IrishOboe

Saturday morning I did my best to do productive work even though I was still sad and unmotivated from having said goodbye to Shirane. Before Hippo I bought a bus ticket to Narita, so armed with that and my plane ticket (which came in the mail) I can now be quite sure of getting home. At Hippo there were 39 visitors from Pensylvania and New York who were doing homestays with Hippo members as part of their People to People trip.It was quite chaotic so they cut game time but kept introduction time, but I think the opposite would have been more fun. I was asked to give a 20 minute speech but was cut short because the Japanese couldn’t understand me even though the Americans were interested (or so it seemed to me). I wasn’t aiming for the Japanese to understand (I sit through their speeches about Hippo and make it through, they can do the same), I was hoping to explain some things about the Japanese to help these kids understand what they see around them. Oh well, I did get some interesting information on the table. You should have seen the look on the American guidance councilor’s face when I said that if kids get in trouble outside of school they call the school, not the parents. I hadn’t realized that schools in America now are not allowed to discipline kids at all now. It seems to me that it makes school a rather unsafe place to be.

Anyway, the chaotic two hours that were interesting enough for me and the Japanese, but I’m afraid not so interesting for the guests. I was thrilled to act as interpreter for some people, not because I wanted to, but because I could! It’s one thing to understand and get by, it’s another to express another person’s words and be sure enough of your understanding to pass it on. It was also interesting for me to see so many Americans and to be reminded of what we’re like. I think it’s a good warm up for when I go home. It made me realize that one of the nice things about living in a country where you don’t speak the language well is that you don’t understand the conversations around you. That’s been nice, because usually those conversations aren’t interesting or uplifting. Plus, any small talk is exciting and quite a learning experience, whereas in your own language it can be a burden. I also noticed that Americans are big and loud and talk on top of each other! We can also be quite pushy. It was so weird to experience the same forwardness and strong opinions that I have myself but haven’t noticed since I’ve been around sweet Japanese people for a year!

After the meeting I stayed to help one girl and her homestay who were having problems. Since one girl dropped out this girl was staying by herself and was very lonely, as I guess teenagers can get when they don’t have a friend always at their side. After acting as a sympathetic interpreter (another person had more English than I had Japanese but she was more upset that the girl wasn’t prepare for what a homestay meant) we arrived at a solution that pleased everyone. I would spend the next day (the last of the homestay) with the family and act as a kind of glue. I had to move back my plans with Kasia, but that turned out to be easy. Ryu’s family is very dear and I had so much fun at their house before I was actually quite happy to have another chance. They day turned out to be great fun for everyone since the Philadelphia girl had an American to talk to, I got to be with such a great Japanese family, and they got to practice English and exchange culture with Americans. I know Ryu had been looking forward to and studying very hard for this homestay and he was so sad that the girl had gotten upset. I do love helping out when it’s hardly a sacrifice! But I get ahead of myself.

Because of that situation I was late for Bible study so I biked right to Adden’s, but there was a miscommunication and we weren’t having it and I woke him up! Oops! I then biked to church and was just early enough to eat a dinner of onigiri and tamagoyaki that I’d made (I’m trying to use up my food as best as I can). It’d been a month since I’d been in church, so it was good to be back and see people again. Everything went late so I didn’t get home until late, but I still managed to get some work done the next morning before Ryu picked me up for the day.

They had spent Saturday night at the grandparents house in Fujiyoshida so they were tired from the long drive back. So after they picked me up we rested at the Ryuo library for a few hours. The Phili girl was excited to look through children’s books and try to learn hiragana. She was a fast learner, and I’m sure it helped that she had so many willing helpers around her. It was also fun for me to read some of the books. I hadn’t looked at children’s books since I used them to help me learning hiragana, so I could measure my progress and be impressed that now I can read smoothly and understand quite a bit. Hurray!

After the library we went to kaitenzushi for lunch. The Phili girl had an interesting time with the raw fish and the cooked eel, but tried them at my urging. She only took a bite, but at least she tried. She enjoyed the cooked shrimp and egg sushi, so she survived. We had some difficulty planning a dinner that she’d be happy with since she doesn’t like salty things (that cuts out everything with soy sauce, which is everything!), but here again I was a bit useful as interpreter and cultural liaison.

After lunch we went to the Prefectural Museum of History, which was very, very interesting even though it was all in Japanese. There we happened to meet up with some of the other homstays and we all did some chatting. I was able to chat both with the hosts and the guests. I’m not bragging, I could be so much better, I’m just excited that even without studying much (and not all in the past four months) I’ve been able to get to the level I’m at. One girl asked if I’d studied before since my Japanese seemed so good. I told her it looks like I know more than I do since I know how to make up for my lack of language ability. Still, I have to see through their eyes I’m conversing with ease, which must look impressive even though the grammar is not good and my understanding not complete. Anyway, I wish we’d had more time in the museum. We played with traditional Japanese toys, tried on traditional clothes, made origami (I chose to pass and spend the time in more exhibits), looked at 600 year old statues, looked at models of Yamanashi festivals and farming practices of 100 years ago, and walked over a 3D map of Yamanashi identifying various landmarks. What fun!

It was also exciting that I could understand more of the kids than I could before. There was still much I didn’t understand, but I felt much more comfortable interacting with them because I could understand them much of the time. With the adults I mostly spoke in English because that was part of the plan for having a homestay, but there was plenty of Japanese to listen to and I was able to keep the Phili girl better informed. Sometimes we would go off in fast, relaxed English that they couldn’t understand, but I hope it wasn’t too often to be frustrating for them. It was cute to hear the kids imitate what we sounded like to them – something very slurred.

After the museum we went to a clothing shop so the Phili girl could buy some Japanese clothes. She ended up buying a few shirts with some of the most hilarious English that I’ve seen. I should have written them down. They made no sense, but were coherent enough to make you laugh out loud.

Then we went to Apita, a big mall-type place that is only three miles or so from my house but I’d never been to (though I’d run passed it once). It had a lot of great stuff, actually, and a nice bookstore. We then went to a ramen place for dinner and had Japanese ramen and gyoza (pot stickers). That satisfied the Phili girl, which relieved us all.

We went back to the house for fireworks, which we shared with the neighbors and their homestay (one of the group leaders). When it started to rain the American’s went into Ryu’s house for dinner and conversation. The tour group leader dominated the conversation and he was a funny story teller. The Phili girl and I were rolling with laughter, but it was lost on the non-native speakers. It felt strange to be on the other side of the understanding gap. I did my best to share translate some of the stories, and though I’m happy I was able to attempted and get through it, I’m fairly sure they laughed to be polite and didn’t really get the joke. I’m tempted to say it’s partly because it’s American humor that relies on a particular expressiveness and dramatic flare, but how do I know if the Japanese don’t have a similar thing and I just can’t understand it?

Well, that was the day in a nutshell. I had a really great time and I wish I could continue to hang out with such a great family.