Sayonara

Friday was an emotional day.  We all got up at 4:30 to go to the airport and say our goodbyes. 

I had written a letter for each student.  I went to hand my letter to one of the students and he looked up at me with the saddest face I'd ever seen and burst into tears.  It broke my heart.  Before we boarded the bus, several of the students presented me and the other two PA's with gifts.  I received a fan, a beautiful Japanese teacup, some macha green tea, a hairbow, a card, and a Japanese magazine.  The gift I loved the most was a red folder that was signed by each of the students on the inside.

All 3 of us got one, but mine was particularly special because it was written in English.  The Japanese PA and the American PA both speak Japanese, so the students were able to write theirs fairly easily.  I was told that some of the students spent nearly an hour perfecting their message to me.  It's something I'll never forget. I will proudly display it in my living room.  

The students were on several different flights, so there were tears at every terminal.  Saying goodbye certainly wasn't easy.  After two months of living with the students and being with them everyday I made some very good friendships.  It's something I will always be grateful for and never forget.  This job was tiring, stressful, long, and involved, but it was completely worth it. 

Luckily it's easy to stay in touch with Facebook and Skype.  Now it's time for another year of school and new kinds of adventures.   

For now, here are some pictures!

<3

The End

Well, there are only 3 days left of the program.

I'm so sad.  : (  I'm looking forward to moving back home with Dakota, but I'm going to miss these guys so much.  I know they have great things in store for them and will have a blast at their universities, but I still wish they would stay here.  I've learned so much...not only have I learned a lot about their culture and intercultural communication, but I have also been inspired to start learning Japanese and possibly look for a job in Japan next summer. 

There's tension in the air.  Everyone is torn between being excited and sad.  We'll have a goodbye dinner on Thursday...with a surprise video that me and the other PA's put together.  We have pictures from the very beginning, all the way to the end.  Hopefully I'll remember to post it on here after it's over.  It's been a great summer, despite the constant fatigue and stress.  I definitely need to dye my hair. 

We will be leaving bright and early Friday to take them to the airport.  I sincerely hope they had a good time here.  So many memories...  I hope to see them all again someday. 

Week Six

I still can't believe it's almost over.

I think at this point I'm ready.  The lack of sleep from the past six weeks is finally catching up with me.  I'm exhausted all the time anymore.  A day off will be nice. 

The students have been busy with tests and studying lately.  We had a lot of Japanese food this weekend and watched the Women's Soccer World Cup:  Japan vs. USA.  I thought the screaming would never stop when Japan won.

I have a lot of adventures ahead of me still.  On the 29th I will say goodbye to all of the new friends I've made this summer (except the one student who is staying).  I'll have a few days' break before all of the international students come for the fall semester.  Then classes start.  I'll be spending most of the semester preparing for my trip to the Czech Republic in the spring.  I also have a small bucket list of things I want to do that semester.  I'm definitely going to be getting a tattoo, taking some Japanese cooking lessons from my friend Aki, and visiting Sunflower Mountain, the highest point in Kansas.  I'm looking forward to it.  Fall is my favorite season. 

In the meantime, I have 12 more days with these students.  They've inspired me to try to learn a little Japanese and possibly spend a summer in Japan.  If I can find a summer teaching English job there, I'll definitely go for it : ) 

Week Five

Well, this post is a bit late considering we're halfway through the 6th week, but oh well.

Better late than never, eh?

Last week was actually pretty relaxing and mostly uneventful.  But personalities are really starting to show.  In Japanese culture, students are reeeeeallly babied.  Their parents do EVERYTHING for them, all the way through school.  They don't have to worry about anything.  This is a pretty noticeable contrast to American culture.  It's every man for himself here.  Once you're 18 or 19, your parents loosen the leash.  This idea is clearly very difficult for some of the students.  They don't want to have to solve any of their own problems, but they have to learn how if they want to survive here.  I just wish I knew how to make them realize that. 

We went to the pool on Saturday.  Despite the fact that I applied sunscreen twice, I got burnt to a CRISP.  It's been four days and it's just starting to heal.  I'm far too white for the sun.  I didn't even get a tan.  I also got to taste some Oyakodon.  The name means "parents and children", which is kind of clever because the dish consists of chicken and egg.  And rice.  It's pretty delicious. 

Last night they put on a miniature concert and it really had a big effect on me.  There were two professors who played and they were amazing, of course.  And then some of the students played instruments.  Two of them played the piano, and one played the saxophone...and they were so GOOD!  It's inspiring to see such talented people, but also somewhat depressing for me.  It makes me feel so inadequate...like I've wasted so much time.  I'm honestly not extraordinarily talented at anything.  The finale of the show was the students singing "Let It Be" by The Beatles.  It was so amazing and adorable.  It made me realize how much I'm going to miss these students when they leave.  As much as I am looking forward to having a day off and sleeping in my own bed, it's going to be tough to say goodbye to them in a couple of weeks. 

MMORPG Love

So...I'm kind of a fan of video games.

My favorite game hands down is World of Warcraft.  I've been playing it for years now.  For those of you who are familiar with the game and might care, I play Horde.  : )  I'm a level 85 Undead Shadow Priest. 
I don't get a lot of time to play it right now because I'm so busy, but this weekend I've managed to cram in some WoW time.  However, one of Dakota's friends at work suggested that he try the game Rift, another MMORPG, so we tried it today.  

I just thought I might put in a little review of the game, despite the fact that chances are nobody will read this and even if they do, they probably don't care about video games at all.

Oh well.

Anyway, I enjoyed Rift, even though it largely ripped off WoW.  Almost every command is the same and the layout of the basic functions (spells, bags, etc.) is the same.  However, I think I prefer the graphics in Rift.  It has a much darker, more fantasy-oriented design the WoW, which tends to look more cartoon-y.  I also really like that you can choose a combination of 3 specs rather than 1.  This was probably the main thing I liked about it that was different.  It was refreshing.  You can go so many directions with your character.  I chose to be an Elementalist, with Pyromancer and Stormcaller as my secondary abilities.  Basically, it's like a combination of a Mage and a Shaman on WoW, plus you have an elemental pet that does not have a time limit on it.  It stays with you unless it dies.  It was pretty cool.  You also make money much faster on Rift.  Questing is pretty much the same.  I haven't gotten far enough to do any instances or raids, but I'm looking forward to it. 

Anyway, if you have been considering downloading the trial, I certainly recommend it.  I still think I prefer WoW (maybe just out of loyalty), but Rift is definitely a nice change for those times when you are in the mood for gaming, but kind of sick of WoW. 

I'm sorry if this post was completely pointless.  My nerdyness took over today.  : )  I should get some sleep..we have to get up and go to the water park tomorrow. *Sigh*

Week Four

Well, it's halfway over.

It's really gone by fast.  I'm not sure how to even feel about it.  There's part of me that is so ready to have a normal life again...to be able to have a day off and go home and sleep in my own bed.  And then there's a small part of me that feels like I haven't learned enough yet...I know I will miss these students very much when they leave.  I wish they were all staying here.  Out of 24 students, only one is staying.  The rest will go to the east coast. 

It's been an interesting week.  I've learned a lot more about their culture.  Mostly because culture shock is starting to set in for some of them. 

The director of the program came this week.  She talked with all of the students about their plans for after the program.  During these interviews, the students raised several concerns, none of which had ever been brought to our attention.  They were pretty minor things...wanting different breakfast items, wanting us to post a bulletin board for announcements...little things like that.  But they never mentioned those things to us. 
 
Turns out this passiveness is very prevalent in Japanese culture.  They are so used to being told what to do and never given a chance to express themselves.  They are also used to having a group to fall back on. 

That's not how things work here.  You're expected to be responsible for yourself...nobody to fall back on, really, and nobody to tell you what to do.  If you have a problem, you have to confront it yourself to make it better.  I think this is hard for them to understand.  I had to tell them that they need to let me know if they have a problem so we can fix it. 

Here are my observations this week:

1) The students have a hard time comprehending that participation is important in classes.  In American universities, it's usually part of your grade.  In Japan, participation is not required.  Students are never asked their opinion, so they are not used to having to speak in class or raise their hand to answer questions.

2) The students are soooo shy.  I'm a very shy person, but I guess that only works on an American scale because I am outgoing in comparison to these students.  This explains a lot of their passiveness.

3) Japanese students seem to be afraid of making mistakes.  They will spend hours just staring at their textbooks.  I tried to tell them to grasp concepts and ideas rather than try to study things word for word, but it hasn't seemed to catch on yet.  They either want to speak grammatically correct or not speak English at all.  This is a major setback for language learners.  You have to get used to the idea that you WILL mess up and that it's ok because you will learn from it.  Some students have gotten better about this and have improved...others are still too afraid to speak.

4) They slurp their food really loudly.  I have pretty extreme noise anxiety, especially with eating noises, so when I ordered Chinese food one night and they were all slurping lo mein I thought I was going to set the entire building on fire.  It drove me INSANE.  I found out that it is a cultural thing.  The slurping noise is to make other people around them think that they are really enjoying their food.  It made it impossible for me to enjoy mine. 

5) The idea of food coloring disgusts most of the students.  I tried to explain that it doesn't change the taste of the food...they still didn't go for it.  They cringed when I mentioned making blue rice.

6) Christmas is very different in Japan than it is here.  With children, it is celebrated somewhat similarly...you spend the day with your family and decorate the tree...et cetera.  When you get older, however, it is celebrated much more like Valentine's Day.  Usually you spend the day with whoever you are dating, exchange gifts, and eat KFC.  The girl I was talking to about it was shocked when I told her that KFC was not traditional Christmas food...haha.

7) A lot of Americans would consider Japanese guys to be somewhat feminine.  It's normal for them to spend a lot of time styling their hair and to wear pink.  When we went to the mall last weekend, several of them were sampling Victoria's Secret scents.  When we got to the bus, I noticed one of them carrying the familiar pink striped bag.  It's actually kind of a nice change.  I think American men are way too preoccupied with advertising their masculinity, which usually results in them having no personality. 

We went to Worlds of Fun yesterday.  I wasn't overly impressed.  Some of the rides were a lot of fun, but it was waaaaaaaay overpriced and the weather was terrible.  I felt like I was in an oven. 

It just doesn't feel like 4th of July.  No fireworks, no cookout food, no family.  I at least hope we can see some fireworks from the dorms.  I also hope that next week goes by fast.  We'll see.

Letters

Lately I've been admiring paper.  It sounds odd, but it's true.  I've been seeing a lot of interesting stationary and paper products.  I've also been writing notes for the past month.  All of this got me thinking about how I used to write letters to my great aunt who lived in a different town.  I would always look forward to receiving a letter back in the mail.  There's just something so charming about snail mail. 

Which got me thinking...I would really like to start writing letters again...but I have nobody to write to. 

I know that very few people read this blog at the moment...but if anyone does happen to stumble across this and is interested in having a pen pal, let me know!  I think it would be really fun to have someone to write to and to get letters back.  I think it would also be fun to make my own stationary to do so.  We'll just have to see. 

Also, I can write in French and Spanish, so if I have any international readers I would love to hear from you as well...plus it would be good language practice for me.