Time-out

Taking a break from my winter holiday story to catch up on the month that's passed since then, in bits and pieces of observations and happenings.

Monday, February 1^st:

Noon: To start it off, I just made hot chocolate with salt. Luckily it wasn’t very strong salt, but nevertheless, a bit surprising on that first sip. The sugar jar was empty, so I thought I’d fill it. After one sip of incredibly non-sweetened hot chocolate years ago in Germany, I almost always put at least one teaspoon of sugar in my hot chocolate just to be on the safe side. There was half a bag of white granules in the back of the cupboard on the same level where all the beverage things are kept. I’ve NEVER seen salt there. I even opened the bag to take a whiff and smelled nothing, which in the past (in Japan) has indicated sugar. The substance in the bag was kind of mushy too, which is the way some of the sugar is around here. So, I didn’t even bother to try to read the bag. Luckily I was the only one who put salt in their drink before being able to rectify the mistake.

4:30pm: Well…..the weather finally caught me. There really isn’t much in the way of weather in the winter in Tokigawa and I’ve been lulled into a false sense of security with the 4 weeks of pretty much non-stop sunny days we’ve had since the turn of the year. This morning didn’t seem that much different, so I rode my bike to school…..and by noon the clouds had started, well, not so much rolling in as spreading vaporous tentacles over everything. About an hour later it started sprinkling. By the time it was time for me to go home, it was flat-out raining. Riding the bike home wasn’t really an option, considering I had no raingear with me. I didn’t even bother trying to check bus times (you’d have to have better luck than that with which I’ve been bestowed to get a bus in Tokigawa in the late afternoon). So, walk it was. The school always has extra umbrellas, so that’s no a problem, and I’ve been walking home in the afternoons lately anyway, so again, no biggie. But let’s just say anyone who saw me on the road when I was only 5 minutes out from my house (of a 45-minute walk) could definitely tell that I’d walked a ways in the rain based solely on the disproportionate percentage of wet pant-legs to dry pant-legs, and I probably set a land-speed record in getting my space heater out and running after walking through my front door.

Of course none of that is really a big deal…what gets wet dries. The real bummer is that tomorrow morning I’m going to have to actually follow through with the getting-up-in-time-to-walk-to-school-in-the-morning that I’ve been trying to get myself to do for weeks now but have had no success with because I loathe getting out of bed when it’s so cold in the mornings. It means moving away from blankets and the warm cocoon I’m able to create in one room at a time with my space heater. Dangnabit.

Sunday, January 31^st: Tonight I had a bit of a reunion with the 3 teachers I became good friends with my first year in Japan, Akiko, Kumi and Yoshika. We went to the “swank” onsen (hot spring) in Ogawa (a town neighboring Tokigawa) to watch a concert…and, of course, to take a dip in the hot baths. I had no idea what the concert was about, but a concert at a hot spring sounded really cool. I figured it would be classical, and so it was, a violinist and a piano player (both male, which surprised me) from the same music university from which Yoshika graduated. The concert was one of those ‘intimate’ settings- a small café/restaurant-style room. We were on the front row couches. The musicians would play one (relatively short) song, then the violinist would talk for a few minutes, then they would play another song. Half the time I tried to pay attention to what he was saying, half the time I zoned out because I just wasn’t following. Halfway through the concert, while the violinist was talking, all three of my friends started making gestures at me, actually, kind of between me and the musicians, saying “dozo, Mandy, dozo,” which amongst its various meanings can mean “go ahead.” I could kind of tell they were trying to get me to volunteer for something, but I really had no clue what was going on. I tried to pass off whatever they were trying to get me to do to Yoshika, since the musicians were indicating the piano was involved in whatever was going on and Yoshika’s specialty is piano. Finally someone muttered the words, “Hit three keys,” which gave me enough of a clue to raise my hand, since no one else was rising to the challenge. So, I stood up, in my Japanese bathrobe (since we had come from the hot spring and would be going back afterward), introduced myself, sat down at the piano, and tried to get the guys to tell me again what was going on. Hit three keys…at the same time? No? Separately? White or black is okay? Alright…. I chose three keys at random, then went back to my seat. The piano player sat down, played those three keys again, dinked around with them and a few other chords for a few seconds, then apparently made up a song on the spot revolving around the three keys I had played. I have to admit, I was quite impressed!

Friday, January 29^th: I’ve been riding my bike to school recently. It’s not uncommon for me to get a wave or two from teachers from various schools or town hall staff who are driving the opposite direction on the main road down which I ride like the wind in the morning because there is always a high probability I will be late because I hate getting out of bed in the winter when it’s so cold. And I meet some of the students from the other junior high school walking up the road from the direction which I’m coming, so I get to shout out a few “good mornings” at them. This morning was a bit special though. As I was coming down the road near my house at the beginning of my journey, I stopped at the crossroad to check for cars and nearly ran into one of my “other JHS” students. I was shocked to see it was the Peruvian-Japanese girl who had moved away 2 years ago! It was nice to see her again…she’d been very keen on interacting in English class when she was a 1^st year, and had asked me to give her some American hip hop music before she left as it was her favorite genre. Then, about halfway to my destination, a boy in a school uniform pulled out of a side street a few yards ahead of me. He turned around twice when he saw me, and I was happy to see it was Yuchi, the 3^rd year student at my current JHS who LOVES English, is really good at speaking it, and is quite outgoing about doing so. He was sweet enough to let me catch up with him and we rode and talked the rest of the way to school together. The students are so shy about speaking English sometimes, especially at my current JHE, that it makes me over-abundantly happy whenever a stude3nt takes initiative to speak with me. Hence, it was a great way to start the day!

Two consecutive Fridays in a row, tonight and last Friday night, I’ve walked home from the train stations in neighboring towns. Why? Part of me was curious just how long it would take. The other part was more simply akin to the “Forest Gump” notion of ‘just start running.’ I just started walking. Actually, last week, I arrived in Ranzan with over 30 minutes to wait for my bus to Tokigawa. I got to thinking that I’d have to wait 30 minutes, then the bus ride would be another 20 minutes. In those 50 minutes, I could be pretty close to the side of town from which I needed to pick up my bike, since I was remembering the last time I walked it took me an hour and a half door-to-door. So, I started walking. Tonight I arrive in Ogose to catch the local train line that ran through my town, only to find that I had missed the 9 o’clock-hour train by 5 minutes and would have to wait an hour for the next train. I had started to form a theory in my head in the past few weeks that it would only take me 45 minutes to walk from Ogose to Tokigawa. If I waited for the train, there would be 20-30 minute walk on the other end anyway in order to get from Tokigawa’s train station to my apartment. So, I started walking. It took me 70 minutes in the end, but still less time than it would have taken if I had waited for the train and then walked home from my local station.

Both walks were cold, but there is nothing like a winter night sky. The atmosphere is so crisp that it seems like it would make a crinkle noise if you could touch it. The stars shine so bright it’s like new light bulbs were just put in them. The moon was just a crescent last week, but this week it was moving towards full, which always casts the dark landscape in a curious dim blanket of washed out light. Last week, as I was crossing over the Tokigawa river on the far side of town, I looked down to see the top part of the river above the small dam incredibly still, reflecting more of both the flanking and distant landscape than one would think possible for a river reflection to collect. In the center, a Great Blue Heron stood as tall and as still as a sentry.

Thursday, January 28^th: Went to my far, ‘rural’ elementary school, Hagigaoka, today. I only teach 2 classes when I go to this school. Today was 1^st and 2^nd grade. The 2^nd graders were going ice skating at the natural rink near the school with the 3^rd and 5^th graders during first and second hour, which obviously meant they wouldn’t be having English class earlier in the morning, and the 1^st grade teacher didn’t care when I came to her class. So when the Principal asked me if I was interested in going ice skating as well, I didn’t hesitate to say yes! Good way to spend the first two hours of the school day. Even better, we walked to and from the rink. That part of town is quite rural, and getting a bit more into the mountains. The sun came out in full halfway through our time at the rink. Man, it was beautiful.

While I’m on the subject of elementary schools, last Thursday I was eating lunch with one of my 1^st grade classes (at a different elementary school) with which I’d had an English lesson earlier that morning. This class of kids was especially exuberant that day and were having a blast lobbing questions at me during lunch (Do you like this food? How old are you? Do you know what this is? How old are you?). The boy on my left was being particularly monopolative of the question-asking and had just asked me if I knew how to tear-down my milk carton (which the students do at the end of every lunch hour). As the boy on my right suddenly grabbed my attention, the boy on my left finished his milk and began the demonstration of tearing down the milk carton regardless of the fact I wasn’t paying attention. Well, he got my attention soon enough! I imagine his hand slipped while he was tearing, because suddenly my face was all wet. I quickly glanced in the direction from which the spray came and saw the half-torn-down carton in the boy’s hand. Great. I had just had a milk bath. I didn’t have my hand-towel with me (sacrilege!), so with my eyes have shut to keep milk drops from going in them, I randomly tossed out a request for tissues. Everyone was just staring, probably in slight disbelief that the foreign chic was sitting in front of them with milk dotting her face. It took a few seconds for one of the teacher’s aides at the next lunch group over to get up, extending tissues in front of her as she walked towards me. I quickly started dabbing my face, trying not to laugh TOO hard at the same time. The situation became even funnier when I felt the teacher’s aide start to pat my head, exclaiming, “It’s in your hair, too.” The most shocking thing about it all is that in all the lunches I’ve eaten with the elementary school kids over the past 3+ years, this is the first time any of their lunch has ended up on me.

Week of January 25^th-29^th: On Tuesday of this week, for whatever reason, one of the never-ending succession of J-pop boy bands in Japan, this one by the name of NEWS, decided to tape their weekly variety show on the grounds at my current JHS. The “Tokigawa show” will air at 1am on Thursday, February 18^th. However, when I asked one of my English teachers about the airing time the day after the taping, he said, “Thursday at midnight.” So, two days after the taping, I made sure I woke up at 11:45pm so I could watch my town on TV. However, once midnight rolled around, the channel the show was supposed to be on was clearly not airing a variety show. I stayed up until 12:30am, just in case the shows changed over then, but, nope. So, I went back to sleep hoping that when he said “Thursday at midnight,” that wasn’t the English translation of what meant “first thing Wednesday morning at 12:00am.” When I went to school the next day, in English class while the 3^rd grade students were working on translating an English text into Japanese (a task for which I am absolutely no help), I asked the [other] English teacher about the variety show. He turned around and asked the entire class if they knew when “our” show would air. This is how I know now to stay up the night of the 18^th. By the way, did I mention before that the governor of our prefecture came to town last term to visit the last of the town’s schools that had been remodeled internally in the “woody” style (as they say in Japan) from the town’s timber industry? And that our town’s small taiko group, featuring the mayor, performed the opening act at the prefectural celebration show in the prefectural capital last fall? Suddenly Tokigawa is “in.” Each time I asked why these things were happening, someone said it was probably because the mayor made a request. Way to go mayor! Oh….did I also mention that the mayoral election is this year and happening on February 21^st?

End-of-January: A few days ago I was caught by surprise to see the blossoms on the plum trees starting to bud. It is about that time of year, although it does seem a little early…which probably has more to do with me being in slight disbelief that it is really that time of year again than with it actually being too early for the blooms.

Plum trees around here are generally not that much taller than me, and have thick, but sparse branches. There’s something about seeing them bloom that makes the heart happy. I’ve kind of come to think of it as possibly nature’s best version of a gradual shift from winter to spring. Just when you’re starting to feel the full weight of the middle of winter, these cute, squat, otherwise unassuming trees bloom with the most lovely, soft little flowers in an abundance of subtle shades of white, yellow and pink,…and a not so subtle shade of deep pink. You’re wrapped in a sense of confused enrapture at this sign of new life in the throes of winter, so much so that it’s almost a shock when the tall trees of the cherry blossoms burst into bloom to signal spring’s full assault.

January 16-17: This year’s first of two town Family Ski trips. Friends Sadaf and Zach (of the bungee-jumping trio fame) joined me. While Zach was off zipping around the top slopes of the mountain with his new advanced snowboarding friends, Sadaf and I swallowed pride and joined a few of my elementary and junior high school students in the beginner’s snowboarding group. It was good times, and we knew it was going to be good times from the very get-go, when we realized the guy dressed up in the bunny suit was our instructor. Better yet, the bunny was Hiro, my friend from volleyball and manager of the convenience store closest to me. Co-instructor was the trip organizer, sports hall staff, and also my friend, Yumi. Only 4 other students in the beginners group, 3 of them all students who are amongst my favorite of those who actively engage in my English classes. The fourth was a lady I’d never met before. Fantastic weather (except for the wind higher up on the hill that always gets you when you’re on the ski lift), and fantastic powder snow (probably for the first time in 3 years!), which, let me tell you, makes it MUCH easier to stand up forwards on a snowboard (at least for me)! The only times I fell in the afternoon were exactly when I was trying to greet my students in other groups that we randomly met sometimes on the slopes. Best time to fall flat on your face is in front of your students. Yep. Which then turns into the best time to decide to take pictures.