10-1-01

It has been a bit since I wrote - I apologize. Things have been moving along since I last wrote. I have has my schools' cultural festivals and sports festivals. I was glad to see the students working so hard for their schools. I tried to pull up examples of such activities in my old schools - I guess I didn't search hard enough - because I couldn't find examples at the time. However, now that I think of it, we did have our college fair in middle school and our dances and festivals in high school where the student council worked really hard to make these things happen. I have just opened that memory door recently - with the help of some of my fellow English teachers.

A word about cultural interaction before I delve into the real purpose of this entry - to establish my goal for October. I though I was getting used to Japan - but apparently there has been an accumulation of little things that is kind of reaching a critical mass. I have noticed my attitude getting a bit synical towards things Japanese. They are a wonderful people, a people with whom I share blood ties with, but there are certain things that they do, ways that they act that I am having difficulty digesting normally. Perhaps I should just ignore them, or learn to appreciate them as pleasant differences. Just to get it off my chest, I am going to list a few things that I have noticed that bothers me - not the point of disliking Japan, but just to the point where when I go to bed at night I am tired from trying to understand the differences.

10. If you are having problems with an individual, never address it to that individual. Rather, calculate 6 degrees of separation and begin talking about the problem there. By the time it reaches the individual, you will have either: a. developed a major grudge against that individual, b. forgotten about the problem.

9. Make sure you wait until 5 minuites before when you tell your collegue about that important meeting.

8. You have to push the button on the automatic door to open them - otherwise you will be there forever waiting for it to "automatically" open.

7. Rather than ask permission, just do it. If you ask permission, you will wait a century for the request to travel to God and back to you, only to be told no. If you just do it, they may never notice what you did or are doing, or they will request that you do not do it again. Either way, it is the faster way to find out if you can or cannot do something.

6. Remember to take your shoes off in most places - including resturants and offices. If there are shoe boxes and slippers, it is a sure sign to take off your outdoor shoes.

5. If you feel your neighbors are watching you from behind their curtains, they probably are. What others do matters a lot in Japan.

4. Remember, when ordering food at a resturant, unless it is a ramen noodle shop, think of the amount of food you expect, then half it - that is how large your serving will be.

3. Do not go to Mr. Donutes for coffee or donuts - unless you are used to it. The donutes look like donutes, but they taste like plastic. The coffee is really bitter. But - on a brighter note - they have really good chinese bread dumplings.

2. Try to avoid recreation centers if you can, unless you like feeling like "Big Brother is watching." I went to one, excited that I could use internet, play pingpong, watch TV, anything I wanted to do - but found out that I had to go back to the front desk everytime I changed activities, and they had a board in which they had a magnet representing me that kept track of where I went.

1. The apostrophe key is on top of the 7 key.

On that note - I would like to present my goal for the month of October - "To live with gratitude and joy." This means I have to change my thinking pattern to being more grateful, flexible, and joyful than it has been the past few weeks. Every event could be an adventure or a disaster. I need to see the adventures in everything.

Thank you everyone for all the letters and support. I love and miss you much.

This is hanako signing out..