This spring

It’s mid May now. They say it’s the most lovely time of year in Sakata. The new green is lush and full of life. The flooded rice fields sharply reflect the sky and mountains. The smells and colors of flowers dance in the breezes. Freshly picked mountain vegetables appear on the dinner table and the smell of kerosene inside every building finally dissipates. The rainy season will be starting soon and after that comes the heavy heat of summer. Before that though I thought I would follow the footsteps of my sister allibear and recap whats happened before I move on. Not only to the next season, but I only have two months left in Sakata Japan and I’m thinking, planning, applying, contacting, basically, preparing for the next step. Here are some things about the spring.

Thankful for
The support and friendship I’ve received from people. Maki and her mom, Hayashi Sensei, Dorrie and Jeff. They are my lifelines, the barriers that stand in front of depression and loneliness.

Skype and my webcam. Time difference aside, I can easily and limitlessly talk with my family and Jordan.

What I’ve achieved
*I organized a trip around Japan that was the best vacation of me and Jordan’s lives.
We spent one week in Sakata and then traveled to Nagano Ken to see monkeys jump in hot springs. We met up with Brad and Caitlin in Osaka and then spend a night in a super fancy hotel room in Tokyo.

*Until this spring, my role in the Sakata international community was to perform my famous “Michael Jackson Dance.” I would get on stage and gyrate to Billy Jean like a Japanese woman would never dream of doing. Although just a bit of fun at first, I eventually I felt exploited and silly and as if this ritual misrepresented me, my culture and my purpose in Japan. I was asked to give a lecture for the Sakata branch of UNESCO on foreign countries. I spoke in Japanese for one hour about Kenya, India, Cuba and South Africa, the hardships faced by the people of each country as well as the things we can learn from them. I made people laugh and ask provoking questions that I could barely answer. It was the most exhausting and mentally challenging thing I have ever done in my entire life. By doing it, I proved to myself that I could communicate the things most fundamental to my way of thinking and its formation in a language other than English. (I can speak Japanese!) My experiences and the things I had to say, rather than my wind up monkey moonwalk, were given a chance to come into the spotlight.

Top Five
-I hosted an Easter dinner with the help of Jeff and Dorrie and served halushki to my Japanese friends.

-Maki and I organized a great “Hanami” party under a sunset and snowfall of cherry blossom petals

-I enjoyed four days with my good friend, Tokyo (may 3-6). Seeking out interesting restaurants, used CD stores with great selections, karaoke on a rainy afternoon, being confused and amazed by Japanese fake food models, discount designer shopping in Shibuya, getting in good with the Turkish community, riding lots and lots of trains.

-On the day after I finished I speech I almost didn’t do anything except make chocolate chip pancakes and eat just about all of them by myself.
-Going to conveyer belt sushi with Jordan on his first day in Sakata and watching him be amazed.
-Going to dinner at Hayashi sensei’s house with Jordan and skipping polite conversation about natto and kimonos to try and translate the meaning of art in the human experience.
-Talking about the teachers at Chuo koko with the only other person in the world who knows them like I do. (my predecessor, Alyssa, came to visit).
-Not doing things I don’t want to do anymore.
-Opening my eyes one morning and immediately seeing Andy Horbal in the other room sitting up straight, eyes wide open, smiling as if he had been sitting that way for hours for me to wake up and start showing him around his new adventure land, Japan.

Weird moments
-meeting a student at the onsen by chance.
-when I came back from spring break and couldn’t find my desk because everything, including the principal and vice principal, had changed.
-Drinking way too much shochu with Ueda sensei and mountain buddies and getting home and trying to make half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but unable to figure out how to make half and ending up with a quarter of one. The next day was really bad.
-Seeing the dismay on my students’ faces when they find out I’m not staying past July.
-Meeting Jordan coming off the train for the first time in months and being interrupted by a smack in the ass from a drunk Japanese man who said “like, JA PAN!?!”
-Missing Jordan after he left and getting his cold, but feeling sort of glad I had his germs inside me still.
-Having leaving ceremonies at my favorite elementary schools and realizing that my time here is ending quickly.
-Being exhausted from all the thank yous and thank you for the thank you thank yous.

Worst five
-Finding out Maki got in a serious car accident right outside my house when she came to drop off some tofu cheesecake four days after it actually happened. (She didn’t want to worry me before my speech)
-Loneliness all the time.
-Going to a fancy Japanese restaurant with Andy and being served “Awabi” (abalone). It tastes like nose cartilage.

Happiest moments in the area
-Going to Hotel Bonita with Jordan.

-I was taken take no ko tori (baby bamboo shoot picking) on Mt. Chokai with Ueda sensei and felt like one of the guys.

-When Nakazawa came over to my house to bring some clothes I forgot in his car and surprised me with a cheesecake for white day.

-When we went to Matsushima and Jeff pretended that we had just settled on a deserted beach and that would be pioneers and carry out our lives there. The men would hunt and the women would bear many children and Julia would dance around the fire

-Going to watch the Japanese movie “母べえ” with Koichi san and realizing I could understand almost all of it.

Worst moments in the area
-When the guy from NTT came and told me I owed him more than 100 dollars and he would come again after I get paid at the end of the month. Waiting for him to come again.
-Having to sit next to a new English teacher that seems to be confused by and petrified of everything.

New assets in Sakata
-Ueda sensei and the mountain buddies. We have a plan to climb Mt. chokai
-Maki’s Aunt who lovingly pats my shoulder when she runs into me by chance at the onsen.
-The young pretty girl who came to see my speech and then who I ran into by chance TWICE in Tokyo, a city of 11 million people.
-The students who I’ve been teach for two years now and know ALL about me and tell me that they don’t want a new ALT because there is no way she will be as pretty and as good at Japanese as me.