The scary thing about a routine, is that time goes by faster once one has begun. But a routine is also comforting; a familiar face amongst a sea of foreign ideas, concepts, and symbols. Didn’t they tell us in elementary school to never start a sentence with ‘but’? Oh well. Speaking of foreign, I’m getting a little tired of constantly feeling like a foreigner. At first, I felt like a tourist, and I basically was one, since I knew almost nothing about the city around me. However, it’s been sixty-something days and people still give me that “look” in the grocery store as if I’m going to snatch the last perfectly ripe bunch of bananas or something. I mean, it makes sense; I look different, talk different, and dress different, so of course I stand out. It’s just kind of a bummer that I will never fit in even if I do completely transform my wardrobe. WOW, what a negative way to begin my month 2 recap! Let me try again…
The cherry blossoms have drifted away and Japan is filled with every shade of green in existence. May was filled with good-weather days on which I took many walks, opened all of my windows, enjoyed solo-picnics, and explored both the city and the mountains. I’m more independent than ever, living alone, cooking for one, cleaning my entire apartment by myself, shopping for one, and only having myself to blame when the utility bill is high. During the week, I spent the hours of daylight at work either with children or preparing for children. Teaching kindergarten is a lot of work! Sometimes I’m surprised there’s any energy left in me to go out on the weekends. But you know what they say… When in Rome Japan… Some weekend highlights from this past month include the Aoba festival, Yamadera mountain temples, buying new shoes at 30% off and finding a four leaf clover on my walk home in the rain, hiking Mt. Izumigatake, family FaceTime calls, Zunda shakes, seeing Matsushima Bay for the second time, COSTCO, and filling my stomach with some really really really tasty Japanese foods. I also scalded my mouth on takoyaki, but I wouldn’t call that a highlight. It was memorable though. I’m lucky my coworkers are so cool and adventurous because otherwise, I’d be stuck with nothing to do on the weekends. I haven’t made any friends outside of work because everyone outside of my work speaks Japanese. And I don’t. I’m slowly learning more tiny words and phrases every day, but it takes a lot to learn an entire language and I can only learn so much in one day. I’m actually learning more Japanese from my kindergartners than from my app. I’ve gotten really good at reading contextual clues and drawing conclusions based on body language and common sense. That’s the best I can describe it. My class has warmed up more in the past month and I’ve enjoyed getting to know their blooming personalities. Well except in the moments when they decide it’s a good idea to smush sticky rice on the wooden floor. We laugh, we sing, we dance, and we play a lot of “chase me” at playtime. I love my job. At the beginning of the month, I was leading all of the songs, poems, stories, and phonic practice, but today I asked the students to sing our “Red” song by themselves and they did it! It might not seem like a big deal, but let me just remind you, they started the school year (April) with close to zero knowledge of the English language. These proud moments are what make teaching so rewarding.
A word about homesickness in three words: I miss home.