Well, we're only a few days away from what used to seem like the biggest day of the year for me. Thinking back to that time in my life, I'm almost in awe of the excitement I used to feel at the approach of the morning when I could get up and open all those presents. Man, I really used to love that day. Now, I can't seem to generate much enthusiasm for it, and it's not just because I'm here in Japan where it's not a big deal. I guess it has to do with the way I'm increasingly bothered by the disparity of the haves and the have-nots. I go jogging along a river near my house--I guess it's a river; it's in a man-made canal--and there are homeless people living under the overpasses, in small blue tarp shelters, and I think how cold they must be. Why am I living in a nice apartment while there these people not three hundred yards away living like that? Gets me down... So I'm going to try to do something for them. I'm not sure what yet, but something. Maybe I'll buy a few blankets and drop them off...or make some warm food...I don't know, something.
I heard about this bank in the US that gave all its employees a holiday bonus with the catch that they have to "pay it forward," or, in other words, use it for a charitable cause. That is a nice idea.
Anyway, I don't want to be a downer, I guess I'm just getting to my point in a kind of depressing way, but here it is: Let's give to those who need it. Small amounts, whatever, but something. Even if we only help a few for just a day...it's something, it contributes to the overall goodness in the world, I think, and isn't that a good thing?
The other day I was running along the aforementioned river, and when I'd finished, I saw some little kids climbing up the cement slope out of the canal. The two bigger kids got to the top, but then the little one, just a toddler really, got scared halfway up and started crying. As I walked back toward them, I watched the two others come back down to him and try to encourage him to climb down; they weren't big enough to really help. I kept feeling like the kid might fall, but then, even if he did, all he'd probably do is roll down the slope a bit, get a little scraped up. But I thought I should offer to help, small a gesture as it is. So I asked (in my terrible Japanese) if I could help. The little one (don't know if he understood me or not) turned and looked, red eyes and wet face, and then, as I reached toward him, held his arms out. I lifted him and gently set him down, trying to tell him he'd be okay (again in Japanese). The oldest kid, a boy, told me "Because he's only two," as if that should explain it all, and I guess maybe it did.
Well, this will certainly be my oddest entry to date...I'm not even sure it will all make sense, and I hope I don't get you down...I just want to share my thoughts on this holiday.
For this holiday, however, I will be heading off for a little seclusion. In a nearby prefecture, Okayama, there are a couple of "International Villas" in small and usually out-of-the-way towns, which they have set up to promote tourism and give tourists a chance to see part of the country not usually visited. And they're cheap (about $30/night). I recommend them if you ever come. I'll be going to one in Takebe, which I chose as it's the only one with an onsen (hot spring) in the town. I'll spend a quiet three days there, then go to my friend Kurara's house again, to pound mochi for the new year. I'll return to Ibaraki on New Year's Eve and take in the New Year in the traditional Japanese way: Join the hordes of people making their way to a temple or shrine at midnight. I figure I should see it once, as I think this may be my only New Year in Japan. After that, I'll have another week or so off, and I think I'll mostly just be taking it easy.
Strange as this post was, I hope you enjoyed it. And I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! Take care and be safe on New Year's Eve! Aloha!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Time flies...
Don't know where the time goes. I was shocked to log in and see that my last post was a month ago. I guess I've just been getting into such a routine that I don't notice anymore when one week turns into the next. Maybe that's the negative side to having my days off spread out: I no longer have a regular weekend to divide things up, so that it all sort of smudges together into one long work week with a lot of days off tossed in.
However, in the last month, I've done a few cool things. A few weeks back, I got to go up to Kurama, an area north of Kyoto, to go on a little hike with some of my colleagues. It was a nice hike, though the day was a bit cloudy and chilly. We got to see some pretty foliage as well (the main purpose of the hike, although a lot of it had already turned brown. Seems like the leaves didn't hit that amazing red color I remember from my previous autumns in Japan...and it's not just that I remember the leaves being amazingly colored; I have photographs to prove it.
The weekend before last, I went to Himeji, which is the largest city near my old town, Aioi. I went there to meet up with some of my former students from Aioi Senior High School. I've mentioned Kaori and Kurara (and Kurara's fiance, Daniel) before, but this time we were joined by Tomomi and Rui; I think a few more were supposed to come but canceled at the last minute. It was shocking to see Tomomi and Rui, though, as I'd not seen them at all since they graduated, six and a half years ago, and they both look so mature now, of course, and I realized that they are now the age I was when I taught them.
I think it's funny, how the cycle of age comes around, and when I look back on these times in my life, it is almost like looking into a mirror that faces another mirror: as if I see myself doubly reflected: who I was at 24 when I taught them, and who I was when I was seventeen, the age they were as my students. And looking at this strange complex of reflections, I know that time is not linear, for there are parts of me that have traveled so far, that I cannot reach that old part of myself, and yet there are parts still so near.
Two more weeks until the winter break starts, and I'm ready for it. Man, am I ready. I know I've only been working for two and a half months, but four months off will kill your endurance. Anyway, two weeks more, then two weeks off, then three weeks back working, then I'll be off for about two months...working Saturdays, of course, with the kiddies, but one day a week...no problem.
And in a shameless bit of niece-promotion, here are a few of my favorites among the most recent crop of pictures I received. I'll be posting some of these to my flickr page soon, so you can see more there if you need a good Ava fix, as I often do. Look at the expression of utter self-sufficiency in the right photo: "I can do rake this sand all by myself, Dad."
However, in the last month, I've done a few cool things. A few weeks back, I got to go up to Kurama, an area north of Kyoto, to go on a little hike with some of my colleagues. It was a nice hike, though the day was a bit cloudy and chilly. We got to see some pretty foliage as well (the main purpose of the hike, although a lot of it had already turned brown. Seems like the leaves didn't hit that amazing red color I remember from my previous autumns in Japan...and it's not just that I remember the leaves being amazingly colored; I have photographs to prove it.
The weekend before last, I went to Himeji, which is the largest city near my old town, Aioi. I went there to meet up with some of my former students from Aioi Senior High School. I've mentioned Kaori and Kurara (and Kurara's fiance, Daniel) before, but this time we were joined by Tomomi and Rui; I think a few more were supposed to come but canceled at the last minute. It was shocking to see Tomomi and Rui, though, as I'd not seen them at all since they graduated, six and a half years ago, and they both look so mature now, of course, and I realized that they are now the age I was when I taught them.
I think it's funny, how the cycle of age comes around, and when I look back on these times in my life, it is almost like looking into a mirror that faces another mirror: as if I see myself doubly reflected: who I was at 24 when I taught them, and who I was when I was seventeen, the age they were as my students. And looking at this strange complex of reflections, I know that time is not linear, for there are parts of me that have traveled so far, that I cannot reach that old part of myself, and yet there are parts still so near.
Two more weeks until the winter break starts, and I'm ready for it. Man, am I ready. I know I've only been working for two and a half months, but four months off will kill your endurance. Anyway, two weeks more, then two weeks off, then three weeks back working, then I'll be off for about two months...working Saturdays, of course, with the kiddies, but one day a week...no problem.
And in a shameless bit of niece-promotion, here are a few of my favorites among the most recent crop of pictures I received. I'll be posting some of these to my flickr page soon, so you can see more there if you need a good Ava fix, as I often do. Look at the expression of utter self-sufficiency in the right photo: "I can do rake this sand all by myself, Dad."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
