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 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.

Bowing Protocol

I had a really interesting conversation with some of the students the other day and I thought I'd share it.  As you might know, bowing is very common in Japan.  What you may not know (I certainly didn't) are the rules of said bowing.  It all started when one of the students addressed me as "Brittany sa ma."  I was somewhat confused by this because they usually call me "Buri chan."  When I asked them about it, they told me that "sa ma" is the polite form. 

Of course this led into an entirely different conversation about the levels of politeness and formality in Japan, which is seen in how you address people and how you bow to them.  Buri is kind of a nickname.  They pronounce my full name Buritany because in Japanese every consonant must be followed by a vowel sound.  The "chan" is just a way of addressing someone (like Miss, Mr. Mrs., etc.) except it's a very casual way of doing so.  You only use it if you are talking to a friend.  The next level is "san."  You would use this if you were talking to someone a little bit older than you, a co-worker, or someone else you are familiar with, but is not exactly your friend.  The highest level is "sa ma."  You would use this form when addressing a politician or your boss...someone you must be very respectful to.

There is a somewhat similar concept for bowing.  You should ALWAYS bow to someone that is not your friend when you greet them.  If it is at the acquaintance level, you may just nod your head a little bit as you pass them.  If it is someone that your are a little less familiar with, you should bow at a 45 degree angle.  Males should keep their hands at their sides and females should put their right hand over their left hand.  NEVER look at someone while you are bowing to them.  It's considered rude.  The highest level of bowing, which is of course reserved for those you would refer to as "sa ma," is a very deep bow, almost a 90 degree angle.

I really admire the immense respect that is present in Japanese culture.  While I also admire the concept of individuality in Americans, I think that sometimes we take it too far and forget to have respect.  The way the Japanese treat each other and really anyone they come in to contact is...well, classy.  They thank me for things that don't even deserve a thank you.  I'm very humbled by it and I've started to think twice about my actions.  I think I'm generally a polite person, but these students blow me out of the water.

Anyway, I hope you find this as interesting as I did.  I challenge anyone who reads this to bow to the next person that they thank.  It'll definitely throw them off.  ; )      

Week Two

This second week of the program has gone by a bit more smoothly than the first.  I'm starting to get into a routine, which helps a lot.  The sleep schedule isn't the greatest, but it's been a lot more fun.  Now that I've gone on 2 weekend trips, I feel a little bit more relaxed about the planning aspect of everything.  Now I've gotten to focus a lot more about learning about Japanese culture and sharing American culture. 

The weekends are by far the most fun.  During the week, the students don't get a break until at least 9:00, and it's not much better for the PA's.  On the weekends, besides the trips (which are pretty fun, anyway), we have a pretty open schedule to just hang out and relax.  AND SLEEP IN.  One of the instructors for the program has a house on the lake, so we got to spend Saturday swimming, playing volleyball, riding pedal boats, and just relaxing.  It was very refreshing.  After that, we went to a pow wow so the students could see a little bit of Native American culture.  There were some dances that the crowd could join in.  Most of the students were shy to join at first, but after me and a few others joined, they eased up.

Sunday was your typical lazy Sunday.  One of my fellow PA's, Aki (who happens to be Japanese) made some Japanese food for dinner for everyone.  After two weeks of foreign food, the students were thrilled to eat something familiar.  I can sympathize...I went to France for two weeks in high school and I missed American food after the first couple of days.  Anyway, the food was AMAZING.  She made some curry and rice and there was not an ounce left by the end of the night.  She said she'd teach me how to make it.  It basically tastes like vegetable stew with rice...except it's at least 20 times better than any vegetable stew that I've ever eaten.  I don't think I can ever go back to it now.

Mmmmm.. 

I feel bad because I intended to post a lot more than I do.  I just get so busy!  I'm hoping to post a little bit about some of my crafting next week...I've been working on a few projects : )

For now, I'll give you a few more of my cultural observations:

1) The students are FASCINATED by lightning bugs.  They came out at the pow wow and I think they took more pictures of the bugs than they did of the dancers.  It was kind of amusing for me.  Apparently they are rare in Japan.

2) I have a very sarcastic type of humor.  This is not always well understood by the students.  One of the students asked me where his passport was and I told him we had to burn it for security purposes.  His jaw dropped...I had to tell him I was kidding.  I think they're starting to catch on, though.

3) One of the students explained to me that American students tend to be much more adult-like than Japanese students of the same age.  Part of this may be that many American college students have to pay their own way through school and life, whereas the Japanese students are still mostly taken care of by their parents. 

Well, it's almost time for study hall.  Konbanwa!

 

Week One

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted something.  I've been extremely busy.  This job is pretty much 24/7, so it's rare that I have any time to myself.  I'm sure it'll get easier once I get into the routine of things, but this first week was a little bit rough.  There is just so much to do all the time.  Not only am I working the camp, but I also have to work in the office during the day.  Monday through Thursday the students are in class, so I try to take care of any reservations that need to be made during the office hours.  I've already decided that I hate planning meals.  It's a real pain.  We also go on weekend trips, which can be stressful with so many people and things to keep track of.  Despite the stress, I'm learning a lot and I LOVE the students.

I seriously couldn't ask for a better group of people to work with.  They are so eager to learn and so much fun to be around.  It's tiring most days, but it's worth it.  I was a little down those first couple of days because it was so hard to spend the day without Dakota.  After 2 years of living together and seeing each other everyday, it was rough to spend that first night alone.  The students have cheered me up considerably.  On the second day, one of the girls came up to me and handed me a package.  She wrote me the sweetest note thanking me for helping her during this program and saying that she hoped I could understand her English (which I can just fine.)  She also enclosed some adorable goodies from Japan:  a beautiful flowered fan, some scented rubber bands, a mechanical eraser, and the tiniest set of sticky notes I have ever seen in the shape of little weiner dogs.  I was honestly speechless.  It made my whole day.

Everyone here has been so incredibly friendly.  It's only been a week, but I've already learned some interesting things about Japanese culture.

1) Knowing your blood type is a big deal in Japan.  It's common when introducing yourself to someone to ask what their blood type is or tell them what your blood type is.  They were asking me at lunch one day and were shocked when I told them I had no idea. 

2) The sweets here are waaaaaaaaay too sweet for them.  I'm not much of a sweets person myself, but they have a really low tolerance for the amount of sugar that we put in our food. 

3)  Japanese poker and American poker are not the same.  They invited me to play cards and I asked what they were playing and they told me it was poker.  I honestly don't know how to play poker, but I know this game is not what we typically refer to as poker.  All of the cards in the deck are distributed among the players.  Before the game begins, you should put down any number pairs that you have.  When you begin, you will take a card out of the person to your right's hand.  The objective is to get a match from them.  You want to run out of cards before the others. 

4)  Japanese scissors have a cover on them to make them safer.  I definitely think that idea should carry over here to the U.S.

5) I know I've already mentioned how nice the students are, but I can't emphasize it enough.  They are so polite and respectful.  I had made some brownies for one of the girls' birthdays and the next day she handed me the containers I had brought the brownies in.  She had washed them for me.  It's just little polite things like that that catch me off guard. 

6)  Nicknames are very common among Japanese students.  They've already given me one.  They call me Buri chan. 

Well, I'm pretty much exhausted for the night.  We had our first weekend trip today.  I'm ready for some sleep.

Summertime

Well, it's finally here.  This is the last weekend Dakota and I will get to spend together before I have to move out of our apartment to help with an ESL summer camp.  It's been over a year since we've gone even a night without at least sleeping in the same bed.  Though it is only for a couple of months, I think it will be hard for me to sleep without him for at least the first couple of weeks.  We'll still be in the same town, so I'll at least get to see him here and there on my breaks, but it will still be weird after living together these last couple of years.

Aside from that, I think that I will learn a lot this summer.  The students I will be working with are from Japan and I am anxious to learn more about their culture.  Living with your boyfriend has its perks, but it can also make you more isolated.  Because I will be living in the dorms with the students, I think there is a lot of potential to make good friends.  I've been in the planning process these last few months, making reservations for everything, and it has been pretty stressful.  I'm glad I am finally moving toward the DOING process, which I think will be much more fun.

I'm sure it will be rough for some of the students when they first get here, considering the tragedy that recently occurred in Japan, but I hope that I can make their experience here a good one.  I'm excited to hear about their impressions of the U.S., what they like and what they don't like.  I also hope to gain some insight on their culture...and maybe I'll even get to try some of their cooking, which I hear is pretty awesome.  Who knows...perhaps there will be someone there who knows how to do amigurumi (a Japanese art) that can help me.  I've been trying to figure it out for awhile, and I'm getting better, but I'm sure having someone who can show me how to do it face to face would be helpful.

It's only a week away and I'm so nervous, but so excited at the same time.  My first ESL experience will be a pretty in-depth one, which I anticipate will be very valuable for my future.