Click
on picture to enlarge.Emails from Kirsten and Naoto
October 2002
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 04:51:44 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Shake, Rattle, and Blow and I'm off my game
Dear Friends and Family:
Mia is now beginning to ask us to read certain books. She will pick up a book and hold it out for you to take. Actually, I think she likes to just turn the pages, but there is definitely a preference for the "sliding suprise" book called "Who's bugging you?" and a Japanese book called "The Penguin's Ocean Experience."
Naoto reads the Japanese books to her and I read the English books to her. Recently, she seems to understand that some books are for mommy and some for Otochan.
Or maybe I am just fooling myself.
Shake, Rattle, and Blow
The biggest typhoon to hit Japan since 1945 blew through here two days ago.
Where we live (in Chiba, Japan) is evidently the place where most typhoons hit Japan.
(digression: why do Naoto and I always choose the most dangerous places to live? When we lived in Alameda, California we found out that in the event of an earthquake it was THE WORST place in the bay area to be)
The worst part of the storm hit us around 8:00 p.m. Wow. It shook the whole house. We put down our metal storm shutters, and the noise was horrific. It was like there was a mob outide shaking every window.
For some reason, Mia slept through it. (although she will wake in an instant if you drop the remote on the hardwood floor)
Around 8:30, the power and telephones went out. There was an announcement over the emergency announcement system in the town, but the wind was so loud, Naoto couldn't hear it. The next day school was cancelled due to lack of power and water. Two of our screen doors ended up in a rice paddy, and our jungle has turned into sad, brown stalks of wilting vegetation.
Apparently we are so close to the ocean that the wind has lots of salt flying about in it. The salt really scours the vegetation around here.
Our rose bush is dying. (sigh)
Living in Japan sometimes reminds me of the fundamentals. You work hard to plant tomatoes, eggplants, Italian parsley, and in one night it is gone. In one night your screen doors dissappear and your bikes barely miss getting a bath in a rice paddy.
Typhoons aren't as scary to me as earthquakes, but you live through enough of either one and it gives you some perspective.
I didn't get so upset at my students the next day when they didn't listen, or didn't have their homework, or they came in late.
At least my house was still standing. At least Naoto and Mia were safe. At least the glass in our windows was intact.
I'm off my game
Today I was off my game teaching-wise. I don't know what my problem was. I got more sleep the last night than I have in 10 months. (Mia slept five hours straight, yippee!) My lesson plan was all set, and I had all my papers. For some reason I couldn't quite remember everyone's name (still the second week and students are drifting in and out. It makes it hard to remember. Also, I have one class where I have a Hiroyuki, a Yukinori, a Yuki, a Yukio, a Hiroyasu, and a Yasuyuki. It's enough to drive one insane, really it is).
Also, the logical progression of activities didn't turn out so logical. (it was a grammar class)
I hate it when I overplan and the lesson still sucks. It's one of those paradoxes of teaching. You can have the most awesome lesson plan and it will go down terribly in practice. On other days, you can go into the classroom without a plan in your head and the whole times goes smoothly.
Why is that?
love and light,
kirsten
p.s. Mia crying picture. Naoto's good friend, Nakaya and his wife visited
us. They wanted to hold her, but she is still in the "if you are not my otochan
or mommy don't even think about touching me" phase.
Click
on picture to enlarge.
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 04:06:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: mysterious things
Dear Friends and Family:
Mia is a HUGE Abba fan. She walked around all day yesterday saying "abba, abba, abba". Naoto and I had to spontaneously burst into songs like "She's a dancing queen, young and sweet, only just 16."
Mia is also Evel Kneivel. Her most recent game is pulling herself up to a standing position on the windowsill in our tatami room. Then she launches herself backwards, twists around, and lands on all fours. She laughs hysterically and then does it again.
Recently, Mia is listening to:
Mr. Mackle Hackle (former Bobs guy wrote the songs)
Nightmare before Christmas (she seems to like the song
"what's this?")
Japanese Children's Songs
My daughter is so funny! I can't believe she is going to be one year old in two weeks. It seems so long and yet so quick at the same time.
Naoto and I just returned home from visiting the grandparents in Tokyo. I got to go to my favorite city in Japan (outside of kyoto): Kawagoe. Kawagoe is the city of sweet potatoes. Sweet potato cake, sweet potato beer, sweet potato noodles, sweet potato cream puffs, etc. etc. (for more info and pictures, check out http://www.geocities.com/kblincoln/japanmar2.html)
The attached photo is Naoto under a firetower in Kawagoe.
Mysterious things
I find certain things mysterious about Japan. Here are some of them.
1. No towel racks are built into bathrooms in houses or apartments that I have seen. Just where do Japanese people dry their towels?
2. I see little kids with orange-dyed hair all the time. I mean like 8 months to one year old. I can't even get Mia to sit still long enough to cut her toenails, let alone wave dangerous dye around her head!
3. Most Japanese people are not color blind, as far as I know, but they use their word for blue 'aoi' to describe green traffic signals and green apples.
4. Why are there no taco bells in Japan? There are Mcdonalds, haagen daazs, subways, kentucky fried chickens and starbucks. Why not tacos?
5. the ability for two trucks to pass each other on a road I thought I was a footpath. Oh yeah, there were pedestrians on both sides as well as electic poles sticking out.
6. With all the compulsory English education, the amount of Assistant Language teachers from Britain, Australia, Canada, and the U.S., as well as the major financial success of English Conversation schools such as Aeon, Nova, Geos, ECC, etc. etc., why is there so much strange English on packaging here?
I hope all is well with you.
love and light,
kirsten
Click
on picture to enlarge
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 22:10:14 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: did ya miss me? and Japan's secret sister country
Friends and Family:
I realize it has been a long time in between emails. My brother and his family were visiting for the last ten days. Poor Naoto has been run ragged taking care of Mia and my brother's family while I was at work.
They went to Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nikko. (The cultural center of Japan, the modern financial center of Japan, and big old shrine surrounded by cedar trees)
It was way cool having my brother's family here. I never thought in a million years they would get here. They have the same financial problems we have; having to fly to see parents in a different country (my sister-in-law is from Slovakia)I was probably more excited for them to see Japan than they were to be here. I've been waiting years and years for Mark to see Japan.
I always forget how nice it is to hang with my brother. He is the only one in the world that understands the sound track running constantly through my head. No matter how much we are beginning to remind each other of our parents, he is still a great brother (now).
Now things are quiet because they just left. Too quiet. Mia is all bored now with just me.
In Mia news, she is now a roving monster. She stood for 20 seconds by herself. She will not just sit and play anymore, she wants to climb on things and pull herself up and take things out of shelves and drawers.
Japan's secret sister country
Jana (my sister in law) kept commenting on how suprised she was that Japan reminded her of Europe. (narrow streets, ancient buildings, fashionably dressed people, etc)
I have for a long time harbored a controversial theory about ancient Japanese history. I think that a long time ago there were two brothers: one flaxen-haired pale dude and one ruddy-skinned, black haired dude.
One of the brothers traveled across Asia and settled in Japan where he built elaborate rituals surrounding the drinking of tea, a socially stratified society, an Empire mentality, and an emotionally repressed society. The other brother went to England and built elaborate rituals surrounding the drinking of tea, an Empire mentality, and an emotionally repressed society.
Hmmmm, any takers on my theory?
love and light,
Kirsten
P.S. Mark calls this picture of Mia the "clockwork Orange baby"
Click on picture to enlarge.
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 18:46:45 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Happy Birthday and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dear Friends and Family
Mia is 1! (October 29th) I can't believe it. She has grown so fast. Looking back over the past year, I wonder how she managed to survive at all. There are so many things that could have gone wrong; accidents, typhoons, earthquakes, innatentive parents, poisons, etc.etc.
Anyway, she had carrot cake on her birthday, and she got a toy drum from her father. (he wants to teach her the oakland drumming cheers for the A's)
She will go trick or treating at the offices of my fellow English teachers tomorrow. She will be a frog. I am going to give them pieces of carrot cake, baby rice crakers, and steamed cheese bread for her treats. I hope she isn't afraid of everyone.
Naoto and I are very proud and happy parents.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
In my current quest for understanding the murky minds of my students, I have observed an interesting phenomena.
Take your average punk student; male, just-got-out-of-bed hairstyle dyed orange or blonde, slim to no interest in English. He will often sleep in class, doesn't do homework, cracks jokes at the expense of the teacher in Japanese, and sometimes needs to be yelled at to a) not smoke in the classroom, b) not talk on his cell phone in class, or c) drawing insulting pictures of nerdy students on the desk is not appropriate (yes, all of these have occurred in my last semester)
No matter how much I yell at this student, no matter how much he makes fun of me, he becomes Mr. Hyde when we meet outside of class. All of a sudden, the student who wouldn't answer "where are you from" without getting the advice of five of his fellow punks will ask something like "how is your daughter?" or "did you see the chiba baseball game?"
They act like there was never a problem at all and seem to really enjoy our interactions. Of course this isn't every one, but it has happened often enough for me to call it a pattern.
I am thinking it has to do with context. Context is a big deal in Japan. In the classroom context, they aren't allowed to like English or to interact positively with me. Outside of class, I stop being a teacher, I guess.
Anyway, it was just strange for me. In high school, the teachers I didn't like in class were teachers I didn't like outside of class, too.
love and light,
kirsten
P.s. Mia and her birthday cards (except for the email ones which I couldn't get in the picture)
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on picture to enlarge
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 02:36:44 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Happy Halloween from Japan!
Dear Friends
Happy Halloween from Gumyo, Japan. Here is a little frog (who just turned 1!) to say "trick or treat."
Mia's second Halloween was spent trick or treating around the offices of all the English teachers at my University.
I hope everyone is having a safe and happy Halloween.
Love and light,
Kirsten
Click
on picture to enlarge.