my eyes are stinging a bit today. must be from all the sun and the swimming in the salty water of the sea. yep. just another late september day. i think late september and october are basically the best months on Okinawa. just calm, sunny with a light breeze and cool water. paradise, indeed.
went to two of Ogimi's four elementary school undoukais today. All four schools hold their sports day on the same day but making it to all four would have been quite a task. Plus i sort of slept in so only showed up to Kijoka's (my village) undoukai around 11am. Walked there with hopes of getting a free lunch but those hopes weren't too high. Walked to the pitch, a sweet woman who works at the BOE and always looks after me walked me over to the tables under the shady tents, pointed to a chair, brought me a cup of cool tea. Just as i was sitting down, a junior high school student was passing out the bento lunches to everyone seated under the tent. K-san motioned for the student to place a bento in front of me as well. I looked shocked but inside happy that my plan worked out perfectly. :) ha ha seems rather shallow, eh? but really this is just how it works and after two years of these events i know what to expect. but there is no such thing as a free lunch in japan either and so after watching a relay of parents and their elementary school kids, i was invited to participate in the rope pulling event: men vs. women, though they politely referred to us as team "red" and "white." The women won the first time, then we switched sides and the men won the second time. The whole thing was quite fun. After lunch the kids performed a beautifully choreographed and brilliantly executed eisa routine. Junior high kids from Kijoka helped out as well as the fathers who were dressed in Ogimi's eisa costumes and were dancing with the poll of Kijoka. If you live here or have lived here that might make sense, if not. sorry. it's hard to explain. but i'll post pics later on.
I went to Ogimi elem. school's undoukai after Kijoka's eisa. Got there just in time to watch adult vs. elem. kids vs. junior high school kids relays. Kids won out every time. Then it was the finishing the dance with everyone on the pitch, including me. Then it was off home to grab beach stuff and go lounge about for a couple of hours after a refreshing dip in the sea. The water is perfect right now. Chilly at first but under the blazing sun, a welcoming sensation on the sweaty skin.
Yesterday I joined two hundred people or so from Ogimi village in the protest against the proposed changes to the Japanese history textbooks. The protest took place at the park near the Ginowan Convention center in the south of the island. Hordes of people were walking to the sight with placards and signs. It was my first such gathering--not counting the anti-war protest Shelly and i walked into while in New York...and quickly walked out of.
I walked with the superintendent of Ogimi schools and he explained to me the situation, so i'll relate it to you hear as i understand it. During the battle of Okinawa numerous atrocities against the peaceful Okinawan civilians took place and most of them were perpetrated by the Japanese military that came and occupied the island drawing American forces away from mainland Japan and to this tiny chain of islands. One of the atrocities that are well documented was the forceful way in which Japanese military encouraged Okinawan citizens to commit suicide if the arrival of American troupes was imminent. Men and women were given grenades to use on themselves and their families in case the Americans landed on their islands. This happened on Zamami and Tokashiki island and hundreds of people died. This fact is currently written in the Japanese textbook but sometime last year the Ministry of Education proposed to cut out the part of the history which paints Japanese soldiers in the bad light. The bit will be re-written so that suicides are mentioned but the role the Japanese military played in those suicides is not. And that outraged many on Okinawa, an island that is still dealing with occupation of American forces and feels that Japan still treats them as second-rate citizens whose opinion is not worth knowing.
The protest has been in the works for 4 months. Village, town and cities governments were asked to send people to represent themselves at the gathering. 120,000 people were at the park yesterday and the sight was awesome! I didn't understand every word of the speeches but I understood the feeling behind them. My favorite speech, though, was by two senior high school students. I did understand their shouts of "We want to learn the truth, so write the truth!!"
The whole two hour event was seemed really powerful to me so I really hope it causes a few heads to turn in the Japanese Ministry of Education and the proposed changes are abandoned.
i'll finish here.
but here's a BBC article i got after googleing "okinawa and textbook and protest"
Huge Japan protest against textbook
am sure you can find more if you have time. i'm off to my adult conversation class. ta ta
-e
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
on the agenda:
the lack of posting
my addiction to green mikan
the typhoon threatening to tear down my curtains and flood my balcony
studying Japanese
needing the school to block Facebook
so where should i begin? the Facebook issue. all right. that's a bit of a disaster zone. i am hooked on the walls and the "home" updates and adding and deleting of applications (thought i've gotten much better about that by just not adding any), and the instant notifications in inbox. Maybe that's what i should irradicate. Perhaps if i politely ask the Facebook system to stop sending me e-mails any time someone signs my wall or comments on one of my photos, i'd be less likely to spend twenty to thirty minutes (ahem hours) nosing about in there and would just go through my inbox and get off the school computer as i'm sure most teachers would want me to do.
mikans are the wonderful citrus fruit that is like a tangerine but slightly more tart. They'll ripen in winter months, but right now they are sold green and i'm addicted. i love the sourness that just overwhelms the budding sweetness within. you might ask, what is so wrong with being addicted to mikan, a fruit jam-packed with vitamin C and other unknown beneficial substances, but what will i do when the season of the green mikan is over? or worse yet, what if i develop an allergy by eating too many and won't be able to enjoy them again?
my addiction is not being helped by the generous presents of principals from neighboring schools who in lieu of the upcoming undoukai (sports day) have gifted boxes of these delicious, green, juicy, little fruits. We've also been given a box of giant apple/pears that are quite expensive and the former principal who is now at one of Higashi's schools has brought enough pineapple to share with the whole student body at lunch for dessert. Undoukai. Craziness itself.
Which brings me to the typhoon that is quite inconveniently ruining the undoukai plans for the weekend. That and also most likely canceling the Okuma festival, second year running. It will be rescheduled, i'm sure, but i doubt the same acts will show up and the crowds will be much fewer, as was the case last year. But the biggest concern for the school is of course the sports fest on Sunday. It's Friday night now and the typhoon is supposed to touch down in a couple of hours; it's a not very strong one but i'm certain it will rain all night and most of the day tomorrow. The hope is that it'll miraculously stop overnight Saturday to Sunday, the school field will dry up and we'll be able to set up without a problem early Sunday morning and have a wonderful display of student and teachers' 2 months worth of planning and preparation.
This being my last undoukai, i'm quite sentimental going into. It was almost like the other two, but this year I was able to jump in and help with eisa practices and that felt really good. Nice to be involved from the inside and not always as a welcomed outsider.
I haven't posted in a while 'cause it's been busy and every night when i come home and think I should write post, i instead watch a movie or read and then only have an hour to play on computer before bed time and that's never enough to write a substantial post 'cause there's Facebook to distract me. So luckily, the typhoon has extended my weekend and i don't have to go to bed early and so here I am, ready to upload some pics to share with you my last two weekends.
and a note on studying Japanese. it's a ridiculous uphill battle and i'm not made for it, but yet i try every once in a while to pretend that i can do it. i guess it is nice to be able to understand things and i'm encouraged at the times i grasp the meaning of things going on around me or listen to the village speaker announcements and know what they're talking about half the time. and it is quite pleasing to study a kanji and then to see it in context and feel a tenth of a thousandth percentage more literate. ha ha
but it is a fun language and i wish i was more self-motivated. hoping that signing up for the 3rd level of the JLPT will kick me into a higher gear, and i'll actually study a bit on the weekends as well.
and now on to the pics
Two weekends ago was the Shioya Ungami which is a festival that takes place in a few villages in the northern Okinawa dedicated to the gods/spirits that control the sea. Priestesses offer up prayers through special ceremonies like the one on the picture. The men sat in a circle while the women walked and chanted around them.
The religious portion of the festival used to be closed to the public and only certain individuals were allowed to accompany the priestesses to the sacred prayer spots. This year it was opened to the public and lots of photographers showed up. It seemed there were more people with a camera than the locals. A bit overwhelming but also nice. It means the community is receiving attention and people will learn more about the traditional Okinawan culture. But it was overbearing at times. The priestesses didn't seem to mind too much. Or maybe they're just too cool to betray their annoyance. It was nice to notice that no one put a show on for the photographers. The men sitting in a circle drank their offering of awamori from plastic cups and not anything fancy that i'm sure could have been brought. Made realize and appreciate the fact that I am indeed observing an active tradition and not a reenactment of one. A bit daunting, that.
This is the portion that's always been opened to the public. The hari race of the 6 little villages that are a part of Shioya, which is itself a part of Ogimi-son. Quite a few of Ogimi's villages have their own, unique festival around this time of the year to offer prayers and to celebrate sea and field gods. Shioya's is well known because of the beautiful landscape that is the backdrop to the hari racing across the Shioya bay and the dancing women in the water who chant and cheer on the men of their villages to row faster.
The smiling girl is one of my students and she's surrounded by other women of her village, Shioya. The race just finished and the women are celebrating and are continuing to dance. Actually, i think due to their persistent dancing and singing, the hari raced again but this time purely for entertainment.
the girls and women leaving the bay with the men behind them still in the water near their hari boats.
the priestesses performing one of the last rituals after the hari race and before the sumo wrestling matches.
two years ago, i watched the ungami festivities a month or so after arriving. i had no idea really what was going on and watched truly as a tourist. this year, however, it was a different experience all together. i knew some of the men racing the hari, i knew the women cheering them in the water, and i knew almost all the kids who stepped up to participate in the sumo match. i only knew the elementary kids by face, but the junior high schoolers, like the ones in the picture i know personally and it made the experience that much more special and enjoyable.
the ungami fest is a two day event. first day is the hari and the sumo. the second day is dancing. it rained heavily during some of the dances and the women still performed, by the end of the dance, completely soaked. Here is a junior high school student dressed in the outfit of a farmer with women in the background in the more splendid outfits of the ryukyu royal court.
i really like this pic
The following weekend was a similar festival in another of Ogimi's villages, Nerume. The hari race only involved three small boats. Cliff and i came to watch but quickly Cliff was asked to participate. I think he enjoyed it.
After the hari race we hung out with some darling elementary school kids before the womens' eisa and sumo wrestling. Here i am with three of those cuties.
oh no! the pic is on its side. well. you get the picture. :)
The women of Nerume dance a very traditional eisa dance.
The view of the Nerume village set up before the start of the sumo wrestling taken from the 2nd floor of the community center where we watched surrounded by junior high school and elementary kids of that village. Only 6 or 7 of my students live in Nerume and they were all involved in one way or another in the day's activities. The sense of community is extremely strong here; maybe why i enjoy staying in the village so much for the various activities that take place almost weekly, especially during the summer months.
Well. The typhoon is not as strong as i thought it would be, but the balcony door won't stay open anyways--the winds are strong enough to shut it with force anytime i try to peek at what's happening outside.
So fingers crossed for a successful undoukai. I'll try not to be as delinquent with future posts. They end up being way too long.
love
-e
the lack of posting
my addiction to green mikan
the typhoon threatening to tear down my curtains and flood my balcony
studying Japanese
needing the school to block Facebook
so where should i begin? the Facebook issue. all right. that's a bit of a disaster zone. i am hooked on the walls and the "home" updates and adding and deleting of applications (thought i've gotten much better about that by just not adding any), and the instant notifications in inbox. Maybe that's what i should irradicate. Perhaps if i politely ask the Facebook system to stop sending me e-mails any time someone signs my wall or comments on one of my photos, i'd be less likely to spend twenty to thirty minutes (ahem hours) nosing about in there and would just go through my inbox and get off the school computer as i'm sure most teachers would want me to do.
mikans are the wonderful citrus fruit that is like a tangerine but slightly more tart. They'll ripen in winter months, but right now they are sold green and i'm addicted. i love the sourness that just overwhelms the budding sweetness within. you might ask, what is so wrong with being addicted to mikan, a fruit jam-packed with vitamin C and other unknown beneficial substances, but what will i do when the season of the green mikan is over? or worse yet, what if i develop an allergy by eating too many and won't be able to enjoy them again?
my addiction is not being helped by the generous presents of principals from neighboring schools who in lieu of the upcoming undoukai (sports day) have gifted boxes of these delicious, green, juicy, little fruits. We've also been given a box of giant apple/pears that are quite expensive and the former principal who is now at one of Higashi's schools has brought enough pineapple to share with the whole student body at lunch for dessert. Undoukai. Craziness itself.
Which brings me to the typhoon that is quite inconveniently ruining the undoukai plans for the weekend. That and also most likely canceling the Okuma festival, second year running. It will be rescheduled, i'm sure, but i doubt the same acts will show up and the crowds will be much fewer, as was the case last year. But the biggest concern for the school is of course the sports fest on Sunday. It's Friday night now and the typhoon is supposed to touch down in a couple of hours; it's a not very strong one but i'm certain it will rain all night and most of the day tomorrow. The hope is that it'll miraculously stop overnight Saturday to Sunday, the school field will dry up and we'll be able to set up without a problem early Sunday morning and have a wonderful display of student and teachers' 2 months worth of planning and preparation.
This being my last undoukai, i'm quite sentimental going into. It was almost like the other two, but this year I was able to jump in and help with eisa practices and that felt really good. Nice to be involved from the inside and not always as a welcomed outsider.
I haven't posted in a while 'cause it's been busy and every night when i come home and think I should write post, i instead watch a movie or read and then only have an hour to play on computer before bed time and that's never enough to write a substantial post 'cause there's Facebook to distract me. So luckily, the typhoon has extended my weekend and i don't have to go to bed early and so here I am, ready to upload some pics to share with you my last two weekends.
and a note on studying Japanese. it's a ridiculous uphill battle and i'm not made for it, but yet i try every once in a while to pretend that i can do it. i guess it is nice to be able to understand things and i'm encouraged at the times i grasp the meaning of things going on around me or listen to the village speaker announcements and know what they're talking about half the time. and it is quite pleasing to study a kanji and then to see it in context and feel a tenth of a thousandth percentage more literate. ha ha
but it is a fun language and i wish i was more self-motivated. hoping that signing up for the 3rd level of the JLPT will kick me into a higher gear, and i'll actually study a bit on the weekends as well.
and now on to the pics
Two weekends ago was the Shioya Ungami which is a festival that takes place in a few villages in the northern Okinawa dedicated to the gods/spirits that control the sea. Priestesses offer up prayers through special ceremonies like the one on the picture. The men sat in a circle while the women walked and chanted around them.
The religious portion of the festival used to be closed to the public and only certain individuals were allowed to accompany the priestesses to the sacred prayer spots. This year it was opened to the public and lots of photographers showed up. It seemed there were more people with a camera than the locals. A bit overwhelming but also nice. It means the community is receiving attention and people will learn more about the traditional Okinawan culture. But it was overbearing at times. The priestesses didn't seem to mind too much. Or maybe they're just too cool to betray their annoyance. It was nice to notice that no one put a show on for the photographers. The men sitting in a circle drank their offering of awamori from plastic cups and not anything fancy that i'm sure could have been brought. Made realize and appreciate the fact that I am indeed observing an active tradition and not a reenactment of one. A bit daunting, that.
This is the portion that's always been opened to the public. The hari race of the 6 little villages that are a part of Shioya, which is itself a part of Ogimi-son. Quite a few of Ogimi's villages have their own, unique festival around this time of the year to offer prayers and to celebrate sea and field gods. Shioya's is well known because of the beautiful landscape that is the backdrop to the hari racing across the Shioya bay and the dancing women in the water who chant and cheer on the men of their villages to row faster.
The smiling girl is one of my students and she's surrounded by other women of her village, Shioya. The race just finished and the women are celebrating and are continuing to dance. Actually, i think due to their persistent dancing and singing, the hari raced again but this time purely for entertainment.
the girls and women leaving the bay with the men behind them still in the water near their hari boats.
the priestesses performing one of the last rituals after the hari race and before the sumo wrestling matches.
two years ago, i watched the ungami festivities a month or so after arriving. i had no idea really what was going on and watched truly as a tourist. this year, however, it was a different experience all together. i knew some of the men racing the hari, i knew the women cheering them in the water, and i knew almost all the kids who stepped up to participate in the sumo match. i only knew the elementary kids by face, but the junior high schoolers, like the ones in the picture i know personally and it made the experience that much more special and enjoyable.
the ungami fest is a two day event. first day is the hari and the sumo. the second day is dancing. it rained heavily during some of the dances and the women still performed, by the end of the dance, completely soaked. Here is a junior high school student dressed in the outfit of a farmer with women in the background in the more splendid outfits of the ryukyu royal court.
i really like this pic
The following weekend was a similar festival in another of Ogimi's villages, Nerume. The hari race only involved three small boats. Cliff and i came to watch but quickly Cliff was asked to participate. I think he enjoyed it.
After the hari race we hung out with some darling elementary school kids before the womens' eisa and sumo wrestling. Here i am with three of those cuties.
oh no! the pic is on its side. well. you get the picture. :)
The women of Nerume dance a very traditional eisa dance.
The view of the Nerume village set up before the start of the sumo wrestling taken from the 2nd floor of the community center where we watched surrounded by junior high school and elementary kids of that village. Only 6 or 7 of my students live in Nerume and they were all involved in one way or another in the day's activities. The sense of community is extremely strong here; maybe why i enjoy staying in the village so much for the various activities that take place almost weekly, especially during the summer months.Well. The typhoon is not as strong as i thought it would be, but the balcony door won't stay open anyways--the winds are strong enough to shut it with force anytime i try to peek at what's happening outside.
So fingers crossed for a successful undoukai. I'll try not to be as delinquent with future posts. They end up being way too long.
love
-e
Thursday, August 30, 2007
long time in the making this post might be long. or it might be a collection of photos. haven't quite decided what to do at the moment as i start typing it up.
you might notice i've changed the template color and updated some links as well as the header description. i am counting months. i have eleven of them left here in this place that i now call "home," and so it's really time to re-evaluate, set and achieve goals, outline some future plans, and enjoy! Because what i really, truly want to do this year is enjoy it. Fully and without regrets about things not accomplished, not finished, not tried, not visited, not seen, not felt. Friends leaving made me consider how i want to approach this time on the island--what i want to do to prepare so that leaving is done with least amount of hassle or at least the hassle i have control over. i've set a few goals and have some itinerary of travels floating around in my head as well as things to do when people come visit, as i hope a few do. Am most looking forward to the visit of my sisters sometime this coming spring.
so this year, like this blog is being refreshed from outside in--let's see what happens. :)
the events of the last month have all left a mark. it's been a hectic time but if you asked what i did exactly, i'd have to pause and think a while.
the main event of last week has been my visit to a family dinner for the last night of Obon. Obon is an Okinawan Buddhist cultural landmark in the lunar calendar. Okinawa Obon is very different from mainland one, which took place a week earlier this year. Since i don't live on mainland and never studied that culture or participated in it, as i do with Okinawa culture, i can't do an intense comparison. let's just say they're different and mostly, i think, because the Okinawa ancestor worship base which underlines all the traditions on the island overwhelms the Buddhist rituals it incorporates. So the Okinawa obon is a three day event. On the first day, unkei, the spirits of ancestors descend back into the family home and are welcomed with special prayer ceremony at the family butsudan (altar) inside the home of the eldest son into whose house the altar is passed through generations (although there are exceptions). The family gathers to celebrate the arrival of the ancestors, has dinner and offers special foods and items to the visiting spirits. The middle day is simply named, nakabi and is a time for family to relax together. The final day is called uukui and on the evening of that day the family thanks the ancestors for visiting and bids them farewell. During the time of obon, actually throughout August, Okinawans don't go into the sea because it's believed to be full of spirits going from their own world into the world of the living for Obon visit.
My supervisor invited myself and Cliff (the new Ogimi ALT) to his wife's family home in Nago for the third night of Obon. The head of the family, my supervisor's mother-in-law, was in charge of dinner but serving us were her granddaughters. The two lovely girls brought out dishes for us to try--it was my first time to eat nakamijiru, a pig intestine soup, quite delicious actually. We were the first to arrive, excluding the eldest son whose daughters were our servers that evening. As we ate, more family members began to arrive and settle themselves around a small table and in front of a giant TV. We chatted and watched the IAAF broadcast live from Osaka. The male hammer throw competition was on, as one of Japan's medal hopefuls competed. I learned that his mother is Russian but father Japanese. He did not medal, but it was fun watching the competition.
I loved being with a family for a dinner, like that, sitting around a TV, chatting casually. Some of them hadn't seen each other in a while it seemed and lots of news were being exchanged. It's been a while for me to be in a midst of a family, and it made me miss mine but also really appreciate the time i was spending with them. A little after 9pm, the family gathered in a guest room where the family butsudan took up a primary spot in the wall. Tablets with ancestors' names as well as decorative urns representing the main ancestors being welcomed took center place. The urns had lots of incense burning inside. Lots of fruit, flowers, incense and personal items, such as cigarettes were placed all around the altar. The matriarch sat seza in front of a low table placed under the altar with three boxes of specially prepared foods placed in front of her. She also had a small round tray on which she had grains of rice and a small bottle of awamori. The grownups made a sitting circle behind and around her, Cliff and i were welcomed into it and i felt really privileged. The younger family members stood or sat on outskirts of the room or in the hallway. Everyone prayed, then the matriarch offered rice and awamori and pieces of food to each of the ancestors and after offering them with a simple upward motion of the chopsticks towards the altar she placed each item in a small, round grill situated to the left of the table. After the food was offered, the sons took down all the fruits, flowers and special items from the altar onto the table and she tossed in a bit from each pile into the burner. She even tossed in a couple of cigarettes from a pack. The sons chatted and even laughed as they cleared the altar, the other members of the family were quiet but not too somber. Everything inside the burner was sat on fire and as a last gesture, special pieces of paper called uchikabi which represent money to be used in heaven were also burned. Actually so many of them were being burned that my supervisor joked there will be inflation in heaven this year. Soon the room filled up with smoke and people were fanning themselves to keep from breathing it in. Once the burner was well lit, the sons took down the urns with incense and all three, along with the burner were carried outside to a corner near the house.
In an amusing turn of events, when i set out to follow everyone outside, i discovered that my shoes were missing, after a few moments of looking for them it was decided that someone put them on by mistake, i was given shoes to trade for mine once outside, but because of the search for them, i missed out on what happened once the urns and burner were brought outside. I'm assuming the family once again prayed and the ashes were dumped out and ancestors bid farewell. We said our goodbyes to the family at that point as well, because our kind supervisor drove us to and from Nago so that we could fully enjoy our experience and drink with the family and we had to leave right away so he'd get home to his new born child at a not so late hour. It was sad leaving the family; for a moment i felt really comfortable and at home with them--i hope i get to experience that sort of a feeling again while here.
for more information about Okinawan rituals, religion and Obon, please check out these two links from Wiki:
Ryukyan festivals and observances and Ryukyuan religion
I'll post some pics at the bottom of the post and also on my Fotki site--which I do update btw, and will even attempt to label all the new photos there tomorrow from school. Also at the bottom of the post is a very short video from the eisa routine performed by the Ogimi seinenkai during the 10,000 men eisa event in Naha. You might spot me in it. It's really short, sorry, but thanks to Kelly for shooting it and sending it to me!
The moon has been absolutely gorgeous the last few nights--full and splendid--it has been brightly overwhelming the sky. Two nights ago there was an eclipse and thanks to Cliff, I got to see the last bit of it. It was raining all that night, so I wasn't even aware of an eclipse happening, but the weather cleared just in time to watch its departure.
School. Well. School is just a plethora of activity. There's the sports day to prepare for, the track and field event in October. Students just came back from summer vacation and already took tests to prove that they did absolutely no studying during the summer break. It's been rather depressing grading the tests. Oh well. They've been busy with extracurricular stuff this summer to do much about relaxing or studying. I also have one student to prepare for the speech contest at the end of September. This will be my third and last English speech contest. Mixed feelings.
This weekend will be a very special day in the Ogimi event calendar--the unjami festival. I shall write about it when i have the photos to back it up.
And to finish off this impossibly long blog, here are a few photos from the last month.
love
-e
the three fourths of the Fearsome Foursome! Miss ya, guys!
Early in the morning after tens of cocktails and hours of karaoke...Goodbye!
the goat won by the Ogimi seinenkai (youth group) during the Ogimi festival's rope tug of war .
I do no know the goat's fate. Perhaps the members enjoyed a goat soup a few days after the fest. The eisa during the fest was by far the best we've performed and my goal of participating in eisa during Ogimi festival was accomlished. It was a fantastic feeling being a part of something that took my breath away during the first few weeks on the island two years ago.
from a viewing spot near cape Hedo where Chikara took us the other day.
mostly new JETs taking in the beauty of northern Okinawa
the family butsudan after it's been cleared of fruit, flowers, and other objects. the three blue, ornate urns are for the three ancestors being honored during Obon.
you might notice i've changed the template color and updated some links as well as the header description. i am counting months. i have eleven of them left here in this place that i now call "home," and so it's really time to re-evaluate, set and achieve goals, outline some future plans, and enjoy! Because what i really, truly want to do this year is enjoy it. Fully and without regrets about things not accomplished, not finished, not tried, not visited, not seen, not felt. Friends leaving made me consider how i want to approach this time on the island--what i want to do to prepare so that leaving is done with least amount of hassle or at least the hassle i have control over. i've set a few goals and have some itinerary of travels floating around in my head as well as things to do when people come visit, as i hope a few do. Am most looking forward to the visit of my sisters sometime this coming spring.
so this year, like this blog is being refreshed from outside in--let's see what happens. :)
the events of the last month have all left a mark. it's been a hectic time but if you asked what i did exactly, i'd have to pause and think a while.
the main event of last week has been my visit to a family dinner for the last night of Obon. Obon is an Okinawan Buddhist cultural landmark in the lunar calendar. Okinawa Obon is very different from mainland one, which took place a week earlier this year. Since i don't live on mainland and never studied that culture or participated in it, as i do with Okinawa culture, i can't do an intense comparison. let's just say they're different and mostly, i think, because the Okinawa ancestor worship base which underlines all the traditions on the island overwhelms the Buddhist rituals it incorporates. So the Okinawa obon is a three day event. On the first day, unkei, the spirits of ancestors descend back into the family home and are welcomed with special prayer ceremony at the family butsudan (altar) inside the home of the eldest son into whose house the altar is passed through generations (although there are exceptions). The family gathers to celebrate the arrival of the ancestors, has dinner and offers special foods and items to the visiting spirits. The middle day is simply named, nakabi and is a time for family to relax together. The final day is called uukui and on the evening of that day the family thanks the ancestors for visiting and bids them farewell. During the time of obon, actually throughout August, Okinawans don't go into the sea because it's believed to be full of spirits going from their own world into the world of the living for Obon visit.
My supervisor invited myself and Cliff (the new Ogimi ALT) to his wife's family home in Nago for the third night of Obon. The head of the family, my supervisor's mother-in-law, was in charge of dinner but serving us were her granddaughters. The two lovely girls brought out dishes for us to try--it was my first time to eat nakamijiru, a pig intestine soup, quite delicious actually. We were the first to arrive, excluding the eldest son whose daughters were our servers that evening. As we ate, more family members began to arrive and settle themselves around a small table and in front of a giant TV. We chatted and watched the IAAF broadcast live from Osaka. The male hammer throw competition was on, as one of Japan's medal hopefuls competed. I learned that his mother is Russian but father Japanese. He did not medal, but it was fun watching the competition.
I loved being with a family for a dinner, like that, sitting around a TV, chatting casually. Some of them hadn't seen each other in a while it seemed and lots of news were being exchanged. It's been a while for me to be in a midst of a family, and it made me miss mine but also really appreciate the time i was spending with them. A little after 9pm, the family gathered in a guest room where the family butsudan took up a primary spot in the wall. Tablets with ancestors' names as well as decorative urns representing the main ancestors being welcomed took center place. The urns had lots of incense burning inside. Lots of fruit, flowers, incense and personal items, such as cigarettes were placed all around the altar. The matriarch sat seza in front of a low table placed under the altar with three boxes of specially prepared foods placed in front of her. She also had a small round tray on which she had grains of rice and a small bottle of awamori. The grownups made a sitting circle behind and around her, Cliff and i were welcomed into it and i felt really privileged. The younger family members stood or sat on outskirts of the room or in the hallway. Everyone prayed, then the matriarch offered rice and awamori and pieces of food to each of the ancestors and after offering them with a simple upward motion of the chopsticks towards the altar she placed each item in a small, round grill situated to the left of the table. After the food was offered, the sons took down all the fruits, flowers and special items from the altar onto the table and she tossed in a bit from each pile into the burner. She even tossed in a couple of cigarettes from a pack. The sons chatted and even laughed as they cleared the altar, the other members of the family were quiet but not too somber. Everything inside the burner was sat on fire and as a last gesture, special pieces of paper called uchikabi which represent money to be used in heaven were also burned. Actually so many of them were being burned that my supervisor joked there will be inflation in heaven this year. Soon the room filled up with smoke and people were fanning themselves to keep from breathing it in. Once the burner was well lit, the sons took down the urns with incense and all three, along with the burner were carried outside to a corner near the house.
In an amusing turn of events, when i set out to follow everyone outside, i discovered that my shoes were missing, after a few moments of looking for them it was decided that someone put them on by mistake, i was given shoes to trade for mine once outside, but because of the search for them, i missed out on what happened once the urns and burner were brought outside. I'm assuming the family once again prayed and the ashes were dumped out and ancestors bid farewell. We said our goodbyes to the family at that point as well, because our kind supervisor drove us to and from Nago so that we could fully enjoy our experience and drink with the family and we had to leave right away so he'd get home to his new born child at a not so late hour. It was sad leaving the family; for a moment i felt really comfortable and at home with them--i hope i get to experience that sort of a feeling again while here.
for more information about Okinawan rituals, religion and Obon, please check out these two links from Wiki:
Ryukyan festivals and observances and Ryukyuan religion
I'll post some pics at the bottom of the post and also on my Fotki site--which I do update btw, and will even attempt to label all the new photos there tomorrow from school. Also at the bottom of the post is a very short video from the eisa routine performed by the Ogimi seinenkai during the 10,000 men eisa event in Naha. You might spot me in it. It's really short, sorry, but thanks to Kelly for shooting it and sending it to me!
The moon has been absolutely gorgeous the last few nights--full and splendid--it has been brightly overwhelming the sky. Two nights ago there was an eclipse and thanks to Cliff, I got to see the last bit of it. It was raining all that night, so I wasn't even aware of an eclipse happening, but the weather cleared just in time to watch its departure.
School. Well. School is just a plethora of activity. There's the sports day to prepare for, the track and field event in October. Students just came back from summer vacation and already took tests to prove that they did absolutely no studying during the summer break. It's been rather depressing grading the tests. Oh well. They've been busy with extracurricular stuff this summer to do much about relaxing or studying. I also have one student to prepare for the speech contest at the end of September. This will be my third and last English speech contest. Mixed feelings.
This weekend will be a very special day in the Ogimi event calendar--the unjami festival. I shall write about it when i have the photos to back it up.
And to finish off this impossibly long blog, here are a few photos from the last month.
love
-e
the three fourths of the Fearsome Foursome! Miss ya, guys!
Early in the morning after tens of cocktails and hours of karaoke...Goodbye!
the goat won by the Ogimi seinenkai (youth group) during the Ogimi festival's rope tug of war .I do no know the goat's fate. Perhaps the members enjoyed a goat soup a few days after the fest. The eisa during the fest was by far the best we've performed and my goal of participating in eisa during Ogimi festival was accomlished. It was a fantastic feeling being a part of something that took my breath away during the first few weeks on the island two years ago.
from a viewing spot near cape Hedo where Chikara took us the other day.
mostly new JETs taking in the beauty of northern Okinawa
the family butsudan after it's been cleared of fruit, flowers, and other objects. the three blue, ornate urns are for the three ancestors being honored during Obon.Monday, August 06, 2007
i owe an update. but give me a week or two. things are happening every day and half the time i don't know what day it is and when was the last time i slept for more than 5 hours. naps is the way to go apparently.
i went to Izena and learned all about its spiders and hermit crabs thanx to Mr. Izena, Craig.
been playing eisa around Ogimi and Sunday went to Naha with the youth group to participate in the 10,000 men eisa parade down Kokusai dori (International street). It was a fantastic experience and i was happiest during it when i saw my friends waving at me from the crowd.
lots of karaoke.
goodbyes, tears, sun= my last week and a half.
am tired. i'll do a better job of posting and recaping in a few days.
sorry, Craig ;)
i went to Izena and learned all about its spiders and hermit crabs thanx to Mr. Izena, Craig.
been playing eisa around Ogimi and Sunday went to Naha with the youth group to participate in the 10,000 men eisa parade down Kokusai dori (International street). It was a fantastic experience and i was happiest during it when i saw my friends waving at me from the crowd.
lots of karaoke.
goodbyes, tears, sun= my last week and a half.
am tired. i'll do a better job of posting and recaping in a few days.
sorry, Craig ;)
Sunday, July 22, 2007
i have a new camera!!
i've been considering getting a new one for a few months now. i love my trusty Minolta but it's 3 years old now and pales in comparison to what is out there on the market. i of course can't afford anything super fancy, nor do i want 'cause i wouldn't know what to do with it. photography has never been my strong point. Unlike my sister, Sofya who in my eyes is an expert, i just point and snap. Sometimes i get lucky and the compositions turn out to be worthy of printing and displaying. i've taken some great shots with the minolta, and i hope i can continue with my new Canon PowerShot A710IS.
It's a bit heavy but seems sturdy. i don't know what all it can do, have to search for manual on-line as i only got the japanese one. but i can change the language to english or russian if i want to, which is cool.
so here are a couple of shots i took today driving back home. they're not great, and the second one has been edited, but am sure more good ones are to come.
also this weekend Block1 hosted a successful goodbye party for the northern JETs and their friends. it was wonderful to have everyone in one place. the weather was fantastic and the bbq went off splenditly. in the late hours of the night we enjoyed watching african dancing and drumming and some fire twirling on a beach. good times.
i've been considering getting a new one for a few months now. i love my trusty Minolta but it's 3 years old now and pales in comparison to what is out there on the market. i of course can't afford anything super fancy, nor do i want 'cause i wouldn't know what to do with it. photography has never been my strong point. Unlike my sister, Sofya who in my eyes is an expert, i just point and snap. Sometimes i get lucky and the compositions turn out to be worthy of printing and displaying. i've taken some great shots with the minolta, and i hope i can continue with my new Canon PowerShot A710IS.
It's a bit heavy but seems sturdy. i don't know what all it can do, have to search for manual on-line as i only got the japanese one. but i can change the language to english or russian if i want to, which is cool.
so here are a couple of shots i took today driving back home. they're not great, and the second one has been edited, but am sure more good ones are to come.
also this weekend Block1 hosted a successful goodbye party for the northern JETs and their friends. it was wonderful to have everyone in one place. the weather was fantastic and the bbq went off splenditly. in the late hours of the night we enjoyed watching african dancing and drumming and some fire twirling on a beach. good times.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
the end of school term is in the air. we are done. we are finished. we have one more day! arrrrgh.
to be fair, i don't have one more day. i am done today. i'm not coming to school tomorrow because i'm going to the airport to bid farewell to Gabrielle. She's leaving the island after five years on JET, and i am sad to see her go. really sad. but such is JET experience--friendships are made quickly and then one has to say "goodbye" until next meeting. because i don't believe i won't see Gabrielle or any of my other close friends again. i'll visit them or we'll meet up elsewhere in the world.
Saying all this doesn't make the prospect of separation that much easier to face.
頑張りましょう、ね！
i have a new keitai. it's a Motorolla Razr. i heard that in the States it's considered pretty cool, or maybe that was a year ago. I got it 'cause it was the 2nd cheapest option for me at the shop. The cheapest phone would have been nearly free but didn't have a camera but did have a radio. i declined.
the typhoon was actually a big hit. It canceled school on Friday and we ended up with a 4 day weekend, the first part of which was spent mostly indoors.
Before typhoon hit us, I picked Ben up Thursday night and it was already apparent then that his coast would get hit harder than mine. Whereas on my side the sea was still peaceful, on his side it was already throwing sand and debris onto the road across barriers.
Saturday, Ben and i went to check out the damage on his, eastern, coast.
The damage was minimal compared to other places on the island but there was lots of sand and roads were blocked off for clean-up. The kids had a blast, though, playing around on large sand piles pushed off the road by bulldozers. The houses along the road in Kawatta collected sand inside and out and we saw people spraying them down with water and sweeping sand off tatami. The kids told us that 4 cars that were in a parking lot across the road got pushed into each other by the waves and the wind, and one was even lifted up and crushed down onto a nearby tree. When we went to look, the cars were already gone, but we did see the broken tree.
Across the island people lost power. I was lucky that and Ben, Gabrielle and I only went without aircon for 5 minutes. We watched movies, and Tv shows, and cooked delicious food, drank chu-his and played boardgames. For being the first truly typhoon party, it was a success!!
i download the free NPR shuffle podcast and it's great. i love the variety and the unexpected turn the collection sometimes takes. i also like NPR's fresh air, although sometimes Terry Gross' questions strike me as overly simplistic, she feeds the answer to her quests through her questions. but not all the time.
anyways. i recently listened to a Fresh Air podcast about Victor Bout, the infamous arms dealer. His story is amazing--it's bewildering to think how many conflicts, genocides, revolutions, rebellions, etc.. he has helped supply with firearms. He has no identifiable ideology and the most fantastic of all is that his planes have flown arms and essential supplies for the UN and United States, most recently into and out of Iraq. The two men Terry spoke with, Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, have written a book about him called Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible. They spoke casually about their subject and every once in a while even laughed about the ways he has built his far-reaching business. At first, i was appalled by their seeming lighthearted approach towards the topic, but then i started laughing with them. This is the age we live in--and it's amusing to say the least. Here's one man who has found a niche and in the best example of capitalistic entrepreneurship has built himself an empire by selling weapons. But not only has he not be caught and stopped, his planes have been used by various "anti-terrorist" governments, most prominently the United States, to advance their ends in conflicts around the world. And that's how the world spins round. Ya gotta laugh.
and i'm awaiting the delivery of the new Harry Potter book. Should be coming to my door Saturday or Monday. Yipee!
love
-e
to be fair, i don't have one more day. i am done today. i'm not coming to school tomorrow because i'm going to the airport to bid farewell to Gabrielle. She's leaving the island after five years on JET, and i am sad to see her go. really sad. but such is JET experience--friendships are made quickly and then one has to say "goodbye" until next meeting. because i don't believe i won't see Gabrielle or any of my other close friends again. i'll visit them or we'll meet up elsewhere in the world.
Saying all this doesn't make the prospect of separation that much easier to face.
頑張りましょう、ね！
i have a new keitai. it's a Motorolla Razr. i heard that in the States it's considered pretty cool, or maybe that was a year ago. I got it 'cause it was the 2nd cheapest option for me at the shop. The cheapest phone would have been nearly free but didn't have a camera but did have a radio. i declined.
the typhoon was actually a big hit. It canceled school on Friday and we ended up with a 4 day weekend, the first part of which was spent mostly indoors.
Before typhoon hit us, I picked Ben up Thursday night and it was already apparent then that his coast would get hit harder than mine. Whereas on my side the sea was still peaceful, on his side it was already throwing sand and debris onto the road across barriers.
Saturday, Ben and i went to check out the damage on his, eastern, coast.
The damage was minimal compared to other places on the island but there was lots of sand and roads were blocked off for clean-up. The kids had a blast, though, playing around on large sand piles pushed off the road by bulldozers. The houses along the road in Kawatta collected sand inside and out and we saw people spraying them down with water and sweeping sand off tatami. The kids told us that 4 cars that were in a parking lot across the road got pushed into each other by the waves and the wind, and one was even lifted up and crushed down onto a nearby tree. When we went to look, the cars were already gone, but we did see the broken tree.
Across the island people lost power. I was lucky that and Ben, Gabrielle and I only went without aircon for 5 minutes. We watched movies, and Tv shows, and cooked delicious food, drank chu-his and played boardgames. For being the first truly typhoon party, it was a success!!
i download the free NPR shuffle podcast and it's great. i love the variety and the unexpected turn the collection sometimes takes. i also like NPR's fresh air, although sometimes Terry Gross' questions strike me as overly simplistic, she feeds the answer to her quests through her questions. but not all the time.
anyways. i recently listened to a Fresh Air podcast about Victor Bout, the infamous arms dealer. His story is amazing--it's bewildering to think how many conflicts, genocides, revolutions, rebellions, etc.. he has helped supply with firearms. He has no identifiable ideology and the most fantastic of all is that his planes have flown arms and essential supplies for the UN and United States, most recently into and out of Iraq. The two men Terry spoke with, Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, have written a book about him called Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible. They spoke casually about their subject and every once in a while even laughed about the ways he has built his far-reaching business. At first, i was appalled by their seeming lighthearted approach towards the topic, but then i started laughing with them. This is the age we live in--and it's amusing to say the least. Here's one man who has found a niche and in the best example of capitalistic entrepreneurship has built himself an empire by selling weapons. But not only has he not be caught and stopped, his planes have been used by various "anti-terrorist" governments, most prominently the United States, to advance their ends in conflicts around the world. And that's how the world spins round. Ya gotta laugh.
and i'm awaiting the delivery of the new Harry Potter book. Should be coming to my door Saturday or Monday. Yipee!
love
-e
an ode to keitai
to my trusty friend
who's always been
the one to ring
when times are dim
whose music tones
were cool and new
whose swishing sound
made all want you
with clear alarm
you woke me up
with blinking light
you've kept me up
without you life won't be same
you've been replaced, your numbers saved
but as my first keitai you stand
forever flipping in my hand.
well... i guess you can deduce from the poorly written lines that my cell phone has been damaged beyond repair and replaced by a brand new shiny model.
what happened? well. if you must know.
a dog ate it.
nah. actually it was a pair of wild geckos.
nope. also not true.
David put it in his mouth and it stopped working.
yep. that sounds plausible enough. but also not exactly correct.
i'm a bit of a klutz and i let it fall out of my bag next to my car and drove over it? do you believe that? you do? well. good for you, 'cause that's the sad truth. and only a month shy of a 2 year anniversary. *sigh*
in other news. a typhoon Man-Yi is on his way to Okinawa mainland. Don't be alarmed, it's only projected to be a trocal storm strength, but there's a possibility of Category 1 winds. Which means school might be canceled, but i won't hold my breath, since in two years here a typhoon hasn't yet managed to affect school schedule.
i've put the link to Tropical Storm Risk website back up, so you're welcome to track typhoon's progress yourselves. Enjoy!
love
-e
who's always been
the one to ring
when times are dim
whose music tones
were cool and new
whose swishing sound
made all want you
with clear alarm
you woke me up
with blinking light
you've kept me up
without you life won't be same
you've been replaced, your numbers saved
but as my first keitai you stand
forever flipping in my hand.
well... i guess you can deduce from the poorly written lines that my cell phone has been damaged beyond repair and replaced by a brand new shiny model.
what happened? well. if you must know.
a dog ate it.
nah. actually it was a pair of wild geckos.
nope. also not true.
David put it in his mouth and it stopped working.
yep. that sounds plausible enough. but also not exactly correct.
i'm a bit of a klutz and i let it fall out of my bag next to my car and drove over it? do you believe that? you do? well. good for you, 'cause that's the sad truth. and only a month shy of a 2 year anniversary. *sigh*
in other news. a typhoon Man-Yi is on his way to Okinawa mainland. Don't be alarmed, it's only projected to be a trocal storm strength, but there's a possibility of Category 1 winds. Which means school might be canceled, but i won't hold my breath, since in two years here a typhoon hasn't yet managed to affect school schedule.
i've put the link to Tropical Storm Risk website back up, so you're welcome to track typhoon's progress yourselves. Enjoy!
love
-e
updates:
1. My students did not place in the story contest. They did a good job. One of them was the best out of the 10 students that performed before her. I am very proud of them and the work they've put in. It was a fun contest, though. In the second half the competition picked up and the best stories were performed. Ben's student and Rodger's student both placed, getting first and second respectively. Rodger's kid's performance made me laugh so hard, I cried. It's odd however, being in an audience of 40 but being one of a handful who actually understands what is being said at the podium.
2. my car's airconditioner has been fixed! yipee. it didn't cost me a grand, but half of that, which is still no small amount, but the pleasure of driving and not sweating should not be underestimated. next step, do something about the CD player thing.
3. it is so so so hot now that it's harder to think in the classroom. seriously. i get all sort of ideas while sitting in the air conditioned teacher office but in the classroom the response time is slowed down to a mere crawl. ha ha
kidding. but it is hot and i do wish we had aircons in every classroom because the last 3 weeks before summer vacation are torture here. がんばりましょう、ね！
4. 4th of July has no bearing whatsover on our life in Japan. Except that a bunch of US ALTs got invited to a celebration of the 231st anniversary of American independence tonight at the consulate office in Naha. I was gonna go, but now am thinking not. Still might change my mind. have 4 hours.
5. My sister is the coolest for hanging out at the same bar in New York as Drew Barrymore and Zach Braff. No. Not at the same time. ;)
love
-e
1. My students did not place in the story contest. They did a good job. One of them was the best out of the 10 students that performed before her. I am very proud of them and the work they've put in. It was a fun contest, though. In the second half the competition picked up and the best stories were performed. Ben's student and Rodger's student both placed, getting first and second respectively. Rodger's kid's performance made me laugh so hard, I cried. It's odd however, being in an audience of 40 but being one of a handful who actually understands what is being said at the podium.
2. my car's airconditioner has been fixed! yipee. it didn't cost me a grand, but half of that, which is still no small amount, but the pleasure of driving and not sweating should not be underestimated. next step, do something about the CD player thing.
3. it is so so so hot now that it's harder to think in the classroom. seriously. i get all sort of ideas while sitting in the air conditioned teacher office but in the classroom the response time is slowed down to a mere crawl. ha ha
kidding. but it is hot and i do wish we had aircons in every classroom because the last 3 weeks before summer vacation are torture here. がんばりましょう、ね！
4. 4th of July has no bearing whatsover on our life in Japan. Except that a bunch of US ALTs got invited to a celebration of the 231st anniversary of American independence tonight at the consulate office in Naha. I was gonna go, but now am thinking not. Still might change my mind. have 4 hours.
5. My sister is the coolest for hanging out at the same bar in New York as Drew Barrymore and Zach Braff. No. Not at the same time. ;)
love
-e
Thursday, June 28, 2007
my day.
overslept.
actually it would be more correct to say that i hit the snooze way too many times thinking that i'm somehow owed an hour of extra sleep for staying after school for 2 extra hours.
show up to work 30 minutes late. Empty school. Nearly. 1st graders are the only students in attendance. 2nd and 3rd graders are at work sites, 2nd graders have been at them since Monday, 3rd graders only today and Friday. Have a meeting with JTE for 2nd period class with 1st graders. We're entering dangerous territory--3rd person singular "s" addition to the verbs. It is the most common mistake and the more frustrating for the fact that if students don't have this down by 3rd grade, what chance do they have with past perfect construction?
So. Plan to actively pursue education of fresh minds. Recently I realized that when i took foreign language in high school the classes were every day and in the German classroom. Therefore everyday we got to see the posters with common rules on the walls. The more you see those rules, the better they sink in, i think. Since in Japanese classrooms it is the teachers that move and not the students, having permanent subject posters like that is impossible. So I asked if we could have students glue inside their files a cut out with the explanation of how the "s" gets added on to the 3rd person singular verbs. He went for it! Yipee. The inside of their file covers are going to be filled by end of school year!
Class over, I stay around and chat with a couple of the kids. Back in the teachers' office, I savor the coolness of the aircon--the only one in the school. Few minutes of kanji study are followed by a completion of a Sudoku puzzle--I've renewed my interest in these puzzles after finding a book of them under others while cleaning the shelves behind my desk.
Next, time on the internet, chat with my sister and bring Facebook up to date. Then i realize i should be going to the BOE to talk with my supervisor about my wanting to get the AC in my car looked at. I call, he's on holiday today, they say the superintendant will be back in 15 minutes. I leave school in 20, get to BOE and am told the superintendent went to lunch already. It's 11:30am. I mention that I want to go to a repair shop in Kunigami to have AC fixed. While one BOE lady looks up the phone number the other remembers that this shop will not do AC work and I have to go elsewhere. Men in the accounting division are asked and there are now 3 people trying to figure out where to send me. They map out a place near Nago, and I think i know what they mean (the subject of how maps are drawn here should be fully explored at a later date). The new concern is whether I will be able to get a loaner car from the shop. The phone call is made and it is found out that no loaners are available at that shop or another one like it in Nago. What to do? The discussions that follow are mostly beyond my comprehension. I just politely stand off to the side as the issue is hashed out. I am next told that there is a place in Tsuha (the northern most village of Ogimi-son) that I should go to. Another map is drawn, and this time I know exactly where I'm going as the car place appears to be right next to a new soba shop I've eaten at several times already. I thank everyone profusely and go back to school for lunch.
Lunch time. One of the dishes is tiny salted fish mixed in with caramelized peanuts. But we also got a watermelon today! Hurray! And it's delicious! I eat three pieces as there are extra. Yum.
After lunch, drive to the car place but warn two people at school prior to my going that the shop might be calling them if I don't understand something important. Drive to shop, thinking that I'd pay 500$ to fix the AC as opposed to the previously self-imposed limit of 300$. Limit upgrade due to the intensity of the heat during drive over. Get to the shop. One of the workers immediately points me towards Nago as soon as I say, "koolah" but I insist that I was meant to come here and he goes to ask. A minute later I step outside the comfortably air conditioned tiny office to find another man pulling up in a small white car. When he steps out he attempts to explain to me the details of the situation. I gather that I'm getting a loaner from them, but they will actually take my car to Nago to get it looked at. It dawns on me that the man back at the office arranged this with the owner of this shop who is possibly a friend if not a relation. Sooo. I have no idea when I'll see my car again, how much it'll cost me or anything else for that matter. But I do get to drive a tiny air conditioned car for a couple of days, and that's all right with me.
A year ago I would find this to be extremely frustrating and nerve wracking. I am much calmer about these situations now. Am not exactly sure why that is. Perhaps it's due to the fact that nothing really has gone wrong for me here yet. This will be the first thing, eh? Watch me shell out a grand for AC repairs next week! But if I do, it better work like new.
At school I do more sudoku, study more kanji, read a grossly entertaining book called, "Stiff" about human cadavers and their adventures in the land of research.
I can't leave.
I am waiting for the story contest students and so have to stay at school past my contract time. One of them shows up a little after 5:30pm. We have a quick practice; she is nearly ready. I call a couple of teachers and some 1st grade basketball girls to listen to her tell the story. She does it beautifully and in well under 5 minutes. I'm relieved and we both go home.
Quick, improvised dinner of stir-fried wild rice, tuna, green onion, and leafy frozen veggies. At around 7:30pm I'm at eisa practice. Tonight we get to put in orders for pants and shoes. I try on the L size baseball pants and they fit. I sometimes wish i was back in a country where I was Medium size. We go through the songs three times and at the end of the 2nd round i enthusiastically hit my thumb instead of the drum. AGAA!
After eisa practice, i watch some women from the village practice a hari boat dance inside the gym and feel a part of a community. Sort of. Still sometimes just an outsider looking in.
Have an exciting weekend coming up, starting with a carefree Friday. No students will be at the school at all, and I'm staying at home in the morning 'cause only 4 people will actually be at work. I will have to go in around 4pm to wait around for the story contest students again. But thankfully tomorrow is the last day, and Saturday we get to show off our students and stories. Goodluck to all! :)
I'll let ya all know how it goes.
love
-e
5:45am. near Ogimi, looking north.
overslept.
actually it would be more correct to say that i hit the snooze way too many times thinking that i'm somehow owed an hour of extra sleep for staying after school for 2 extra hours.
show up to work 30 minutes late. Empty school. Nearly. 1st graders are the only students in attendance. 2nd and 3rd graders are at work sites, 2nd graders have been at them since Monday, 3rd graders only today and Friday. Have a meeting with JTE for 2nd period class with 1st graders. We're entering dangerous territory--3rd person singular "s" addition to the verbs. It is the most common mistake and the more frustrating for the fact that if students don't have this down by 3rd grade, what chance do they have with past perfect construction?
So. Plan to actively pursue education of fresh minds. Recently I realized that when i took foreign language in high school the classes were every day and in the German classroom. Therefore everyday we got to see the posters with common rules on the walls. The more you see those rules, the better they sink in, i think. Since in Japanese classrooms it is the teachers that move and not the students, having permanent subject posters like that is impossible. So I asked if we could have students glue inside their files a cut out with the explanation of how the "s" gets added on to the 3rd person singular verbs. He went for it! Yipee. The inside of their file covers are going to be filled by end of school year!
Class over, I stay around and chat with a couple of the kids. Back in the teachers' office, I savor the coolness of the aircon--the only one in the school. Few minutes of kanji study are followed by a completion of a Sudoku puzzle--I've renewed my interest in these puzzles after finding a book of them under others while cleaning the shelves behind my desk.
Next, time on the internet, chat with my sister and bring Facebook up to date. Then i realize i should be going to the BOE to talk with my supervisor about my wanting to get the AC in my car looked at. I call, he's on holiday today, they say the superintendant will be back in 15 minutes. I leave school in 20, get to BOE and am told the superintendent went to lunch already. It's 11:30am. I mention that I want to go to a repair shop in Kunigami to have AC fixed. While one BOE lady looks up the phone number the other remembers that this shop will not do AC work and I have to go elsewhere. Men in the accounting division are asked and there are now 3 people trying to figure out where to send me. They map out a place near Nago, and I think i know what they mean (the subject of how maps are drawn here should be fully explored at a later date). The new concern is whether I will be able to get a loaner car from the shop. The phone call is made and it is found out that no loaners are available at that shop or another one like it in Nago. What to do? The discussions that follow are mostly beyond my comprehension. I just politely stand off to the side as the issue is hashed out. I am next told that there is a place in Tsuha (the northern most village of Ogimi-son) that I should go to. Another map is drawn, and this time I know exactly where I'm going as the car place appears to be right next to a new soba shop I've eaten at several times already. I thank everyone profusely and go back to school for lunch.
Lunch time. One of the dishes is tiny salted fish mixed in with caramelized peanuts. But we also got a watermelon today! Hurray! And it's delicious! I eat three pieces as there are extra. Yum.
After lunch, drive to the car place but warn two people at school prior to my going that the shop might be calling them if I don't understand something important. Drive to shop, thinking that I'd pay 500$ to fix the AC as opposed to the previously self-imposed limit of 300$. Limit upgrade due to the intensity of the heat during drive over. Get to the shop. One of the workers immediately points me towards Nago as soon as I say, "koolah" but I insist that I was meant to come here and he goes to ask. A minute later I step outside the comfortably air conditioned tiny office to find another man pulling up in a small white car. When he steps out he attempts to explain to me the details of the situation. I gather that I'm getting a loaner from them, but they will actually take my car to Nago to get it looked at. It dawns on me that the man back at the office arranged this with the owner of this shop who is possibly a friend if not a relation. Sooo. I have no idea when I'll see my car again, how much it'll cost me or anything else for that matter. But I do get to drive a tiny air conditioned car for a couple of days, and that's all right with me.
A year ago I would find this to be extremely frustrating and nerve wracking. I am much calmer about these situations now. Am not exactly sure why that is. Perhaps it's due to the fact that nothing really has gone wrong for me here yet. This will be the first thing, eh? Watch me shell out a grand for AC repairs next week! But if I do, it better work like new.
At school I do more sudoku, study more kanji, read a grossly entertaining book called, "Stiff" about human cadavers and their adventures in the land of research.
I can't leave.
I am waiting for the story contest students and so have to stay at school past my contract time. One of them shows up a little after 5:30pm. We have a quick practice; she is nearly ready. I call a couple of teachers and some 1st grade basketball girls to listen to her tell the story. She does it beautifully and in well under 5 minutes. I'm relieved and we both go home.
Quick, improvised dinner of stir-fried wild rice, tuna, green onion, and leafy frozen veggies. At around 7:30pm I'm at eisa practice. Tonight we get to put in orders for pants and shoes. I try on the L size baseball pants and they fit. I sometimes wish i was back in a country where I was Medium size. We go through the songs three times and at the end of the 2nd round i enthusiastically hit my thumb instead of the drum. AGAA!
After eisa practice, i watch some women from the village practice a hari boat dance inside the gym and feel a part of a community. Sort of. Still sometimes just an outsider looking in.
Have an exciting weekend coming up, starting with a carefree Friday. No students will be at the school at all, and I'm staying at home in the morning 'cause only 4 people will actually be at work. I will have to go in around 4pm to wait around for the story contest students again. But thankfully tomorrow is the last day, and Saturday we get to show off our students and stories. Goodluck to all! :)
I'll let ya all know how it goes.
love
-e
5:45am. near Ogimi, looking north.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
the test scores are in and they are pitiful. students took their midterm tests yesterday and today, and i graded all the English ones, because i could. the part where i could actually read their japanese and grade it was exciting, the part where the class averages where in the low 60's was depressing. 2nd and 3rd graders' scores made me want to cry but grading 1st graders today was the highlight of my week so far. they're well into high 70's and 80's and 3 or 4 scored above 90. i know you must think that it's a bit sad to be excited about 2 or 3 high scores but after seeing test after test of below 60, i was nearly beside myself writing those numbers on their test sheets.
two reasons for low test scores: the absolute certainty that all students will pass through junior high school no matter what their scores are on the test and second is that the language is taught in a completely illogical manner and there is too much information and not enough time to process. sub reason: the teaching enthusiasm of a certain person has transferred to the learning enthusiasm of most students. 1st graders so far seem immune. The 1st grade textbook is actually a bit better than the ones we used in previous years and also they had 5 years of Gabrielle's brilliant teaching in elementary school. It also helps the class averages that most students are either good learners or well above average. In other classes there are handful of students with obvious learning disabilities who get lost behind when the textbook tempo picks up at the end of 1st grade.
i would love to be able to say that the reason 1st graders are doing so well right now is due to my inspired assistance. perhaps in parts, i could attribute it to it, but certainly not all. the fact that we introduced phonics differently this year and have tried teaching reading a bit differently might have contributed to it, but i don't have any data other than these tests to support it.
i am happy to say that on the listening portion of the tests, in all grades, students scored high. So i guess i'm doing something right. oh well. we'll keep persevering.
in other news. the mosquitoes are out in full force! I am being eaten alive at home and out. Last night went to eisa practice, thinking it was going to be indoors like on previous tuesdays, but the weather had cleared up right before practice time and we were out on the field--in full range of the mosquito population. most ladies were itching and i learned the word for "itchy" and won't forget it now.
Eisa is turning out to be a lot of fun. The dances are a bit complicated, but have gotten a hang of most of them. Am having trouble with transitions from one song to another, but that's probably 'cause we haven't practiced the full set of songs with transitions. Yesterday, they added the cheers, and so i now can rightfully scream "ha ee ya!" in response to the "ee ya sa sa" of the big drum dancers. and of course, this will actually make sense to only a handful of you, so i just gotta say to the rest of you, try to make it to the Ogimi festival this August 10 and 11th when i'll hopefully be performing the eisa with the group.
and it's looking like the rainy days are finally behind us. although, i say that now, and watch it pour down again this weekend. enough rain already!!
love
-e
two reasons for low test scores: the absolute certainty that all students will pass through junior high school no matter what their scores are on the test and second is that the language is taught in a completely illogical manner and there is too much information and not enough time to process. sub reason: the teaching enthusiasm of a certain person has transferred to the learning enthusiasm of most students. 1st graders so far seem immune. The 1st grade textbook is actually a bit better than the ones we used in previous years and also they had 5 years of Gabrielle's brilliant teaching in elementary school. It also helps the class averages that most students are either good learners or well above average. In other classes there are handful of students with obvious learning disabilities who get lost behind when the textbook tempo picks up at the end of 1st grade.
i would love to be able to say that the reason 1st graders are doing so well right now is due to my inspired assistance. perhaps in parts, i could attribute it to it, but certainly not all. the fact that we introduced phonics differently this year and have tried teaching reading a bit differently might have contributed to it, but i don't have any data other than these tests to support it.
i am happy to say that on the listening portion of the tests, in all grades, students scored high. So i guess i'm doing something right. oh well. we'll keep persevering.
in other news. the mosquitoes are out in full force! I am being eaten alive at home and out. Last night went to eisa practice, thinking it was going to be indoors like on previous tuesdays, but the weather had cleared up right before practice time and we were out on the field--in full range of the mosquito population. most ladies were itching and i learned the word for "itchy" and won't forget it now.
Eisa is turning out to be a lot of fun. The dances are a bit complicated, but have gotten a hang of most of them. Am having trouble with transitions from one song to another, but that's probably 'cause we haven't practiced the full set of songs with transitions. Yesterday, they added the cheers, and so i now can rightfully scream "ha ee ya!" in response to the "ee ya sa sa" of the big drum dancers. and of course, this will actually make sense to only a handful of you, so i just gotta say to the rest of you, try to make it to the Ogimi festival this August 10 and 11th when i'll hopefully be performing the eisa with the group.
and it's looking like the rainy days are finally behind us. although, i say that now, and watch it pour down again this weekend. enough rain already!!
love
-e
Friday, June 15, 2007
i hadn't actually realized it's been a while since i posted. guess i been busy. doing what, though, you might ask. well. a few things. for one, growing a year older and a year closer to the overbearing number 30. But since i've met several wonderful and youthful 30 year olds since being on Oki, i'm not so fearful of the number.
but still 29 for now.
so i shall mention that my birthday has been quite a successful one this year. it just keeps on giving. the actual bday was on a tuesday but my first and very enthusiastic birthday song was sung on a monday by high school students. This happened because i didn't have school on monday and drove south to spend time with Kel and Yas. While driving down, Kel asked if i wanted to stop by her high school and maybe even visit one of her classes. I agreed. Been curious about an Okinawa high school for a while. all those stories of make-up sessions in class, cell phones, short skirts, Yonkee boys, etc. So i was in quite a surprise when i walked through the halls of Kelly's school. They're all respectful, tidy, smiley individuals who were very enthusiastic about seeing a new foreign face in the halls. and the class i visited blew me away. Kelly had them ask me questions and one of the first i got, said with perfect grammar mind you was, "why do you have so many pockets," this was in regards to the cool skirt i was wearing that does have a large amount of pockets. Next questions came shyly and some under coercing from Kelly but they were impressive when they came. I got asked about my hobbies and sports i liked, but also about the reasons my family moved from Kazakhstan to USA and why i wanted to come to Okinawa to teach. A really inquisitive bunch of high school seniors. And propped by Kelly, they all burst into a rendition of a birthday song when i was asked the appropriate question. Fantastic! I had a great time in the class and walking around during break. It was fun seeing what a high school is really like. It was very intimidating, realizing that there were 1200 students at the school and several teacher offices full of staff that taught them. Quite a shock to the system after my 108 youngsters.
So yeah. that was the first birthday present. I've also gotten a 1440 page book, a giant watermelon, a website with a message just for me, a package of random goodies, two bright red shisas, numerous messages on the Facebook wall, and of course, the best birthday surprise ever from two beautiful women i'm lucky to call friends.
and the rest of the post will be in pics, 'cause i'm starting to get tired.
Ogimi boys in the final game against Nago Junior HS. They're number 1 in the north, and will play in the all Okinawa tournament at the end of July. Go Ogimi!
The cheering section at a baseball game. The card at the bottom shows the name of a player at the plate. During a cheer his name is yelled several times.
Ogimi baseball team taking a bow to the cheering section after winning their first game. They unfortunately lost the next one.
A beautiful tree in Yomitan. The school went on a field trip to learn about the experience of Okinawans during the Battle of Okinawa. We started in Yomitan at a cave site where numerous Okinawans hid and later committed suicide. 
The students listening to the guide tell them the sad story of the ChibiChiri cave site.
At the Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum students have a chance to read personal accounts of survivors of Battle of Okinawa. This was a very bloody battle, and most of the blood was spilled by the Okinawans caught up in the fighting.
The view from the top floor of the Peace Museum.
That's me being super excited about a surprise birthday cake on the evening of my birthday.
And here are two lovely ladies responsible for the best surprise ever! Kelly and Yasemine snuck into my place, blew up baloons, taped up photos, lit candles and hid in the livingroom for me to find them. I was keeled over and speechless for several minutes. Naughty monkeys!
but still 29 for now.
so i shall mention that my birthday has been quite a successful one this year. it just keeps on giving. the actual bday was on a tuesday but my first and very enthusiastic birthday song was sung on a monday by high school students. This happened because i didn't have school on monday and drove south to spend time with Kel and Yas. While driving down, Kel asked if i wanted to stop by her high school and maybe even visit one of her classes. I agreed. Been curious about an Okinawa high school for a while. all those stories of make-up sessions in class, cell phones, short skirts, Yonkee boys, etc. So i was in quite a surprise when i walked through the halls of Kelly's school. They're all respectful, tidy, smiley individuals who were very enthusiastic about seeing a new foreign face in the halls. and the class i visited blew me away. Kelly had them ask me questions and one of the first i got, said with perfect grammar mind you was, "why do you have so many pockets," this was in regards to the cool skirt i was wearing that does have a large amount of pockets. Next questions came shyly and some under coercing from Kelly but they were impressive when they came. I got asked about my hobbies and sports i liked, but also about the reasons my family moved from Kazakhstan to USA and why i wanted to come to Okinawa to teach. A really inquisitive bunch of high school seniors. And propped by Kelly, they all burst into a rendition of a birthday song when i was asked the appropriate question. Fantastic! I had a great time in the class and walking around during break. It was fun seeing what a high school is really like. It was very intimidating, realizing that there were 1200 students at the school and several teacher offices full of staff that taught them. Quite a shock to the system after my 108 youngsters.
So yeah. that was the first birthday present. I've also gotten a 1440 page book, a giant watermelon, a website with a message just for me, a package of random goodies, two bright red shisas, numerous messages on the Facebook wall, and of course, the best birthday surprise ever from two beautiful women i'm lucky to call friends.
and the rest of the post will be in pics, 'cause i'm starting to get tired.
Ogimi boys in the final game against Nago Junior HS. They're number 1 in the north, and will play in the all Okinawa tournament at the end of July. Go Ogimi!
The cheering section at a baseball game. The card at the bottom shows the name of a player at the plate. During a cheer his name is yelled several times.
Ogimi baseball team taking a bow to the cheering section after winning their first game. They unfortunately lost the next one.
A beautiful tree in Yomitan. The school went on a field trip to learn about the experience of Okinawans during the Battle of Okinawa. We started in Yomitan at a cave site where numerous Okinawans hid and later committed suicide. 
The students listening to the guide tell them the sad story of the ChibiChiri cave site.
At the Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum students have a chance to read personal accounts of survivors of Battle of Okinawa. This was a very bloody battle, and most of the blood was spilled by the Okinawans caught up in the fighting.
The view from the top floor of the Peace Museum.
That's me being super excited about a surprise birthday cake on the evening of my birthday.
And here are two lovely ladies responsible for the best surprise ever! Kelly and Yasemine snuck into my place, blew up baloons, taped up photos, lit candles and hid in the livingroom for me to find them. I was keeled over and speechless for several minutes. Naughty monkeys!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
snippets from last two weeks
on the way to school in the morning i now get to see some of my students waiting for the school bus at the bus stops. if we make eye contact, i wave and they wave back.
i started going to school a half hour earlier to practice for the story contest with one of the students. she's been busy after school practicing for a basketball tournament and mornings seem to be a good time to have a story session. sometimes she's late, though. and starting next week tuesday her morning "job" at school will be to stand with 3 or 4 other students and greet everyone as they come in to school. she'll have to do it for a week.
actually, because i usually don't get to school until 8:15am i don't get to see all sorts of things that happen before classes start. there are students who come in early to practice sports, and some are there to water the plants in the morning and to do a bit of clean up around the entrance. and of course, the greeters, whom i always miss because at 8:15am as i walk into school, students rush to their homerooms for a morning meeting. So i've been enjoying coming in early and seeing a new side of my students and school.
at first being back from home was really odd. and sort of difficult. my trip was so short but so wonderful that all i wanted was just to be back there still, surprising the dog with my presence every morning. but alas, i was back at school, thrown into a busy, ever changing schedule, and the first couple of days were tough. but it's back to normal, and the trip home feels like a dream that i had to reluctantly leave when i woke up on a school day morning.
tomorrow two student teachers start at the school. one is for English, the other is for Home Economics, i think. i really don't understand how they schedule these students teaching stints. they're only 3 weeks long, but during those three weeks the school will be super busy. we're having the biggest inter JHS sports tournament this weekend, which could be the last one for 3rd graders if they don't win in their respective team sport. Our school has girl and boy basketball teams, girls' soft tennis team and a boys baseball team. I think a couple of students will be competing in karate as well, but we don't have a formal team at school--they practice at private dojos. So we get a friday and a following monday off because we'll all be expected to be at the tournaments' various sights this weekend to cheer on the students. Also the following Wednesday all the students are going on a field trip to two places in Okinawa to learn about WWII and the peace movement. So lots of interruptions, during which the two young and scared student teachers will have to attempt to practice their budding teaching skills. seems ridiculous to me. but at the same time, very japanese.
this past weekend was filled with all sorts of cultural and learning activities. On Friday, the school was visited by a singer/songwriter who performed for the students and the community. She's Okinawan and in late 20's and suffered from an illness i didn't quite understand which, i think, resulted in her losing vision in one eye. not sure exactly how it happened, but she wears a patch over her right eye. She battled through a serious depression after it happened but with the help of her friends and music was able to pull through. She seriously got into singing and song writing to help her through and has been performing since 2003. She plays the guitar and has a lovely and strong voice. Her music is Alanis Morrissete influenced and not bad at all. I enjoyed her singing.
But i had to leave the concert a half hour early because i got invited to join a few friends in watching a performance by a troupe from India at another village community center. Craig saw them perform on his island of Izena the previous night and said they were worth seeing, so we invited a few people and went to see it. The performance included classical and traditional dancing, singing, drumming and even a martial arts dance with swords. It was great to have our very own Indian expert in Juhi, who explained the story behind one of the more beautiful dances which involved a Krishna flirting with cow shepherdesses. The evening's event also included several performances of Okinawan traditional dance and music. This troupe from North Eastern region of India has been traveling Japan for a month and has another month of daily performances ahead of them. Their performances are a part of the Japan-India Friendship Year 2007. This is to commemorate a cultural, historical and more recently business connections between the two countries. There are numerous events taking place all over Japan and India to commemorate it. I'm really glad we got to see it. It's really great to see a live cultural performance, and i seem to appreciate those very rare opportunities more here.
Here are the students setting up their chairs before the performance on Friday. They bring their own chairs from the classroom. Each chair has their name sticker on the back, unless of course they scraped it off at some point. And then i don't know how they figure out whose is whose.
The singer/songwriter performs at the school on a Friday afternoon.
Prior to the performance at the Nakijin Community Center, the dancers and musicians are introduced to the audience.
The shepherdess dance. When they came out in their stunning costumes, the "awe" in the audience was audible. They were gorgeous and graceful. The best dance of the evening.
Krishna flirting with the main shepherdess. Their love, as Juhi told us, has been deified in Indian mythology. A beautiful, classical dance.
Craig has an interesting story about the performers' visit to his island, and i hope he shares it on his blog. so watch for that.
I also wanted to mention two movies i recently watched, Libertine and Stage Beauty. I watched Libertine first last week, and i had no idea that the two movies took place during the same time period. Each movie's focus was the theater life during the reign of Charles II in England in the 1660's. And the two movies couldn't have been more different in their portrayal of the times. I enjoyed both movies and the stories they told. The differences in how they told the stories of the time made me think in how we look at history of centuries past. We can have a story of depravity and excess be shrouded in dark colors and not shy away from gruesome and highly sexual imagery that prevailed then, or we can have a story of love taking place in the same period where stepping into a pile of horse dung represents the discomfort of life, and the ending stops on an uplifting love moment instead on the image of a death of a syphilitic man. Of course, both films bend history to their liking in order to promulgate their stories.
Would films two hundred years from now be able to romanticize the tragedy of our times? Will there be films two hundred years from now is probably a better question, eh?
and on that note, i'd like to end this blog, so i can get back to watching the 4th season of the Simpsons. The true cultural genius of our times. :)
love
-e
i started going to school a half hour earlier to practice for the story contest with one of the students. she's been busy after school practicing for a basketball tournament and mornings seem to be a good time to have a story session. sometimes she's late, though. and starting next week tuesday her morning "job" at school will be to stand with 3 or 4 other students and greet everyone as they come in to school. she'll have to do it for a week.
actually, because i usually don't get to school until 8:15am i don't get to see all sorts of things that happen before classes start. there are students who come in early to practice sports, and some are there to water the plants in the morning and to do a bit of clean up around the entrance. and of course, the greeters, whom i always miss because at 8:15am as i walk into school, students rush to their homerooms for a morning meeting. So i've been enjoying coming in early and seeing a new side of my students and school.
at first being back from home was really odd. and sort of difficult. my trip was so short but so wonderful that all i wanted was just to be back there still, surprising the dog with my presence every morning. but alas, i was back at school, thrown into a busy, ever changing schedule, and the first couple of days were tough. but it's back to normal, and the trip home feels like a dream that i had to reluctantly leave when i woke up on a school day morning.
tomorrow two student teachers start at the school. one is for English, the other is for Home Economics, i think. i really don't understand how they schedule these students teaching stints. they're only 3 weeks long, but during those three weeks the school will be super busy. we're having the biggest inter JHS sports tournament this weekend, which could be the last one for 3rd graders if they don't win in their respective team sport. Our school has girl and boy basketball teams, girls' soft tennis team and a boys baseball team. I think a couple of students will be competing in karate as well, but we don't have a formal team at school--they practice at private dojos. So we get a friday and a following monday off because we'll all be expected to be at the tournaments' various sights this weekend to cheer on the students. Also the following Wednesday all the students are going on a field trip to two places in Okinawa to learn about WWII and the peace movement. So lots of interruptions, during which the two young and scared student teachers will have to attempt to practice their budding teaching skills. seems ridiculous to me. but at the same time, very japanese.
this past weekend was filled with all sorts of cultural and learning activities. On Friday, the school was visited by a singer/songwriter who performed for the students and the community. She's Okinawan and in late 20's and suffered from an illness i didn't quite understand which, i think, resulted in her losing vision in one eye. not sure exactly how it happened, but she wears a patch over her right eye. She battled through a serious depression after it happened but with the help of her friends and music was able to pull through. She seriously got into singing and song writing to help her through and has been performing since 2003. She plays the guitar and has a lovely and strong voice. Her music is Alanis Morrissete influenced and not bad at all. I enjoyed her singing.
But i had to leave the concert a half hour early because i got invited to join a few friends in watching a performance by a troupe from India at another village community center. Craig saw them perform on his island of Izena the previous night and said they were worth seeing, so we invited a few people and went to see it. The performance included classical and traditional dancing, singing, drumming and even a martial arts dance with swords. It was great to have our very own Indian expert in Juhi, who explained the story behind one of the more beautiful dances which involved a Krishna flirting with cow shepherdesses. The evening's event also included several performances of Okinawan traditional dance and music. This troupe from North Eastern region of India has been traveling Japan for a month and has another month of daily performances ahead of them. Their performances are a part of the Japan-India Friendship Year 2007. This is to commemorate a cultural, historical and more recently business connections between the two countries. There are numerous events taking place all over Japan and India to commemorate it. I'm really glad we got to see it. It's really great to see a live cultural performance, and i seem to appreciate those very rare opportunities more here.
Here are the students setting up their chairs before the performance on Friday. They bring their own chairs from the classroom. Each chair has their name sticker on the back, unless of course they scraped it off at some point. And then i don't know how they figure out whose is whose.
The singer/songwriter performs at the school on a Friday afternoon.
Prior to the performance at the Nakijin Community Center, the dancers and musicians are introduced to the audience.
The shepherdess dance. When they came out in their stunning costumes, the "awe" in the audience was audible. They were gorgeous and graceful. The best dance of the evening.
Krishna flirting with the main shepherdess. Their love, as Juhi told us, has been deified in Indian mythology. A beautiful, classical dance.Craig has an interesting story about the performers' visit to his island, and i hope he shares it on his blog. so watch for that.
I also wanted to mention two movies i recently watched, Libertine and Stage Beauty. I watched Libertine first last week, and i had no idea that the two movies took place during the same time period. Each movie's focus was the theater life during the reign of Charles II in England in the 1660's. And the two movies couldn't have been more different in their portrayal of the times. I enjoyed both movies and the stories they told. The differences in how they told the stories of the time made me think in how we look at history of centuries past. We can have a story of depravity and excess be shrouded in dark colors and not shy away from gruesome and highly sexual imagery that prevailed then, or we can have a story of love taking place in the same period where stepping into a pile of horse dung represents the discomfort of life, and the ending stops on an uplifting love moment instead on the image of a death of a syphilitic man. Of course, both films bend history to their liking in order to promulgate their stories.
Would films two hundred years from now be able to romanticize the tragedy of our times? Will there be films two hundred years from now is probably a better question, eh?
and on that note, i'd like to end this blog, so i can get back to watching the 4th season of the Simpsons. The true cultural genius of our times. :)
love
-e
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Congratulations Dr. Kats!!!
Anna and Sofya at Anna's studio apartment with one of her newest pieces.
Have you ever heard of hurling? Well, if you haven't, then you'd be like me. A good friend joined the league in Milwaukee which is apparently the largest league outside of Ireland where the game is from. I went to see his practice to see what it looked like. It looks difficult, streneous, but fun.
Molly at the dog park. It was truly warm and sunny one day in Milwaukee while i was there. Molly and I enjoyed a stroll in the park.
Sofya at the brand new (to me) Bayshore mall. The newly redone mall was opened in the winter time. It's done like a mini-city with stores lining streets, each building architecturally different. but the large building behind Sofya is mostly condos and offices.
Prior to the hooding ceremony on Saturay night, Sofya and grandmas.
Walking into the church for the hooding ceremony. The ceremony was held at a cathedral on 12th street in Milwaukee across from Marquette university. Marquette is a Jesuit university.
Sofya is honored for her top grades with several other classmates.
2007 Marquette School of Dentistry graduates. Congratulations!
with the happy family after the hooding ceremony which official inducted Sofya into the dentistry profession.
On Sunday morning at the graduation luncheon, Katie and Sofya show off their hoods. The lilac color is for the profession of dentistry. Blue and gold are Marquette's colors.
Sofya poses with one of the cards my students made for her.
Early monday morning we had breakfast with grandmas before my sisters drove me to the Chicago airport.
One of the reasons i love being home is the comfort of being with my family. This photo reminds me of that. Grandma Nina fortune tells on the coffee grounds every time we have turkish coffee. She's lovely when she does and i look forward to it every time.
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