Today’s edition consists of my mid-year discoveries of Japanese culture. Shall I make a list? Ok- I’ll make a list. I work better with lists.

Five things I’m learning about Japanese culture:

1)      The term “marathon” is used very loosely.

Some of my schools have asked me to participate in their school marathons, which gets me very excited until I learn that they really only mean a 1000 meter running event. Actually, it’s not even an event. It’s more like a P.E. running test! You know, the ones we all had to do in High School to test our physical ability. People!  Marathons are serious business. They are 26.2 miles of hard laborious running. I wish that word wasn’t so overused for small running events.

2)      Drinking hot water is very bizarre.

It’s cold so I like to keep myself warm and hydrated by drinking hot water. For some reason, I feel like if I’m not drinking hot tea or hot coffee, I am very strange. I get weird looks from children and adults alike when I tell them I am only drinking hot water. Doushite? Je ne sais pas.

3)       Kids will have attitudes in class but will be perfectly cool with you outside of class.

Talk to any JET teaching English in a JHS or HS and they’ll tell you that some of these Japanese kids have attitudes. Some are more extreme than others, but nonetheless, it’s there and it’s expressed by a look or some form of action. Then bell rings and you sit with them at lunch and then suddenly they’re perfectly sweet, nice kids. It must be the school/English/studying business that gets their panties in a bunch.

4)      The flu spreads faster than you can say “influenza”.

It started a couple of weeks ago when I noticed half my classes were absent and some of my elementary school teachers would waver as they try to stand and teach classes. Then the face mask trend became even more prominent than usual. This week, one of my JHS 1^st grade classes was sent home because more than half the students in that grade level caught the flu. It’s an uncontrollable epidemic and I am doing my best to stay away from people with a sanitized 10 feet pole. Oh- also, I found out this happens every year and they call it the Hong Kong disease because apparently it’s from Chinese chickens. Yay for Chinese love!

5)      Being single in Japan is like being a gay single person in the states.

This reminds me of an episode on Sex and The City (you know what I’m talking about, Neb!). It was the episode where Charlotte is trying to set her gay wedding planner friend Anthony up with Carrie’s single and fabulous gay friend Stanford. After an unsatisfactory meeting with Stanford, Anthony calls Charlotte to bark at her that just because Stanford is gay; it doesn’t make them both compatible. Case in point here. There are times when I feel being single in Japan automatically makes me compatible with another single guy here. People passively remark on a single person here and slyly say how we’d be a great couple. It’s nice, but not necessary. Compatibility is based on more than just one’s relationship status. Plus, people forget that being single can be a choice.

Three things I’m learning about myself:

1.       I can withstand the cold better than I thought I could.

I must be a pretty tough cookie if I can wake up in my freezer of a room to 1 degree Celsius temperature and not be frozen dead. Anything above 10 degrees C is warm. Gasp! Also, as of yesterday, I proved to myself that I can run in the snow. Whoop whoop!

2.       My English spelling and grammar are deteriorating, yet my Japanese hasn’t gotten any better.

It started on Wednesday when I misspelled at least 5 different words almost consecutively. The worst part was it was in front of my JTE. Additionally, there are a billion careless grammar mistakes that I’ve been making via blogs, emails, and Facebook status updates. Ugh. I have officially given up my Grammar Nazi title.

3.       I have more control over my life and I see it in the little everyday choices I make.

One of my main new year’s resolutions is to have more control over the aspects of my life that I can control. Up until recently, most of the things in my life were dictated by others, without them realizing it (or maybe they do. Who knows?!). I do things because I feel bad and I sacrifice what I really want to do to make someone else happy. It’s not fair to me and the sucky thing is a lot of times the other person doesn’t realize it. So, a key step in coming to Japan is to strip away the loss of control and really take ahold of the reigns in my life. I am slowly able to stand up for myself without giving in too much. I can say “no” to hanging out if I want to just stay in and watch a movie. I can also balance out my chocolate intake. Yay!

Movies, movies, and more movies…

Onto more happier things! Thanks to my dear friends, I’ve been able to watch a different movie almost every single night for the past week. Here’s what I’ve seen so far:

The Artist (ßreally terrific movie!! Highly recommended)

The Descendents

Moneyball

Rubber (ßGAVIN! A total WTF movie…)

Beginners

My Week With Marilyn

Pulp Fiction (Samuel L. Jackson rules!)

Bridesmaid (I feel a little better about my life. LOL)

This is why my Japanese studying has been put on hiatus.

And now, why well done?

“Well done” is a phrase I don’t hear often other than from English folks. I’ve been using it a lot instead of “good job” with my students because it sounds a bit classier to my ears. Also, my kids have impressed me so much with their English progress! There are worksheets and activities that I expect them to not understand but they do. It’s amazing!! Yay to the students for grasping English. With that, a big “well done” to my students in Kibichuo!

A couple of thank you’s

1) Thank you to my Japan aunt for sending me a 10kg of mikan. My friends, especially Gavin, thank you, too. 

2) Speaking of Gavin, thank you for baking all those delicious pies and giving me the biggest sugar fix in one weekend. Yay for pie in Japan!

3) Lastly, I am super thankful for my five heaters in my house, my heat packs, my electric blanket, my coats, my gloves, and my Miffy shoes that keep my toes warm in my house. I wouldn’t be able to survive without all y’all. 

Warmly,

M