A very extreme weekend. Extremely nervous, extremely vulnerable, extremely helpless, extremely thankful, extremely relaxed, extremely encouraged…
This weekend was the official beginning of shooting for my doco! Saturday, I, with the undeniably neccessary help from Kikkawa sensei, interviewed two people, shot the entirety of the tea making process, and learned more about myself and Japan.
I prepared for the big day on Friday night by heading to my local sushi chef, alone. Face the speaking fear and just go. I knew the place because Takahashi sensei, of skiing/snowboarding lore took me there just before he left for a sea voyage. Brought the list of questions I’d ask to see if they made sense. It felt like I was trying to crack a code or something. I had the crack, but couldn’t understand the message: I had questions in Japanese, but didn’t fully understand them, nor did I know if they would make sense to my interviewee.
The chef was friendly enough, and I ordered the special of the day. We talked about Colorado, and beef, and sushi/Japanese foods in the US. I brought my small pocket dictionary to help. The other man at the counter jumped in as well. I tried my interview questions, and they seemed to work. Sigh of relief.
Soon, the conversation turned to my life in Japan. Where I lived, where I’ve travelled, friends, girlfriends, all of that. Well, it wasn’t soon after that his daughter made an appearance (I think from Mom’s goading). She brought an electronic dictionary and word trading continued. The chef retrived some maps I pointed out Denver, and where Boulder and Fort Collins would be. I drew a small picture map of Colorado on my note pad. Moutains, and plains, and mesas, and dunes.
By that time, about 2 hours had passed. And the other man at the bar had a friend come in, a salary man whose sister is married to an Aussie (and living in Australia). He was drunk already, and good fun to talk with. Another hour of eating, and I went home to sleep. Had a long day, the next day!
Go here to read about it.
Impressions… I tried to express my utter amazement at the events of the day to Kikkawa sensei, but faily miserably. I tried to say that when I first arrived in Japan that I never thought this would happen.
But, what I was thinking was more like: Do you what a world moment is in physics? It’s when two history lines intersect. If you think about an object in 4 dimensions (3 spacial and the 4th temporal), then an atom/object/thing makes a single line in the continuum of space. One way to describe a collision is using these lines. When two objects collide, their history lines try to occupy the same 4 coordinates, something that’s not possible. This kind of view led to the term ‘world moment.’
Well, I felt a few world moments in the ethereal domain yesterday. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever conceivably imagine that I’d be doing what I was doing yesterday. This humbling thot hit me a few times throughout the day. Driving to a remote, peaceful place, spending a day with farmers and factory workers, seeing a side of Japan that many ALTs never really see. The eagerness of everyone to help, the hospitality and willingness to overlook the language barriers, I can’t figure out what I want to say. I guess I actually saw Japan for one of the first times yesteray. Kikkawa sensei’s history line interacted with mine and I’ve been deeply impacted. And I feel terrible that he’ll never truly know how I feel. I was completely dependent on him and he was absolutely incredibly foreseeing and kind.
OK, back to the boring. After I returned and downloaded the footage, I headed off to Shizuoka to relax. Spring Brain Monkey had a it’s ‘Tickle’ event on, so I went. On the way, I bought some Celestial Seasonings tea and the ingredients for schmores at the international import store in Shizuoka (where, incidentally, I found my favorite Thai curry paste w00+!) as a meager thank-you for Kikkawa sensei. He’ll get a kick out of our bastardized teas (raspberry zinger - the atrocities!), and his kids will love schmores, no doubt about that.
Anyway, once at Spring Brain Monkey, I met up with Yossie (the DJ) and met his DJ friends (Tanjo and Tetsu). We talked music and Colorado for a long while. They introduced me to a nice Jswing group. Man, their music is so good - latin and funk and jazz and swing and downtempo. It’s all there. But, it was a good wind down for me. The three of them were very praising of my Japanese, something I’ve needed recently, as I’m heading into another swell of culture shock. An entire language is freaking huge to learn. I’m feeling overwhelmed. These small spots of encouragement really help me keep going.
The night went really well, and I saw some other teachers that I hadn’t seen since before winter break. General small talk.
Went home and SLEPT. A good sleep. Today was very relaxing. Shopping and mic-sponge making. I have a few things left to put together before heading off to Kyushu during Golden Week.
Oh, that’s right. On Friday, I’m leaving with Aroop, Nick, and Kaz to go to Kyushu for 8 days. We’re going to Hakata (Fukuoka), Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Kagoshima, and Kirishima. On our return, we’re stopping in Hiroshima. Nice and sobering. This trip is funded by my grant, so I’ll be interviewing (most likely in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, as their memorial parks are large and beautiful).