/girlfriend to have?

My favorite answer: Nothing. (Does this mean that ANYTHING goes?!)
An answer NO ONE in a class of 40 students wrote: Smart.

Of course, practical answers were given as well: cute, good character, hard worker, good housekeeper (I need this one!), kind, must love cats, without Miyoshi (maybe they’re taken?), unique, graceful, quiet, strong.

The second question was: “Where do you think is the best place for a date?”

And for this one, I got all sorts of choices. My comments are in parentheses.

First the usual suspects:

• Amusement Park / Park
• Zoo
• Festival
• Movie
• TDL (Tokyo Disney Resort – Ooh, a high roller. Me like.)
• Aquarium
• Museum
• Library / Bookstore (There’s some hope for these “smart” kids yet.)

The Odd Suspects:

• Central (Center) of the world
• Somewhere (Yo momma’s house!)
• Beside her/him
• Him near
• House
• Chinatown (What happens in Chinatown STAYS in Chinatown)
• The Milky Way

The Just Plain Scary Suspects:

• Come on my house! (Written with the exclamation point. Was he talking to me??)
• Road (But they can’t even drive yet!)
• Police (I wonder what color kinky they are . . . wait, scratch that. I don’t want to know.)
• The toilet of Wakata (NO idea what he’s smoking)
• Bathroom

Thank goodness my students have a sense of humor. It makes life more fun. =)

A Valentine’s Day Quiz & Reflection on Relationships

Long time no see! How are all of you out there?

I have to admit to being MIA for a long, long time. Also, I have not been keeping up with the blog world either so I am very sorry for not being a reader in recent months.

Firstly, is a quiz I made and gave to my high school kids (minus two questions that were photo based). Secondly, is a long rant on love. There isn’t really a point to it, I just felt like writing. =)

Valentine’s Day Quiz

1. Mickey Mouse’s girlfriend is:
a. Daisy
b. Miss Bunny
c. Minnie
d. [My name]

2. Izanami & Izanagi created Japan. When Izanami died, Izanagi:
a. Went to the land of the dead to look for her.
b. Sang very sad songs.
c. Was happy and married again.
d. Didn’t care. He was in love with Kumi Koda. ((A J-pop idol))

3. In America, on Valentine’s Day:
a. Girls give gifts to boys.
b. Boys give gifts to girls.
c. Both girl and boys give gifts to each other.
d. Nothing happens.

4. In America, on March 14:
a. Girls give boys chocolate.
b. Boys give girls chocolate.
c. Both boys and girls give chocolate.
d. Nothing happens.

5. Cupid is a child with wings that uses arrows to make people fall in love. He is the son of the Roman god:
a. Venus
b. Jupiter
c. Neptune
d. Juno

6. The pink alien “Angel” that Stitch plays with is his:
a. Mother
b. Girlfriend
c. Cousin
d. Brother

7. In America, about one billion Valentine cards are sent each year. It is the second largest card-sending holiday. Number one is:
a. Easter
b. New Year’s
c. Halloween
d. Christmas

8. Valentine’s is celebrated in countries like the United States, Australia, and Canada. What country is Valentine’s day NOT celebrated?
a. France
b. Mexico
c. Iraq
d. United Kingdom

9. In one legend, Saint Valentine is a priest who married young couples even though marriage was forbidden by the Roman emperor. Marriage was forbidden because:
a. The emperor thought men made better soldiers without wives and families.
b. He was not married. He was jealous.
c. He wanted to decrease population.

Answers:
1. c___2. a___3. c___4. d___5. a
6. c___7. d___8. c___9. a

Long, Long Reflections
I’m currently watching the Korean soap opera “Alone in Love.” (Thank you Jon! Also, I LOVE Yoo Ji Ho, I wan to BE her <>). It’s a favorite of two of my friends and has provoked a mixture of feelings from me. I am only on episode 7, and already some of the characters have matured from bitterness to acceptance, complacency to anxiousness, denials to epiphanies. Depending on the character and the timing, it was said that love is selfish but open (very oxymoron-ish); that if you are truly in love, you are naive and that even when it ends, you don’t regret it.

It makes me reflective on how I viewed “love” in high school, and how I view it now. I was very naïve back then and I wasn’t like my friends. I didn’t go “boy crazy” or check out guys left and right. Sure, I had crushes and thought people were cute, but nothing like following them around a carnival, or fawning over them every chance I got. At a time when some upheld Romeo and Juliet as the quintessential romance, I thought it was all poppycock. I mean come on, you meet one day, the next you get married, and soon enough you DIE for each other?!

Anyway, back then I felt like every relationship was “IT” and my heart was completely tied up in a string that was constantly being tugged. Each tug, a feeling of both rapture that someone cared and of pain that something beyond my control (another’s feelings) was at work. This happened to me in both “love” relationships and basic friendships.

Sooner or later, I began to see that the naiveness was hurting me.

Naturally, I started to put up barriers. I became independent and kept thoughts and feelings to myself. Or some times I did just the opposite and was overly agreeable on trivial things simply to keep up the conversation or to bond with people. Still, I am a very outgoing person and overall, I still feel that I am a honest person and such. And tho I’m fairly independent, I wouldn’t be so without the amazing friend and family base that I have. Still, I often find myself unsure of how to proceed in relationships sometimes and at a loss as to why I feel the way I do.

All these years later, the hurt has still never stopped me from being naive in the beginning, but the hurt taught me that love means being selfish. Being utterly giving and understanding isn’t being true to yourself. We’re all faltered and no can appreciate your true self until it’s revealed (through actions or otherwise). Words are honesty in a moment in time but, as it was said in Murakami’s “A Wild Sheep Chase,” first comes honesty and THEN truth. In the end, truth of a situation will always rule in the end, so it’s better to come clean as soon as possible about who you are.

That being said, it’s probably one of the hardest things in the world to do. To be completely oneself, let down all your guards, and to trust in another’s emotions. I sometimes think that is why I have a blog. So that I can be free to talk about ANY feelings at ANY time, no matter how insignificant it may be. However, the bigger stuff is allocated to more “important people” in my life (sorry readers).

One last thing on naiveness: a bit of it is required in love. Without it, there is no “giddiness;” no risk. And if you don’t risk anything in the first place, what is there to be gained? Sometimes, the things MOST worth having are the hardest to have.

Sometimes I wonder if love is akin to what mint choco ice cream is to the Amish. Meaning an Amish person can’t miss mint choco ice cream (one of the best flavors in the world) unless they’ve first tasted it, right? Can we be happy without “true love” if we’ve never experienced it? Or if we have and then lose it, will we always miss it or just be happy with what we have?

I wonder sometimes what we as humans want and if we truly act accordingly. Especially being in a country away from my family and that doesn’t speak my language, making human connections is really important. On the surface, in our daily lives, we want happiness, comfort, and stimulation. So we live life to the fullest we think possible, laughing whenever possible and truly having fun; doing things that we hope will lead us there. What perplexes me is that when you look at who you are closest with, obviously the good times matter, but the tough times matter more. If things worked out in the tough times, how they supported you through them. So logically, if you want deeper connections to others, you should have more “tough” times or more sharing of “deeper” feelings. But you can’t go around doing that all the time, or you get depressed and are only associated with bad times. Hmm. What to do.

Yet, many run to fiction books, look to history, watch dramas, listen to songs to replicate this connection of some sort. To peer into the deepest thoughts and feelings of an individual and, just maybe, be surprised to see some of themselves reflected back.

In any case, hang tight homies! Bye for now.~