June 13, 2000
Hello! Things here in Japan are getting a little moist. The rainy season has started, according to all sources here, but there is no precipitation yet that is much to speak of?just mostly humidity. The weather HAS gotten cooler, which is really nice since last week there was a danger of spontaneous combustion at any moment. I am in the staff room, with the windows open on my left and the doors to the corridor open to my right. There is a nice breeze coming through, and the temperature is perfect. To complete the scene, add the sound of warblers outside singing, the occasional giggle of a student, and the incessant sound of the printer spitting out page after page of daily bulletins. I can no more read this thing than I can fly. Oh well, at least they do not exclude me from the news, and it will make good scratch paper on my desk. On my desk, there is a steady supply! Hee hee hee!
This might be a short letter, (aren�ft you lucky today??) so that I can finish my Japanese language course materials for this month. So far, I have an A but I haven�ft learned much, unfortunately. I guess that I figured I would be more functional in the language by now, and I was kind of griping aloud one day about how slowly I was progressing. Jessica started making a list, trying to console me I guess, and told me to remember that I can shop, make change, understand road signs, order in restaurants, make small talk, get my car serviced and make transactions at the bank, all without using English too much. Then it happened, my words came back at me, right out of her mouth. �gMom�c�h she told me, �gdon�ft be upset if you make mistakes. Everybody does. And Japanese is hard, so you have to work hard. You know a lot more Japanese than you think and you�fre doing a good job.�h I sat in the front seat of the car with my mouth hanging open, unable to really verbalize anything after that. �gOne day,�h she continued, �gmaybe you will know as much as I do.�h Well, I certainly hope so.
I had a conversation with mom yesterday (a much needed LOOOONG one!) and one of our topics was computer-friendliness. Mom, I hope it doesn�ft bother you that I talk about it a little here in front of everyone. You see, Mom has been teaching herself, basically, in her spare time. Now, this is an amazing thing because my mother HAS no spare time. So I suppose that she expected to learn it all via osmosis. She knows enough to be functional, yet still feels that learning more is very overwhelming. I say it is a priority thing. Computers are meant (supposedly) to make our lives easier, but they tend to cause a lot more stress to most people. I told Mom (briefly) on the phone, that she shouldn�ft worry so much about knowing just the basics. After we hung up, I went online to check my email, and there was the email from Mom. She had basically just told me everything on the phone. She wrote about the problems of trying to upgrade software packages, only to find that there was already a copy buried somewhere in the hard drive. It didn�ft occur to me that if the icon or the toolbar had been erased or modified, then it would be very hard to tell just WHAT was there in the first place. That is a very common problem with a LOT of people that use computers. Whole programs get lost in the hard drive sometimes. Mom just figured that it was her ignorance of computers. I disagreed with her then and I still do now. So in her email she said that even my sister could not comprehend why she was having so many problems. Then, it hit me. Both my sister and I grew up with these things, and learning them was a priority. I was lucky enough to get in on the beginning of the computer age! Even so, it is difficult to catch up. I shudder when I think about where I started learning computers. The first program I ever wrote was for a punch card program that did nothing but make a picture of a flower with letters and numbers. That was a summer course at SAU Tech, and I was in the 7th grade. I learned to type from Mrs. Pace on a manual machine because there was no such animal as a word processor. I can still hear her voice in my head saying�c
�hnow ya muss curve those fingers UP, chillllldren, and let`s try it agayinnnn�cleft hand goes ka-you (Q) ka-you, ka-you, ka-you, dubyuh, (W) dubyuh, dubyuh, dubyuh, eeeee, (E) eeeee, eeeee, eeeee, are-uhh (R), are-uhh, are-uhh, are-uhh�c�h
I still remember the top-of-the-line Brother Daisy Wheel typewriter that I got for high school?the predecessor to a word processor, that went with me to college. I still remember the archaic computer unit (with cassette backup) that was given to me where I learned the joys of basic programming (and played B-52 bomber games) all in the privacy of my room when I was in Junior High School. In summer sessions at SAU-Tech during the summers, there were chances to learn more basic, binary languages, Cobol, Pascal, Fortran�call completely obsolete today. What I picked up was a LACK of fear of computers. The rest is nonsensical. My parents spent years working hard so that I had the opportunity to learn these things. For my parents, learning computers was not a necessity as much as it was a novelty, (unless you needed one for work, it was just a really expensive toy)?but for my generation we MUST know about them and so the priority is really different. I guess what I am saying is that I am forever amazed that my mother is so hard on herself because she has problems with computers. I have used a computer nearly every day for the last twelve years or so, and I still learn new stuff all the time!!!! I tried to explain to Mom that as fast as everything changes, there is no way to know it all. And while I have your attention I would like to state something for the record. This has bugged me for years-- When you pick up a book about computers with the intention to teach yourself, the language that they typically use is really discouraging most of the time. It is presumptuous?assumes that you were born with innate knowledge of motherboards and operating systems. It assumes (like many political science professors) that you never had anything else in your life to do but learn their obscure lingo. It gives you the impression that �gcomputer people�h are this very exclusive club that you just aren`t good enough or smart enough or SAVVY enough to join. Well, I am a semi-self-taught computer person. Let me just dispel some rumors about people like me. We are high-functioning individuals. We are no dummies, but we feel like them sometimes. We do not know everything. We get stumped. If there is a problem with your system and we can fix it, sometimes it is just luck that we found the glitch. Makes us look good, but doesn�ft need to make anyone feel inferior. All of us are still learning new stuff. And we can teach others a lot of neat tricks, but we basically just teach the tricks that WE learned from other people, like teenagers picking up a catch phrase off a movie. And I am certain that a lot of my friends would agree with me that they have had those moments where they just pushed a button and everything disappeared and they had no clue what they did or how to UNDO what they did. Inevitably, it is told for a couple of weeks as a �gmy computer just crashed�h story. And when you figure in the Murphy factor, the crashing usually happens at three a.m., wee hours on a Monday morning when you must turn IN that stupid paper after second period?AAAAARRRRGH and everyone that might be able to help you figure out the problem is asleep and won`t be awake for HOURS and NOW I HAVE TO BRING OUT THE BROTHER DAISY WHEEL TYPEWRITER AGAIN!!!!! (That`s what you get for trying to use the footnote option in a beta (test) version of a new software miracle�cyou find what is called a �gbug in the system.�h The particular one I refer to turned out to be more like an Alabama cockroach.) I know twice as much as some people and half as much as others, after twelve years. If I stopped working on it today, in two years I would know absolutely nothing at all. That is just the way it goes. So, accept that everyone is blind to the new stuff, Mom, and you are NOT ignorant. Unless you plan to go back to get a Computer Science degree, you will always be learning just like the rest of us. Just think of it as a hobby, because nobody expects you to be a professional operator?you have no time for all that crap anyway! Ignore all that unfriendly computer language?written by self-important-weirdo-elitists, and resign yourself to the fact that you ARE in fact, superior to the PC on your desk. Lesson number one is not to be scared of the machine. Once you have THAT one down, the rest comes more easily. If it crashes (and it will) it can most likely be resurrected. If it can`t be resurrected, then it is time to upgrade anyway, right? Ha ha ha ha ha!
Okay, enough about all that. I will now change the subject. Yesterday morning, Ken and Jessica were hogging the bathroom. Jessica was brushing her hair and Ken was lathering up with shaving cream. I was waiting (impatiently) for them to MOVE IT so I could get in there and get my face on. This is usually the time when the two of them share their own wisdom with the other?you know, �gquality time at the bathroom sink.�h So Ken takes the opening to say, �gJessica, I`ve been meaning to talk to you about something for awhile now. �gYes, Ken?�c�h she says, looking up expectantly. �gWell, there comes a time in every child`s life that they make a transition into adulthood, you know, like a rite of passage�c�h Ken says to her, with a serious look on his face. Her eyes get wide and she brushes a little more slowly so she can take it all in. Ken continues, �gI think maybe it`s time that you learned how to shave.�h Her mouth drops open and she bunches her eyebrows together, trying to figure out why she might need to learn to shave her face, and then squints very closely in the mirror, for the beginnings of a moustache perhaps, and then I lose it. I had been listening with rapt attention, wondering what important lesson I had missed the opportunity to teach. I dissolve into giggles in the hallway. Ken continues shaving without missing a beat. Jessica figures out that Ken is joking, and gives him a little shove, laughing. Last night, however, she asked me when she might be allowed to learn to shave her legs. I told her that when she goes to Junior High and she feels ready, she can start shaving. She is still nervous about it and doesn�ft really want to start NOW, thank goodness. I did tell her that if she didn�ft want to EVER shave, that it was her choice, but that if she wanted to, then Junior High might be a good time. She has this �gthing�h about the possibility of pain. She doesn�ft want to get her ears pierced, which is okay with me, but I told her that if she wanted to get them pierced at some time, that I would let her. I suppose that it is a good thing, what with all the body piercing and tattooing and such that is going on these days. I guess it is beneficial that pain accompanies such ornamentation, so thus she is less likely to decorate herself for fear of it hurting really, really bad!
Last weekend we went to Hamasaka beach to a BBQ with a lot of JETs. It was a party to say goodbye to the ones who are leaving for their home countries soon and a chance for the ones of us who are staying to really cement our ties to one another, to make certain that we knew where our support system would be in the coming year. There are a great many of our friends who are staying for the next year, and we are very excited about the chance to share new teaching ideas with each other. Jessica always has more fun than anybody at these get-togethers. We got there and set up our tent after lunchtime on Saturday, and then went down to enjoy the soccer game between the JETs and the Japanese teachers there in the Northern part of Hyogo. It was a good game. Afterward, we all fired up the charcoal and sliced up the food to get it ready to cook! Japanese BBQs are nothing like those we are used to. There is no pig to pull, there are no chicken breasts on the grill, there are no hamburgers or hot dogs or relish or cole slaw or baked beans or watermelon. It is pretty bizarre. Instead, there are little slices of different meats (and fish and squid sometimes�c) on one grill and lots of sliced vegetables on the other. There are usually mushrooms, potatoes, cabbage chunks, eggplant, cucumber, onion and corn-on-the-cob sliced into little disks. There are also usually little cubes of tofu also. People just take turns flipping morsels with the tongs, while others walk up and pick off what looks good with their chopsticks and drop it into their bowls of sauce. The sauces are nothing at all resembling Heinz or Lawry`s or A-1. They range from mild sesame to tangy teriyaki, and most of them have no spicy heat at all to them. People just chow down, and pass the tongs, and eat until they are full. It is a lot of fun, and I have to say, most delicious as well! There was a lot of food! We ate and ate and laughed and had a good time, then went down to talk on the beach for the rest of the evening. A little after 9:00, I took Jessica back up to the tent and put her to bed, and she protested since she was in the middle of telling another JET the story about Amy`s Adventures. Another time, I said?you will have to finish it another time, Jessica?just tell her that it is to be continued�cso Jessica said �gI am sorry, but I must go to bed now. Just imagine the last scene with words at the bottom that say TO BE CONTINUED�c�h The JET said �gOkay, Jessica, I look forward to hearing the next chapter!�h They are really so patient with her, and they love to have her around at the parties. After a song and a hug, she drifted off to sleep to the sound of the Japan Sea crashing on the sand. We were up really late talking about all the movies that we have or haven`t seen, and just basically had a good time. We even went for a brief swim, brief because the water was still pretty chilly. The next morning, we had breakfast rolls on the boardwalk and watched the fishermen in the surf, and Jessica went down to bury her feet in the sand (�gjust like a spa, Mom?you should try it!�h, she told me) and then we all went for a walk around the inlet, and up to a temple that overlooks the bay. The garden was really beautiful. There was a burn pile next to the road, where there were ceramic pieces that were obviously from a nearby kiln, and it was a little disturbing to see doll`s arms and legs and such all in there charred and broken. But nearby, there was a small ornament that was there I think because the holes that are used to hang it were a little off-set so it was discarded. I kicked it out of the pile and picked it up. It is a good luck charm, with the face of a woman on one side, and a traditional seal on the other. I see them hanging in homes and temples everywhere, and the colors produced by the fire made it look very interesting, so I cleaned it up and took it with me. It was a really neat thing to find! On our way back, it rained a little on us, but we enjoyed the walk anyway, and we didn�ft mind that the sky was overcast?kept some of the heat (and ultimately the UV rays) off of us and made the weather perfect for our lunchtime BBQ (to get rid of the surplus food�c) During lunch we chatted on the boardwalk, with our feet in the sand. Three small boys (about 5 or 6 years old) were riding their bikes up and down the boardwalk, and would shriek and scream when they passed our group. It became obvious that we were the danger zone in whatever game they were playing. So we smiled at them as they passed and made them giggle. It must have looked strange, for twenty or so foreigners to be all lined up on the boardwalk like that. All of us aliens began whispering quietly to each other, and then as they came by the next time, we suddenly leapt up and ran after them. They let out high-pitched screams and jumped off their bikes, laughing and falling down, so we ran over and tickled them and we all had a great time. We fortunately had some cookies that we could share with them also, and when we left, the three of them shouted �gBYE BYE!!�h and waved their arms so hard I thought their hands might fall off. We struck camp as soon as the tents dried out and then one of our friends led us out to a lookout area where you can see the whole bay area and the little fishing village below. About that time, the sun came out, and the scenery was just really beautiful. We snapped some photos of the remnants of our group, exchanged hugs and handshakes and headed for our respective homes. It was a good time.
This week at work is slow because the students are preparing for the sports festival. I will try to be finishing up my Japanese course for beginners in the next few days, and of course teaching my private students in the evening. It amazes me that the kids in America are all out for the summer right now, when these kids here will still be in classes every day for the remainder of the month. The sports festival is Friday, but I will miss the whole thing as I must go to Kobe to start the paperwork at the consulate for the renewal of my work visa for another year. They are also having an enkai for the teachers that night, but I don�ft think that I will be making it back for that. It`s just as well, you know, since the last one ended with a three-day hospital stay. Don�ft get me wrong?I really enjoy going to the parties and talking with the teachers when they aren`t working?they are so laid back at the parties and it is so much fun!
I suppose that I should go. I have procrastinated long enough on the Japanese lessons. It is time for me to gobble down my lunch at my desk, and then it is nose-to-the-grindstone to learn different usage of particles. Ugh. Oh well?got to do it sometime, right? Might as well be today. I send lots of love to everybody, and please let me hear from you!
Oh yeah?Daddy Horse and Debbie: I got a letter from Papa Fenwick yesterday and he said that �git was all worked out�h for him to get copies of the email. Thank you, whichever one of you is making copies for him, and thank you Papa for writing to me! I always enjoy your letters so much. At the bottom, he wrote that it was �ga bunch of nothing much�h in the letter. I disagree?I think it is a lot of good stuff! I miss everyone, and look forward to hearing from you again soon! Love, Lynley
P.S. Do you remember the Brady Bunch episode where the Bradys go to Hawaii? Well, in the episode, one of the kids finds this little statue that turns out to be cursed and they all pass it around, suffering horrible woes until they figure out that it is that little statue? (Oh NO! Greg wiped out on his surfboard!! It must have been the little statue around his neck! DATT DAAAAAH?that`s the dramatic music) Well, I suppose that if I have bad luck, it could be that thing I pulled out of the fire pile. You never know about these things. Hee hee hee! Anyway, when I pulled it out, that episode became the topic of conversation. Earlier that morning, we had an encounter with a hawk at breakfast. We were eating on the boardwalk, as I said before, and our friend Glenn was eating an egg salad sandwich. A hawk, with a wingspan of about four feet came swooping down out of the sky, through our group, and snatched his sandwich OUT OF HIS HAND. It was incredible. It was impressive precision work on the part of the hawk. Glenn was looking the other way, and survived without a scratch, but he admitted that when it happened that he was afraid he would have to go and change his pants afterward. It was a real experience, watching it all happen so quickly. At the temple, I offered to let Glenn carry around the lucky charm I`d just found. �gFor hawk protection�c�h I told him. He laughed. So far, it works just fine. I haven`t been attacked by any hawks. Okay, that`s all for now, talk to you soon! -Lynley