So if I understood correctly...yesterday (Monday), one of my students told me her dad died on Friday morning, something about a gun. What I don't understand...on Friday we had ball games (a time for the students to relax after exams and for teachers to grade) and I was chatting with that exact student. If her dad died, wouldn't she have been pulled out of school? I asked her yesterday why she was in school and she said she didn't come to school on Sunday (because students sometimes come on Sunday). I understand having to move on and everything but being in school on the dad your dad died and coming back 3 days later seems a little extreme to me.
On a lighter note...(I haven't had regular classes for awhile, just lessons on Christmas but I forgot to write about this). At the beginning of the term I had students make notecards with information about themselves. Then, I can use these cards to call on students throughout the semester (so I don't call on the same kid all the time). Anyways, so I was just going about my usual routine and called on "Ayumi Hamasaki". Everyone just bursts out laughing and wouldn't stop. Then I realized that Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese famous singer... not one of my students. The student had put Ayumi's name in the place where her name was supposed to go and put her name where her favorite singer was supposed to go. It was pretty funny. http://avexnet.or.jp/ayu/index.html
Other than that...just waiting til Winter Break. We have our closing ceremony on the 22nd, the same day that Maya comes!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thoughts about the search for my dad...
I am always intrigued by the unique reasons we JET’s all come to Japan. I have heard many…from wanting a change to being intrigued by Japanese culture and language to well, you name it! For me, this trip was for selfish reasons, I must say. It was a personal journey that I have waited for years to fulfill. Since I was a child I always wanted to come to Japan and see how life was like, how the people are, how the language sounds…in other words, how my life would have been like. How my life would have been like if my parents had stayed together and stayed in Japan, that is. See, my mom met my dad when she was a missionary in Kumamoto (Kyushu). Long story short they got married and decided to move to the US. Another long story short they got divorced and one day my dad mysteriously disappeared. He left his work, his life and his family with no word, no warning. He eventually sent us letters from all the places he was (California, Hawaii, Australia, Philippines and finally Japan) and called a few times but we haven’t heard from him since, and that was 13 or so years ago. So now, here I am living in Japan, with my brother…and our sister will be coming for the winter break.
When I arrived in Japan as a fresh faced JET I went to the FIA to ask Benjamin and the very very helpful staff there for help in locating my dad. Two weeks later I had a copy of his koseki (family registry) which contained his address. Last Friday, a few months after I obtained his address, I sat down and wrote my dad a letter. I had been procrastinating to write it. Why would I procrastinate on the very reason I came to Japan? Why would I wait to reconnect with my birth father? Well, I think out of fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, fear of disappointment, and so on (in the words of my students). I don’t know who the man who brought me onto this earth is…I don’t know what he does for a living…I don’t know what he likes to do…I don’t know anything. And I want to know, or do I really? I mean, I have lived 13 years without him, without the love and care that a father is supposed to provide. (The absent father is a common story these days, sad, but true.) My mother has provided all the love and support that my siblings and I needed and her side of the family has provided the same. So it’s not that I feel something has been missing…or that I regret anything. If my dad had stayed I would be a completely different person now. Maybe I am searching for closure, maybe I am searching for the father I never had, maybe I am searching for a connection that will be hard to well, reconnect. There are so many unknowns. Right now I am just going through the motions. Maybe when I will leave Japan I will be reconnected to my roots and feel united with my Japanese family. But more likely, I will leave Japan with more questions than when I came, whether or not my dad responds…so many unknowns.
When I arrived in Japan as a fresh faced JET I went to the FIA to ask Benjamin and the very very helpful staff there for help in locating my dad. Two weeks later I had a copy of his koseki (family registry) which contained his address. Last Friday, a few months after I obtained his address, I sat down and wrote my dad a letter. I had been procrastinating to write it. Why would I procrastinate on the very reason I came to Japan? Why would I wait to reconnect with my birth father? Well, I think out of fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, fear of disappointment, and so on (in the words of my students). I don’t know who the man who brought me onto this earth is…I don’t know what he does for a living…I don’t know what he likes to do…I don’t know anything. And I want to know, or do I really? I mean, I have lived 13 years without him, without the love and care that a father is supposed to provide. (The absent father is a common story these days, sad, but true.) My mother has provided all the love and support that my siblings and I needed and her side of the family has provided the same. So it’s not that I feel something has been missing…or that I regret anything. If my dad had stayed I would be a completely different person now. Maybe I am searching for closure, maybe I am searching for the father I never had, maybe I am searching for a connection that will be hard to well, reconnect. There are so many unknowns. Right now I am just going through the motions. Maybe when I will leave Japan I will be reconnected to my roots and feel united with my Japanese family. But more likely, I will leave Japan with more questions than when I came, whether or not my dad responds…so many unknowns.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Just when I was getting bored...
So the second semester of the school year is coming to a close... just when I was getting bored...of reading some of the 325 essays I have to read...here are some that kept me interested.
"First, if we wear a school uniform, we will awake to our position. That’s because a school uniform has a mysterious power, it makes us serious." (I should wear a uniform then).
"I want to study English very hard from now on. So I think that Japanese people should learn English." (This is very common...do we say study English very hard? I don't even know what is correct English anymore and they always validate everything with So...)
"I may open a field of world vision." (regarding conducting business in English...that sounds cool)
"When the children grow up, they will become a person to be considerate of others and a motorcycle gang, because of being given mother’s love." (What?)
"For example Chinese is similar to English how sentences is look like English." (Chinese doesn't look or sound anything like English to me but I guess to a Japanese person they both sound foreign).
"Second, a school uniform is not comfortable. It is stiff and it is not easy to run and sports and so on. More over it is become feels heavy when I have eaten so much, Especially, skirt become too tight." (some things are just universal).
"You know an alchol is magical drinks…I wish I could drink alchol at a picnic under the cherry blossoms." (a budding poet)
Hope you have enjoyed these excerpts from my student writing. Not too much is new here...although this past weekend, in the period of 2 hours it snowed, rained, hailed and was sunny. And sometimes when snow falls, it thunderstorms as well! One new thing: Maya is coming for Winter Break! I am excited. Oh, and I wrote my dad a letter and sent it. And I cut my hair!
"First, if we wear a school uniform, we will awake to our position. That’s because a school uniform has a mysterious power, it makes us serious." (I should wear a uniform then).
"I want to study English very hard from now on. So I think that Japanese people should learn English." (This is very common...do we say study English very hard? I don't even know what is correct English anymore and they always validate everything with So...)
"I may open a field of world vision." (regarding conducting business in English...that sounds cool)
"When the children grow up, they will become a person to be considerate of others and a motorcycle gang, because of being given mother’s love." (What?)
"For example Chinese is similar to English how sentences is look like English." (Chinese doesn't look or sound anything like English to me but I guess to a Japanese person they both sound foreign).
"Second, a school uniform is not comfortable. It is stiff and it is not easy to run and sports and so on. More over it is become feels heavy when I have eaten so much, Especially, skirt become too tight." (some things are just universal).
"You know an alchol is magical drinks…I wish I could drink alchol at a picnic under the cherry blossoms." (a budding poet)
Hope you have enjoyed these excerpts from my student writing. Not too much is new here...although this past weekend, in the period of 2 hours it snowed, rained, hailed and was sunny. And sometimes when snow falls, it thunderstorms as well! One new thing: Maya is coming for Winter Break! I am excited. Oh, and I wrote my dad a letter and sent it. And I cut my hair!
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