I have just entered my last month in Japan, and it looks to be one filled with goodbyes, goodbye parties, and preparations to leave behind what I can only describe as my life. I no longer need the "in Japan" part, and have come to the accept the reality that I've created a life for myself here that in just over a month will (seemingly) evaporate into thin air. Job, friends, house, boyfriend, car, shopping, sense of purpose, reason for studying Japanese. It's all going out the window on August 10.
And somehow it doesn't feel real, yet. I just broke the news to some of my students today. They were shocked, in a groggy way (they were sleeping in class), I didn't know what to say, and then class finished and they left to get ready for 3rd period. Is it all going to be like this? A quick side note at the end of class, "Oh, by the way, after this month I'm never going to see you again." I don't quite know what to make of it.
When I stop to think about it, living in Japan has been the biggest adventure of my life. I've never been as shocked and confused as I have in Japan. I've never been challenged to this degree. I've never made this big of an adjustment. I've never been so independent. I've had so many chances to travel with friends or by myself. I've had so many new experiences that it feels like everything is just going to be downhill from here. Even moving to yet another country wouldn't have quite the same feel: been there, done that. I sought after the ultimate thrill, found it, handled it, thoroughly enjoyed it, and now it's time to resume an unthrilling life.
But maybe that's not such a bad thing. A dose of normal, a taste of calm, a struggle to readjust into the society in which I was brought up. It might do me some good. Certainly seeing family and friends is a comfort, even though it may be hard in some ways. I've been gone for 2 years, and in that time people change. I'll have to catch up with everyone back home, and though my stories might be interesting at first, after a short while, no one will be particularly interested to hear another, "When I was in Japan..." story. 2 years of my life, tucked away into a drawer, to be reminisced upon only when I meet fellow Japan-o-philes.
Another part of me says that if I really want continuous change and adventure, there are careers to be found in this area. That is the essence of an anthropologist's job, after all (but to become a full-fledged anthropologist would require years of education to get a PHD, and that's quickly becoming a poor investment in the current system). The fact is, though, that I'm not sure if that's what I want. But I guess there's time to figure all of this out. And time, at the moment, is exactly what I want. Time to adjust, time to see people, time to take in everything, time to lose my mind and then find it again. There's no real way to prepare for that. So all I can do for now is say goodbye.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
What Happens When You Live Abroad.
It has been too long since I posted on this blog. I feel I've been missing the chance to record my experiences for the future. Details that I would have remembered so many months ago are slowly fading.
And the reason I feel this way is that my time here is coming to an end. In just over two months' time, I will be getting on a plane and flying home to Texas. I recently read an article posted by someone else who is staying in Japan, and it rings true to me now. I'd like to share it here, as some food for thought on how I've changed as a result of living in Japan. And in the next few weeks, I'll be recalling some of the memories and experiences I've had that I will miss when I go home.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/what-happens-when-you-live-abroad/#.T8Zs_fg27Xw.facebook
And the reason I feel this way is that my time here is coming to an end. In just over two months' time, I will be getting on a plane and flying home to Texas. I recently read an article posted by someone else who is staying in Japan, and it rings true to me now. I'd like to share it here, as some food for thought on how I've changed as a result of living in Japan. And in the next few weeks, I'll be recalling some of the memories and experiences I've had that I will miss when I go home.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/what-happens-when-you-live-abroad/#.T8Zs_fg27Xw.facebook
Monday, January 9, 2012
Winter Vacation is Over
....but winter definitely is not! It's so cold! Especially when compared to Thailand and Laos, where the whether was warm warm warm! And then muggy. And then hot. And usually sunny. And a little cool at night. But mostly warm. I miss the warmth...
So here's a brief synopsis of the trip. Krista and I left on December 22nd, and spent that whole day traveling. We took a 6am taxi to the 7am bus to the 10am flight, which included 2 layovers and 3 meals, then in Bangkok we took a 7pm taxi to the 8pm overnight bus and arrived in Phuket, Thailand at 8 am on January 9 and our trip was over.
Well, that's what it feels like now, but really we were in Phuket (pronounced Pooh-ket, not Foo-ket and definitely not the other option you're thinking of) for about a week. We picked it so we could go diving! Krista's been a certified scuba diver for some time now, but I'd only done a tandem dive (someone adjusted all my equipment for me, I just floated underwater) a few months before in Tanegashima in Japan. So I went to get my Open Water certification and Krista went to get her Advanced Open Water. I spent the first half-day in the pool, going over the basics like how to clear water from a flooded mask and take it on and off underwater and how to use your partners alternate air source and how to make a slow emergency ascent, etc. Some of them are quite unnerving, like breathing without a mask on. The pool was part of a resort about 5 minutes from our diving center (a place called Rumblefish Adventures) and by 10am it was PACKED with scuba instructors and students. There was a larger Korean group of about 6 people, and I heard French and Russian as well as a couple other Americans practicing similar skills. I was lucky - I was Chris's only student. Then we ordered lunch and he made me tread water in the pool for 10 minutes while we waited for the food. One of the skills you need to become a certified diver. That and a swim test. I basically floated in the deep end trying to avoid the other divers, who were like sharks under the water.
Then we did some dives on the beach. Krista came out with us. We saw a cuddle fish and a lionfish and many other fish I couldn't name. I was surprised at how quickly time went underwater. 45 minutes felt like 10 by the time we surfaced. Waddling in and out of the water with equipment on was a little odd. We did two more dives from the same beach the next day, while getting trained in various skills. Krista learned some compass skills, we both had buoyancy tests. Mine was a 30 second hover and hers was for 1 minute. Then she got to try some other buoyancy games, and I tried as well, but it was quite hard. One was to float above the surface of the sand with only one finger from each hand touching. When you breathe in and out, you move up and down, and the idea is to make it look like one-finger push-ups. If you inhale for too long, your fingers lift up off the sand and it ruins the effect. It's much harder than it sounds.
The next day we had a boat trip, with an overnight stay to an outer island planned. It was our instructor's favorite place to dive. As luck would have it, a storm from the Philippines(?) brought some big waves and swells our way and the trip was cancelled. The boat was rocking a little too hard so we had to turn back after about 40 minutes. So that day we chilled in the sun on the beach, and I started reading the series Krista brought, Game of Thrones. I was enthralled by the end of the day, so I kept reading them throughout the trip and have them still. Krista finished all 3 books (a total of nearly 3,000 pages!!!) and I'm almost done with the second. There are 5 total in the series I hear.
So the next day we went on a boat trip, and prayed for good visibility, but to no avail. Our dive site was Rachayai and it was a decent dive spot, though you could tell the water was a bit murky and the storm brought in lots of little jellyfish. My mask sprung a leak, but I didn't find out til I was in the water preparing to descend. Chris traded masks with me and spent the dive constantly clearing the mask. The next day we took another boat trip out to Shark Point and Anemone Reef, and those sights were Gorgeous! But again the water was murky, so the effect wasn't nearly as wonderful as it normally is this time of year. My dive instructor says I very nearly ran my knee into a sea urchin. I also ended up using my air much more quickly on that dive and so had to share a tank with the instructor in order to prolong the dive for Krista's sake. It was uncomfortable, but I'm glad we did because we swam past beautifully colored reefs surrounded by a wall of fish, spotted a well-hidden sea-horse and were practically attacked by a cuddle fish. On the boat trips, it finally dawned on me how much more comfortable it is to be under the water diving than on the surface preparing to dive, or loading on and off the boat.
Being under water feels like flying. And it's tempting to want to just swim around doing flips, except that you learn in the dive course that exerting yourself underwater is a Really Bad Idea. With so many divers, I found myself worrying about stepping on someone, or swimming up into someone. Suddenly there's a whole 'nother dimension of travel to worry about - on land you never worry about someone bumping you from below... usually. It's also easy to get lost without reference points, or lose track of your depth without a dive computer. Everything is completely different. And full of wonder.
Next we went to Laos! We hopped an overnight bus to Bangkok for the flight. I wrote down an account of sorts of our time in Laos - on scratch paper since I didn't bring a journal. It was really interesting stuff. Hopefully within the next few days I'll get that typed up. Our time in Laos was VERY different from our time in Phuket. But I'll get to that soon. I think there's also a whole entry to be made comparing these countries to Japan and also to Guatemala. Many people commented on how odd it was to have a tropical Christmas, but in that way it was like being in Guatemala, which reminds me of family, and so it felt very much like Christmas, in a small way.
So here's a brief synopsis of the trip. Krista and I left on December 22nd, and spent that whole day traveling. We took a 6am taxi to the 7am bus to the 10am flight, which included 2 layovers and 3 meals, then in Bangkok we took a 7pm taxi to the 8pm overnight bus and arrived in Phuket, Thailand at 8 am on January 9 and our trip was over.
Well, that's what it feels like now, but really we were in Phuket (pronounced Pooh-ket, not Foo-ket and definitely not the other option you're thinking of) for about a week. We picked it so we could go diving! Krista's been a certified scuba diver for some time now, but I'd only done a tandem dive (someone adjusted all my equipment for me, I just floated underwater) a few months before in Tanegashima in Japan. So I went to get my Open Water certification and Krista went to get her Advanced Open Water. I spent the first half-day in the pool, going over the basics like how to clear water from a flooded mask and take it on and off underwater and how to use your partners alternate air source and how to make a slow emergency ascent, etc. Some of them are quite unnerving, like breathing without a mask on. The pool was part of a resort about 5 minutes from our diving center (a place called Rumblefish Adventures) and by 10am it was PACKED with scuba instructors and students. There was a larger Korean group of about 6 people, and I heard French and Russian as well as a couple other Americans practicing similar skills. I was lucky - I was Chris's only student. Then we ordered lunch and he made me tread water in the pool for 10 minutes while we waited for the food. One of the skills you need to become a certified diver. That and a swim test. I basically floated in the deep end trying to avoid the other divers, who were like sharks under the water.
Then we did some dives on the beach. Krista came out with us. We saw a cuddle fish and a lionfish and many other fish I couldn't name. I was surprised at how quickly time went underwater. 45 minutes felt like 10 by the time we surfaced. Waddling in and out of the water with equipment on was a little odd. We did two more dives from the same beach the next day, while getting trained in various skills. Krista learned some compass skills, we both had buoyancy tests. Mine was a 30 second hover and hers was for 1 minute. Then she got to try some other buoyancy games, and I tried as well, but it was quite hard. One was to float above the surface of the sand with only one finger from each hand touching. When you breathe in and out, you move up and down, and the idea is to make it look like one-finger push-ups. If you inhale for too long, your fingers lift up off the sand and it ruins the effect. It's much harder than it sounds.
The next day we had a boat trip, with an overnight stay to an outer island planned. It was our instructor's favorite place to dive. As luck would have it, a storm from the Philippines(?) brought some big waves and swells our way and the trip was cancelled. The boat was rocking a little too hard so we had to turn back after about 40 minutes. So that day we chilled in the sun on the beach, and I started reading the series Krista brought, Game of Thrones. I was enthralled by the end of the day, so I kept reading them throughout the trip and have them still. Krista finished all 3 books (a total of nearly 3,000 pages!!!) and I'm almost done with the second. There are 5 total in the series I hear.
So the next day we went on a boat trip, and prayed for good visibility, but to no avail. Our dive site was Rachayai and it was a decent dive spot, though you could tell the water was a bit murky and the storm brought in lots of little jellyfish. My mask sprung a leak, but I didn't find out til I was in the water preparing to descend. Chris traded masks with me and spent the dive constantly clearing the mask. The next day we took another boat trip out to Shark Point and Anemone Reef, and those sights were Gorgeous! But again the water was murky, so the effect wasn't nearly as wonderful as it normally is this time of year. My dive instructor says I very nearly ran my knee into a sea urchin. I also ended up using my air much more quickly on that dive and so had to share a tank with the instructor in order to prolong the dive for Krista's sake. It was uncomfortable, but I'm glad we did because we swam past beautifully colored reefs surrounded by a wall of fish, spotted a well-hidden sea-horse and were practically attacked by a cuddle fish. On the boat trips, it finally dawned on me how much more comfortable it is to be under the water diving than on the surface preparing to dive, or loading on and off the boat.
Being under water feels like flying. And it's tempting to want to just swim around doing flips, except that you learn in the dive course that exerting yourself underwater is a Really Bad Idea. With so many divers, I found myself worrying about stepping on someone, or swimming up into someone. Suddenly there's a whole 'nother dimension of travel to worry about - on land you never worry about someone bumping you from below... usually. It's also easy to get lost without reference points, or lose track of your depth without a dive computer. Everything is completely different. And full of wonder.
Next we went to Laos! We hopped an overnight bus to Bangkok for the flight. I wrote down an account of sorts of our time in Laos - on scratch paper since I didn't bring a journal. It was really interesting stuff. Hopefully within the next few days I'll get that typed up. Our time in Laos was VERY different from our time in Phuket. But I'll get to that soon. I think there's also a whole entry to be made comparing these countries to Japan and also to Guatemala. Many people commented on how odd it was to have a tropical Christmas, but in that way it was like being in Guatemala, which reminds me of family, and so it felt very much like Christmas, in a small way.
Friday, December 30, 2011
A Winter Vacation
As the end of this semester approached, I found a lot of Japanese people asking me if I would go home for Christmas. It seems like the logical thing to do and in all likelihood, this will be the last Christmas I spend so far from family for a good while. Christmas season is just not the same without.
But that said, I should mention what I am doing. What could possobly have led me to decide not to go home? Well, the answer is:proximity to southeast Asia. I'm not sure why but the call of Thailand and scuba diving and exploring a new part of the world has been growing for some time, so when Krista and Mary mentioned they wanted to do such a trip,I as more than ready.
Unfortunately,Mary wound up in the hospital(a flare-up of a previously existing condition) and had to cancel. So its been just me and Krista making our way. I'll write more soon,but for now I'll just say that I have had some amazing experiences so far and a surprising number of de ja vous moments!
But that said, I should mention what I am doing. What could possobly have led me to decide not to go home? Well, the answer is:proximity to southeast Asia. I'm not sure why but the call of Thailand and scuba diving and exploring a new part of the world has been growing for some time, so when Krista and Mary mentioned they wanted to do such a trip,I as more than ready.
Unfortunately,Mary wound up in the hospital(a flare-up of a previously existing condition) and had to cancel. So its been just me and Krista making our way. I'll write more soon,but for now I'll just say that I have had some amazing experiences so far and a surprising number of de ja vous moments!
Monday, September 26, 2011
End of the Shit Saga
At long last!!! I have a license!!! Since my car accident, I had had in my possession a cursed can of black coffee. This can had been in my car, ready for me to drink whenever I felt too sleepy on the road. I neglected to drink that coffee, and crashed as a result of sleepiness! Irony! So the coffee survived the crash and sat in my fridge, and it was suggested that only when that coffee was drunk would I be rid of my curse. So I drank it. AND EVERYTHING WORKED OUT! Almost miraculously, I might add!
1) The letter my boss wrote must have been enough. They didn't even ask us about it. They just accepted all the paperwork as it was.
2) The paper test was no problem. (It's usually not, but knowing my luck, I was worried nonetheless). It was 10 true/false questions, with picture illustrations, and translated into only slightly awkward English.
3) I passed the practical driving test on the 2nd try! Most foreigners I've talked to who have taken the test have had to take it 3 times. Sometimes even 5 times. I did it in two! Came in Wednesday, had license on Friday.
4) My boss was thankful to have a relaxing day away from the office. She took me out to lunch both days, telling me to just worry about the cost of the test.
5) The VERY NEXT DAY it started raining (tail end of a typhoon). If I hadn't gotten my license, I would have been biking to my elementary schools for their Sports Days. The next Tuesday was rainy as well, when I might have had to bike to work again. The whole 3 weeks that I biked to school, the weather was perfect! Maybe a little hot, but fortunately dry.
How lucky was that?! That coffee really was cursed, I guess.
While the car accident was a rather unfortunate event in and of itself, it just so happened to lead to a number of happier things. For one thing, my social life didn't disappear. Rather, asking for help and favors from others led to some happy times. I asked a fellow teacher for some help gift-shopping, and she ended up taking me out with her family for the day!
But perhaps the biggest plus to come out of it was Yusuke. My appointment with the license center was about one week after my accident, on a Thursday. It just so happened that he was off work that day, so I asked him for a ride. I could have asked my boss - it would have been considered part of her work day, but I didn't want to bother her so much, since she'd been handling my car accident paperwork. Besides, Yusuke was a good friend, and I felt I needed a friend to help me face trying to get a license one week after totaling my car.
So he went with me, and witnessed the first stage of the License Fiasco. He did his best to translate for me, then he listened patiently while I ranted for half an hour. We grabbed lunch, and the next day he called to offer to give me a ride to the license center again if I needed it, offering to take a day off work if necessary. That was the sign of affection I needed. The next time I saw him, about two weeks later, I asked him out, and we've been together since.
You've probably guessed by now that Yusuke is Japanese. He is 26. He drives a motorcycle. He works with pigs (big agricultural area around here). He smokes and dyes his hair. He plays the guitar. He loves karaoke. And every day that he spends with me, he becomes less Japanese. His English is quite good, due to his hanging out with foreigners the past 3 years. But like me, he understands far more than he is comfortable speaking, so I often speak in English and he in Japanese, but it works out just fine.
Are you surprised? Yea, me too. On paper, he doesn't sound like my type. But everyone who knows him well agrees: his outer appearance does not match his personality. Suffice to say that we get along really well and that I'm lucky to have him.
1) The letter my boss wrote must have been enough. They didn't even ask us about it. They just accepted all the paperwork as it was.
2) The paper test was no problem. (It's usually not, but knowing my luck, I was worried nonetheless). It was 10 true/false questions, with picture illustrations, and translated into only slightly awkward English.
3) I passed the practical driving test on the 2nd try! Most foreigners I've talked to who have taken the test have had to take it 3 times. Sometimes even 5 times. I did it in two! Came in Wednesday, had license on Friday.
4) My boss was thankful to have a relaxing day away from the office. She took me out to lunch both days, telling me to just worry about the cost of the test.
5) The VERY NEXT DAY it started raining (tail end of a typhoon). If I hadn't gotten my license, I would have been biking to my elementary schools for their Sports Days. The next Tuesday was rainy as well, when I might have had to bike to work again. The whole 3 weeks that I biked to school, the weather was perfect! Maybe a little hot, but fortunately dry.
How lucky was that?! That coffee really was cursed, I guess.
While the car accident was a rather unfortunate event in and of itself, it just so happened to lead to a number of happier things. For one thing, my social life didn't disappear. Rather, asking for help and favors from others led to some happy times. I asked a fellow teacher for some help gift-shopping, and she ended up taking me out with her family for the day!
But perhaps the biggest plus to come out of it was Yusuke. My appointment with the license center was about one week after my accident, on a Thursday. It just so happened that he was off work that day, so I asked him for a ride. I could have asked my boss - it would have been considered part of her work day, but I didn't want to bother her so much, since she'd been handling my car accident paperwork. Besides, Yusuke was a good friend, and I felt I needed a friend to help me face trying to get a license one week after totaling my car.
So he went with me, and witnessed the first stage of the License Fiasco. He did his best to translate for me, then he listened patiently while I ranted for half an hour. We grabbed lunch, and the next day he called to offer to give me a ride to the license center again if I needed it, offering to take a day off work if necessary. That was the sign of affection I needed. The next time I saw him, about two weeks later, I asked him out, and we've been together since.
You've probably guessed by now that Yusuke is Japanese. He is 26. He drives a motorcycle. He works with pigs (big agricultural area around here). He smokes and dyes his hair. He plays the guitar. He loves karaoke. And every day that he spends with me, he becomes less Japanese. His English is quite good, due to his hanging out with foreigners the past 3 years. But like me, he understands far more than he is comfortable speaking, so I often speak in English and he in Japanese, but it works out just fine.
Are you surprised? Yea, me too. On paper, he doesn't sound like my type. But everyone who knows him well agrees: his outer appearance does not match his personality. Suffice to say that we get along really well and that I'm lucky to have him.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
A Black Hole
So I realize that I've been a little AWOL on this blog, and there's a reason for that. Whether it was the Evil Eye, a debt to Karma, or just plain Bad Luck, I've just been having a soul-crushingly awful summer. So much so that I didn't want to relive it be blogging about it, even though the act of writing about it may have been a cathartic experience. So the blog sort of has this Black Hole in it, starting right around the time of my car accident. Allow me to put things into perspective.
In my head, I have this impression that this ought to be a blog about my encounters with Japanese culture, and therefore be a more Japan-and-Rebeca centric blog. But it's not really about Japan, is it? It's about me being in Japan, living in Japan. It has definitely taken a few odd turns, my life in Japan, that are largely unrelated to Japanese culture and more to do with bad luck. But I will talk about them now because dealing with these things in Japan has been quite the [frustrating] experience.
This summer has been full of really wonderful, fun, thrilling, exciting, happy things as well. But every day that I stopped to have some fun felt like a brief pause before returning to the doom and gloom of Things as Usual. Kinda like a big field of crap punctuated by the occasional bouquet of flowers. The flowers are absolutely gorgeous, but it's hard to ignore all the crap on the ground.
On June 26th, I fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed my car into a tree at 3 am. My friend and I emerged uninjured, about 10 minutes away from my house, and the car wasn't going anywhere. A very kind Japanese guy stopped to help us out. It was lightly raining and Kudo san was nice enough to call and talk to the police for us, and even stayed to help during the whole 2 hour process of towing the car and talking to the police. The really nice thing about not being able to speak the language is that I barely had to do a thing. I signed a paper here and there, I paid the bill, and I had to hang my head in shame, but all the paperwork was taken care of for me. It's like being a kid again.
The repairs on my car would have cost more than I originally paid for the car, so I decided to junk it and find another one. Fortunately, a lot of other JETs were selling their cars for cheap because they would be leaving Japan in August. I made an offer on one, but the guy needed it to move his stuff through the end of July. Meanwhile, I scraped by, renting a car for two weeks, borrowing the office car for work, and going to Europe for two weeks. I managed, and when I got back, I had a car of my own.
However, my international driver's permit expired in July. So in July I had a license, but no car. In August, I had a car but no license. This was not my plan, obviously. I had gone to the driving license center in June to apply to get my Texas license converted to a Japanese license. But there was a hitch. If you are a patient person willing to hear my paperwork woes, I will detail them below. However, you can also imagine that field of crap as it might have been in the beginning - just a small pile perhaps. Now if you imagine it growing bigger and more putrid and more idiotic every day for a month: that's exactly what this whole license-obtaining process has been like. So now you don't even have to read the description below :D
It's still like that today, in fact! I remain unlicensed and this is why. In April, I renewed my Texas license online, because it would expire in October and within 1 year of expiration, you are allowed to renew your license online, if you went in person the last time. So I did this, thinking it would be a good idea to be preemptive. I had this license mailed to my Texas address. It never arrived. This was the start of all my woes. Had I not done this, I might have been licensed ages ago. Meanwhile, I was putting together my paperwork to obtain a Japanese driver license. I obtained a copy of my driver record (which, by the way, is called a Status Record, in order to further confuse us all) that showed how long I had been licensed. I needed to show that I had been licensed for at least 3 months before I came to Japan, and that I had been living in the U.S. for that much time. But the license I had in my wallet showed was issued one month before I came to Japan - it was a replacement for the license I lost over spring break. But the driver record also showed that my most recent license was issued on April 9, 2011 and would expire in October, 2017. That's right - it showed the data for my renewed license lost somewhere in Texas. For Japanese officials trying to verify my status as a licensed driver, I can understand why this was confusing. So I thought, "OK, no problem. All I have to do is get my license shipped again." So I called the Texas Department of Public Safety at 11pm on a weeknight, or 9am on a weekday in Texas, was put on hold for 30 minutes, then managed to explain my situation. They said they would mail my license to Japan, probably a 4 week wait, but if I wanted it shipped faster, I would have to set up a FedEx account and they would charge me through that. So I tried to do it online. FedEx Japan would only accept a Japanese credit card. Didn't have one. FedEx in the U.S. needed a credit card with an American address - my credit card showed my Japanese address. I finally found a different credit card that worked and called DPS only to find that my license was already being shipped. That was around July 15. I went to Europe and came back hoping to find my license in my mailbox. It was August 6th and it had not arrived. So I called them and asked them to reprint and resend my license, this time by FedEx. It arrived 4 days later, and cost me $75. I didn't care, I just wanted to finish this. But would you believe...the dates on this Shiny, New, Up-to-Date license did not match my status record. The record still shows, to this day, the renewal issue date of April 9, while the license I received shows an August 5 issue date (the expiration date is the same though). Mothereffingsonofa$#*%# So I asked my boss to call the license center and explain things and see if this was ok. It's not really ok, but they might accept a letter of explanation. Maybe. IN ADDITION, they have a problem with my original license issue date. In May, 2003 I qualified for a license - I had passed both the written and practical tests. However, I was only 15 years old on that date, and on the questionnaire I was given at the Japanese license center, I told them that I held a driving permit, or a restricted license, until I was 16 years old, when I received a real license. Now the center needs proof that I was given a real license when I turned 16, a process that is automatic and proof of which I have no idea how to obtain. My appointment to go to the center is next Wednesday, September 14. I have no idea how this will turn out. This is a most unfortunate turn of events. You can see that if just one of many things were different, none of this would have happened. If I had saved my old licenses (from when I was 16 onward); if I hadn't lost my license over spring break; if I hadn't renewed my license in April, if that license hadn't been lost in the mail. All these ifs. All these tiny circumstances that could have prevented all, or half of this. It's a perfect storm of bureaucratic insidiousness. And I just want it to finish already.
Meanwhile, my computer and kindle have both broken and been fixed. I've had several unhappy mix-ups with the post office along the way, though, trying to use Amazon's postage to return the broken kindle. They also seemed to have some problem with a money transfer, so I may have some more things to figure out.
But as crappy as all this has been, I have managed to get a boyfriend out of all of this. But he deserves his own entry, so I'll save the details for next time.
In my head, I have this impression that this ought to be a blog about my encounters with Japanese culture, and therefore be a more Japan-and-Rebeca centric blog. But it's not really about Japan, is it? It's about me being in Japan, living in Japan. It has definitely taken a few odd turns, my life in Japan, that are largely unrelated to Japanese culture and more to do with bad luck. But I will talk about them now because dealing with these things in Japan has been quite the [frustrating] experience.
This summer has been full of really wonderful, fun, thrilling, exciting, happy things as well. But every day that I stopped to have some fun felt like a brief pause before returning to the doom and gloom of Things as Usual. Kinda like a big field of crap punctuated by the occasional bouquet of flowers. The flowers are absolutely gorgeous, but it's hard to ignore all the crap on the ground.
On June 26th, I fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed my car into a tree at 3 am. My friend and I emerged uninjured, about 10 minutes away from my house, and the car wasn't going anywhere. A very kind Japanese guy stopped to help us out. It was lightly raining and Kudo san was nice enough to call and talk to the police for us, and even stayed to help during the whole 2 hour process of towing the car and talking to the police. The really nice thing about not being able to speak the language is that I barely had to do a thing. I signed a paper here and there, I paid the bill, and I had to hang my head in shame, but all the paperwork was taken care of for me. It's like being a kid again.
The repairs on my car would have cost more than I originally paid for the car, so I decided to junk it and find another one. Fortunately, a lot of other JETs were selling their cars for cheap because they would be leaving Japan in August. I made an offer on one, but the guy needed it to move his stuff through the end of July. Meanwhile, I scraped by, renting a car for two weeks, borrowing the office car for work, and going to Europe for two weeks. I managed, and when I got back, I had a car of my own.
However, my international driver's permit expired in July. So in July I had a license, but no car. In August, I had a car but no license. This was not my plan, obviously. I had gone to the driving license center in June to apply to get my Texas license converted to a Japanese license. But there was a hitch. If you are a patient person willing to hear my paperwork woes, I will detail them below. However, you can also imagine that field of crap as it might have been in the beginning - just a small pile perhaps. Now if you imagine it growing bigger and more putrid and more idiotic every day for a month: that's exactly what this whole license-obtaining process has been like. So now you don't even have to read the description below :D
It's still like that today, in fact! I remain unlicensed and this is why. In April, I renewed my Texas license online, because it would expire in October and within 1 year of expiration, you are allowed to renew your license online, if you went in person the last time. So I did this, thinking it would be a good idea to be preemptive. I had this license mailed to my Texas address. It never arrived. This was the start of all my woes. Had I not done this, I might have been licensed ages ago. Meanwhile, I was putting together my paperwork to obtain a Japanese driver license. I obtained a copy of my driver record (which, by the way, is called a Status Record, in order to further confuse us all) that showed how long I had been licensed. I needed to show that I had been licensed for at least 3 months before I came to Japan, and that I had been living in the U.S. for that much time. But the license I had in my wallet showed was issued one month before I came to Japan - it was a replacement for the license I lost over spring break. But the driver record also showed that my most recent license was issued on April 9, 2011 and would expire in October, 2017. That's right - it showed the data for my renewed license lost somewhere in Texas. For Japanese officials trying to verify my status as a licensed driver, I can understand why this was confusing. So I thought, "OK, no problem. All I have to do is get my license shipped again." So I called the Texas Department of Public Safety at 11pm on a weeknight, or 9am on a weekday in Texas, was put on hold for 30 minutes, then managed to explain my situation. They said they would mail my license to Japan, probably a 4 week wait, but if I wanted it shipped faster, I would have to set up a FedEx account and they would charge me through that. So I tried to do it online. FedEx Japan would only accept a Japanese credit card. Didn't have one. FedEx in the U.S. needed a credit card with an American address - my credit card showed my Japanese address. I finally found a different credit card that worked and called DPS only to find that my license was already being shipped. That was around July 15. I went to Europe and came back hoping to find my license in my mailbox. It was August 6th and it had not arrived. So I called them and asked them to reprint and resend my license, this time by FedEx. It arrived 4 days later, and cost me $75. I didn't care, I just wanted to finish this. But would you believe...the dates on this Shiny, New, Up-to-Date license did not match my status record. The record still shows, to this day, the renewal issue date of April 9, while the license I received shows an August 5 issue date (the expiration date is the same though). Mothereffingsonofa$#*%# So I asked my boss to call the license center and explain things and see if this was ok. It's not really ok, but they might accept a letter of explanation. Maybe. IN ADDITION, they have a problem with my original license issue date. In May, 2003 I qualified for a license - I had passed both the written and practical tests. However, I was only 15 years old on that date, and on the questionnaire I was given at the Japanese license center, I told them that I held a driving permit, or a restricted license, until I was 16 years old, when I received a real license. Now the center needs proof that I was given a real license when I turned 16, a process that is automatic and proof of which I have no idea how to obtain. My appointment to go to the center is next Wednesday, September 14. I have no idea how this will turn out. This is a most unfortunate turn of events. You can see that if just one of many things were different, none of this would have happened. If I had saved my old licenses (from when I was 16 onward); if I hadn't lost my license over spring break; if I hadn't renewed my license in April, if that license hadn't been lost in the mail. All these ifs. All these tiny circumstances that could have prevented all, or half of this. It's a perfect storm of bureaucratic insidiousness. And I just want it to finish already.
Meanwhile, my computer and kindle have both broken and been fixed. I've had several unhappy mix-ups with the post office along the way, though, trying to use Amazon's postage to return the broken kindle. They also seemed to have some problem with a money transfer, so I may have some more things to figure out.
But as crappy as all this has been, I have managed to get a boyfriend out of all of this. But he deserves his own entry, so I'll save the details for next time.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Origami Convention in Tokyo
How can I describe how incredibly awesome it was to be surrounded by many of the worlds BEST origami artists for nearly two days? When I arrived at Tokyo University ready to sign in for the convention, bumbling about asking for help in my jarbled Japanglish, little did I realize that virtually every volunteer I spoke to was an origami genius. I noticed a lot of children present, and assumed that the more complex models would be out of their reach, little knowing that many of them could fold cleaner, faster, and more-complicated models than I could hope to achieve.
When I finally had my bearings, I noticed a group of foreigners in one corner of the auditorium, and recognized a few of them from the MIT origami meetings I'd been to. Yep, you heard right. Since Harvard lacked it's own origami club, when I heard that MIT had one I made an effort to go to several meetings my senior year. Here's their website, in case you're curious. I had hoped I might see some of them there. So I made my way over and joined their group.
Let me tell you, doing origami alone and doing origami in company are two vastly different experiences. For one, you can see how other people got started with origami and how they've improved and who influences them. A few people I talked to seemed surprised that I had picked up origami largely on my own, and gotten to where I am now. There are apparently some stereotypes about who folds origami better, and one guy readily admitted that Japanese origami enthusiasts are much better folders on average than Americans. Their folds are neater, they fold faster, and they seem to know their way around a piece of paper just a little better. A model that took 3 hours to teach, with 50% of the class finishing in America, took 2 hours in Japan, with some students finishing in 1 hour. And in Japan, 15 out of 30 or so of these students were under the age of 15. Here's the model they were folding. That's from one square sheet of paper with no cuts. Below is a picture of a miniature version someone folded. It's next to my watch, to give you an idea of dimension.
So white people in general have a reputation for not being particularly accurate or good folders. So when I met one of the special guests, whose models were being featured at the convention, he assumed I was probably an amateur, ok-ish folder. He told me so later, when I entered his class late (forgot to set my alarm), caught up, and apparently managed to make a much neater model than half of the, mostly, Japanese class. Interesting assumption, great compliment, to have my folds admired by the teacher. I sat next to two Japanese ladies who were also impressed by my folds, though I think one of them was much better than I was. It was nice, because I was able to actually converse a little with them in Japanese!
One of the most incredible aspects of origami folding, I think, is some artists' ability to manipulate the two-sided nature of the paper, an aspect known as color changing. A classic example of this is a panda made from one square of paper, colored white one side and black on the other. Folding to get the colors in the right place is a tricky thing, although sometimes depending on the position of the paper, it's surprisingly simple. I'm actually a huge fan of well-done color changing.
On the left is a samurai warrior dude. From one sheet of paper, red on one side, white on the other, Brian Chan folded this. His work is phenomenal, and he's one of the Amazing Artists I've met and sort of gawked at in awe of his sheer genius. I mean, look at the sword! That shit takes serious tallent!
Below is a chimpanzee, with nipples no less, folded by Roman Diaz, and Uruguayan origamist who has quite a knack for color changing, in my opinion. Several of his models were on display at the convention .
When I finally had my bearings, I noticed a group of foreigners in one corner of the auditorium, and recognized a few of them from the MIT origami meetings I'd been to. Yep, you heard right. Since Harvard lacked it's own origami club, when I heard that MIT had one I made an effort to go to several meetings my senior year. Here's their website, in case you're curious. I had hoped I might see some of them there. So I made my way over and joined their group.
 |
| Here I am folding with a couple of the MIT girls. In the background, wearing a brown t-shirt with a splash of green, is Robert Lang. It took some control on my part not to run up and ask for his autograph. I did go to his lecture, though. |
Let me tell you, doing origami alone and doing origami in company are two vastly different experiences. For one, you can see how other people got started with origami and how they've improved and who influences them. A few people I talked to seemed surprised that I had picked up origami largely on my own, and gotten to where I am now. There are apparently some stereotypes about who folds origami better, and one guy readily admitted that Japanese origami enthusiasts are much better folders on average than Americans. Their folds are neater, they fold faster, and they seem to know their way around a piece of paper just a little better. A model that took 3 hours to teach, with 50% of the class finishing in America, took 2 hours in Japan, with some students finishing in 1 hour. And in Japan, 15 out of 30 or so of these students were under the age of 15. Here's the model they were folding. That's from one square sheet of paper with no cuts. Below is a picture of a miniature version someone folded. It's next to my watch, to give you an idea of dimension.
 |
| I thought my polar bear was kinda cute at that size, but the Nazgul was ridiculous. Tiny and incredibly well-done. |
 |
| The two Japanese ladies I was folding with. On the table is the star we were working on. |
One of the most incredible aspects of origami folding, I think, is some artists' ability to manipulate the two-sided nature of the paper, an aspect known as color changing. A classic example of this is a panda made from one square of paper, colored white one side and black on the other. Folding to get the colors in the right place is a tricky thing, although sometimes depending on the position of the paper, it's surprisingly simple. I'm actually a huge fan of well-done color changing.
On the left is a samurai warrior dude. From one sheet of paper, red on one side, white on the other, Brian Chan folded this. His work is phenomenal, and he's one of the Amazing Artists I've met and sort of gawked at in awe of his sheer genius. I mean, look at the sword! That shit takes serious tallent!
Below is a chimpanzee, with nipples no less, folded by Roman Diaz, and Uruguayan origamist who has quite a knack for color changing, in my opinion. Several of his models were on display at the convention .
The weekend flew by! I left the convention early on the second day to catch a flight back to Kumamoto, and now I'm at work once more. The new JETs have arrived and I will meet many of them tonight and tomorrow at orientation. I'm giving a workshop on Learning Japanese, so I'll be giving suggestions to the newcomers on how to approach the Japanese language. I'm presenting with a guy who's Japanese is super advanced, so we make a perfect team. He majored in the Japanese language before he came, and I knew the word "konnichiwa" before I came. That seems like a long time ago...
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