IrishOboe

We had our first holiday weekend due to the Respect for the Aged national holiday (Monday, Sept 19). I enjoyed it a lot, though again I came into the week more tired than I left it. I have much to learn about this holding a job thing.

Let’s see, Friday (16^th) was an okay day at school as far as I can remember. I got a kick in the pants that reminded me of why I’m here. For a random reason I was in the student hallway during lunch and a group of my male students addressed me. I’d like to say I engaged in conversation. But I don’t know any Japanese for these situations and they can’t really speak English either. After much Japanese and laughs from the crowd and a total of three English sentences (“I don’t speak Japanese.” “You’re cute.” and “Japanese joke.”) I went on my way frustrated that not only do I not know my students, but I’ve been here two months and I don’t know how to make any conversation in Japanese! It’s a vicious cycle of I can’t speak Japanese so I don’t speak to people and I don’t speak people so I don’t learn Japanese. I’ll get there! It was nice to have this reminder to get me thinking about what I want out of my time here.

Anyway, after school I went to the library to meet Niko and get out some Japanese children’s books for me to practice reading hiragana (one of the alphabets). It took us a little time to find books that were simple enough since I not only can’t read kanji and don’t read hiragana well, I don’t know much Japanese vocabulary. We did managed to find 10 books and I’ve been having a good time wading through them. It took me about 30min to read the equivalent of “Chug chug, chug chug. May I have a ride? Chug chug, chug chug. May I have a ride? Etc. a few times. We’ve arrived! Goodbye everyone!” Now if only I had a loving mother who was willing to read the stories to me over and over again . . .

After we got the books out Niko and I went to dinner at what happened to be the same restaurant (chain) that I ate at when I first came to Yamanashi. The menu made a whole lot more sense this time. That was encouraging because I feel like I haven’t learned any Japanese – or not enough at least. Niko said during the course of the evening that I was picking up Japanese very quickly, but I think that’s just the Japanese being nice again. I took more seriously her comment that my English is very easy to understand, which I believe because she obviously understands me well. I really have almost no trouble communicating with her. It makes for a fun time and it’s easy to learn Japanese from her. So, after dinner we went out for coffee, which was lovely. I think I then went right to bed.

Saturday (Sept 17^th) Niko very generously took me to the doctor so he could look at the knee I injured on Mt. Fuji. He didn’t seem to know much about physical therapy or self healing techniques because the options he gave me were rest or an x-ray. Obviously I need to rest but I was hoping to see if I do something funny when I walk or why it seems connected to a certain muscle and maybe get massage to help the healing. Niko was acting as translator the whole time, which was very, very lovely. The doctor said that massage and acupuncture only help with the pain and don’t help the problems (which I don’t believe). Once I mentioned that I’d been getting massage for my upper body problems he seemed more willing to give it to me, but because I have to work every day there was really no time I could come in. He suggested maybe acupuncture and I said I’d like to try. Since sometime in college I’ve always thought that it would be wonderful. The thought of having a needle go right into a trigger point sounded so wonderful but I was afraid to try it without a recommendation. I figured here was my chance to try. He said that most foreigners scream and never ask for it again, but I said I still wanted to try. I asked when I could come in and he told me to lie down! A little shocked and not a little scared I lay down and tried to prepare myself. I tried to relax and breathe deeply as I do before massages (they are hard work, you know) and I tried to remember how I’d imagined acupuncture would feel. It turns out he does a special kind of acupuncture where he actually injects a little saline solution with some pain killer in it. You can only be so picky when you don’t speak the language, so resigned myself to this odd variation. It didn’t really hurt. It felt like a pinch and certainly didn’t hurt as much as a shot does. One shot really hurt, but the rest were quite bearable. I had my eyes closed so I didn’t know why Niko was freaking out saying “Doesn’t that hurt?” The doctor commented on how quiet I was so I opened my eyes to see what all the fuss was about – I was bleeding at every poke! I hadn’t realized that you bleed during acupuncture, and maybe it’s only because it’s this special injection kind, but it was little shocking to see myself covered in red dots! He did about 4 in each hand and foot and knee area. Niko said the needle was going in about ¾” but it still felt great! My shoulders opened up and when I sat up I felt like my body was all aligned. I’d like to try again, but this time without the injection part. I did insist on getting the ingredients of the shot just for my own reference.

The last shocking thing happened just before we left. He managed to get out an English sentence to the effect of “If your knee doesn’t get better come see me I’m happy to see beautiful woman any time.” Please don’t shatter my illusion that that doesn’t happen in America!

Niko and I went out for coffee again then I had a few hours to get stuff done and get ready for church.

Sadly, Niko couldn’t make it since her afternoon appointment took longer than expected. I was waiting at the train station by myself when Danny pulled up and I began to think that Meagan, Chris, and Leslie weren’t coming as well, but they’d just gotten off a train and walked up at Danny came to a stop. Church was much more like a bad contemporary service with less-than-inspiring songs in cheesy keys, but it was still great to be with a body of believers. A Japanese member gave the sermon this time, and it was very interesting to hear a sermon from a Japanese mind. I’m not sure how to describe it. Maybe I’ll be able to put my finger on it when I learn more about how the Japanese think and what’s important to them.

After church we all went to Suzie and Danny’s for a BBQ. It was great fun and it was so wonderful to be in a nice home with friendly people eating good food (and not getting drunk). That’s my kind of party. Believe it or not, that was the first night I’d attempted to have a conversation in Japanese with someone. I’d been so sheltered up until then! I discovered we couldn’t get very far. I wish there were more cognates! Well, that was kick in the butt number two that I needed to get myself studying again. I was still able to talk to many Japanese people there since many had a bit of English. I spoke more with the girl who I met in Fujiyoshida (she loved the sweet potatoes that I’d made – my first compliment as a chef!) and I met a Japanese man who lives relatively near me and sings in a gospel group. He ended up giving me and my guests (I’ll explain later) a ride home. I had a good time with the kids and just generally enjoyed myself. I was also excited to meet a German man whose wife is Japanese and whose college-aged daughter speaks Japanese, German, and English. They also happened to be good friends with Naito sensei (my office mate at school).

We all enjoyed ourselves so much that Lesie, Meagan and Chris missed their last train back so they all came to my place for the night. That was lovely, though we didn’t have too much time to talk.

Sunday (Sept 18) we all went to Jonathan’s for breakfast so I could try the pancakes with maple syrup. They were not what I’d call good pancakes if I’d been in the states, but here they tasted mighty fine. It’s interesting to find out what things I miss that I didn’t think I was that big a fan of. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I guess! I took my guests to the train station and dropped them off and took my bike home. I spent the rest of the day studying Japanese (using the many books that were left by my predecessor) and doing domestic chores.

Monday (Sept 19^th, Respect for the Aged Day) I spent the day in Kiyosato with Rudy, Kasia, and her friend Kasaki. Kiyosato is where Kasia lives and it’s at the very north west part of Yamanashi. It was very beautiful there. It seemed like a totally new country. There were lots of fields and trees and it’s all in the mountains. It smelled lovely and fresh and it was beautiful! We started the day by going to a modern art museum, which was interesting, but not my favorite. We then got lunch in the Kiyosato city center, which is charming but quite touristy. I had some pizza that came pretty close to pizza in Italy. Well, better than most, which might not be very close at all, but anyway . . . To continue the Italian theme we had ice cream at a gelato stand. It looked like it might have been quite close to Italian gelato since it was served the Italian way (I’d never seen that outside of Italy), but it didn’t really taste like gelato. It was good, though!

After lunch we went to a glass museum, which wasn’t like Tiffany, but it was still enjoyable. I really liked one room of more modern stuff. It was very colorful and creative.

I felt I needed to rest my knee more so we drove around a little and had coffee and snacks at a cute café. We then went on to dinner at a place nearby Kasia’s and got friedly, personalized service – free ice cream for all! I tried their specialty flavor: cheese. It was a bit strange, but not bad.

We had hoped to hit the onsen before sunset, but it was cloudy so it didn’t matter much that we missed it. It took us a little to figure out the how’s and when’s of the onsen, but we eventually got ourselves towels and a locker, showered, and into the pool. An onsen is a natural hot spring bathing pool (though I’m not sure this one was natural). The catch is that in Japan you go without any bathing clothes. Before you go in you wash yourself completely and yes, there are two separate onsens for male and female. This one was outside and had rocks on the edge and in the middle for sitting on. Kasia and I had a good time relaxing and talking, but you can only stay in hot water for so long. The whole experience took a little over an hour. That included a 100yen mechanical foot massage. Oh that felt good!

We then went to the train station and headed for home. I’m pretty sure I went right to bed!