2001-09-19 - 10:15 p.m.
Last night was my second adult conversation class, and it was twice as big as the first. (Last week’s class was canceled on account of Typhoon 15). This time there were eight students, including an elementary school teacher, a housewife who does a lot of civic work with women’s groups in Kimitsu, and an older man who was one of the founding members of the class ten years ago. For a warm-up we played a game where I wrote “SOUTH AMERICAN” on the board and they had to think up as many little words as they could, using those letters. I did it at the same time, and my words were along the lines of “cat, rice, math,” etc. I was extremely impressed when the students came up with words like “ocean.” Then we had a short discussion about what happened in NY last week. The 67 year-old man who told me last time that he was there for “mental gymnastics” flipped in his notebook to something he had written before. He said that when he saw it on the news he was very shocked, and that he tried to call me last week to make sure that my famil was okay, but there was no answer. He said he was very anxious to find out if my family is safe, because his sister lives in the United States. I was so touched, I almost cried. But I’ve gotten very good in the past week at not crying in public.
Things are getting a little easier. I’ve talked to a couple of friends in New York who are doing okay and getting on with their lives, so now it seems a little more possible for me to do the same. I know which set of thoughts makes me the most upset, so I’m trying not to think them. And I know that watching TV makes me upset, so I’ve stopped doing that. On some level I think that only through denial will I get through this, because the reality of the tragedy is just too much to bear. I simply can’t think about how horrible it is all the time or I won’t be able to function. I guess one benefit of being in Japan is that there are a million and one distractions which are not at all related to America.
Last night’s class put me in a really good mood because it is really rewarding. The students are very enthusiastic and ask good questions, and their language ability is high enough that we can do interesting activities. Next week I’m bringing in ads from magazines for the students to decipher. But even in the lowest level of my day-job there are rewarding moments. Today I was teaching a class of 1st year students (7th graders) and I had written the words “alarm clock” on the board. A student in the front of the class had a question, but couldn’t express it in English. The teacher urged him to try, and so he got up and wrote on the board “a? an?” in front of “alarm clock.” What a great question! You have to understand that these students barely understand English and rarely speak up. Again, I was so touched I almost cried. (I’m a little fragile these days -- I also almost cried when I came across the chorus practicing in the hall today).
Tonight I had my first Japanese class, where *I* was thrust into the position of not understanding anything and having to think for minutes just to ask a simple question. Fortunately, the class is right on my level. My current level is that I can speak a little basic conversational Japanese, and I am just starting to read. I’m probably at a kindergarten reading level -- I know the alphabet (but sometimes have to look up the syllables), and I can sound things out but it takes me a while. There actually isn’t an alphabet -- there are two “syllabaries,” one for Japanese words and one for foreign words, and then thousands and thousands of kanji, which are Chinese characters. At tonight’s class, I got my first taste of diversity in Japan -- something that is basically non-existent. Being a JET, (especially a white JET) I think it’s easy to get a skewed vision of what it means to be a foreigner in Japan. We are held up as esteemed members of the community, and treated like circus acts or celebrities. But at my Japanese class I got picture of the local community -- the class included many people from other Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. I honestly don’t know these people’s stories at all, but I’m very interested to learn them. I wonder what it is like to come as an outsider to Japan, such a homogeneous country, NOT floating on a cloud of honor and intrigue, as are we JETs.
Tomorrow will be busy -- five classes. I am involuntarily repeating these inane textbook dialogs in my sleep -- “Beth, either turn down that noise or turn it off!” “Dad, it’s not noise. It’s music.” “The Beatles, THAT was music.” etc., etc. I have probably read this dialogue twenty times and can look forward to reading it again tomorrow. I’m sure the kids look forward to it even more than I! I also-u findu myuselfu tinkingu ina Japaneseu Engrishu allu za time-u. Hazard of the job, I guess. I wonder what I sound like speaking Japanese?
