Lunchtime thoughts

Part of this was written on my lunch break today . . .

Yesterday went well. I woke up and took care of everything I planned to and was rested. Work was good as well. No real news on teaching, but everyday I feel like I am improving upon the day or week before and that is good enough for me. One of my students said something interesting though. She told my head teacher that compared to another teacher from a while back, I am starting off more confident. Apparently when this guy first began to teach, he would drop his materials often during class cause he was so nervous. I haven't been doing that and I guess I had impressed this particular student. This encourages me; not in the sense that I am starting off better than the other guy, but that I am starting off confident. I have one less hurtle to overcome before I can call myself a good teacher. . . Smooth.

Other than that, yesterday was a good and more or less average day until I went to bed. Today, is going along in the same vein. Though I did forget to mention last Thursday, but was reminded today, that one of my student's husband got his MBA at UCI. What a small world!! I told her to go home and do the "zot zot zot" to him ad see what he did. She said he was surprised and and laughed about it. Funny stuff eh?

It has been mentioned to me by some that I should talk about how I feel out here a bit more in detail in terms of emotion. I usually do, when it comes to excitement and happiness, but I will try to avoid complaining on this medium if I have problems. I don't want this blog to ever be mistaken for a bitchy one. Why would I complain or even take the time to write about negative emotions when all that will do is take time and energy away from the good ones or overcoming the challenges? I have and will be facing adversity here for sure and I will document those experiences, but you will be hard pressed to catch how upset or sad I am about something. Though, I admit now that if foreigners come here and piss me off and make me and other well behaved foreigners look bad, I will probably vent and get all crazy bout it here. so watch out for that hehe . . .

With that said I actually need to talk about the movie "Lost in translation" and how it relates to how I regard my situation here. But after I get back from work . . .

So . . . I have owned this movie, "Lost in translation" for the last 5 years or so and didn't sit down to watch it till last week. Basically the film follows the experiences of two exceedingly unhappy spouses (not to each other) as they cope with their general dissatisfaction with their marriages as well as life in general, in the town of Shibuya (Tokyo). A lot of the directional moves in the film seem to poke fun at or mock Japanese culture as Bill Murry or Scarlet Johanson's characters seemed to predominately receive the Japanese experience with ill affect until they meet each other and have their emotional affair. I initially wanted to be annoyed with the movie, but I soon realized that my interpretation of the film is probably far from universal and the problem I had from what I saw lies somewhere else.

"Lost in translation" could easily be proclaimed as a commentary on the fact that satisfaction with one's location is a reflection of one's satisfaction with life. This can be seen in the movie as the outlook of Japan seems to improve as the Bill and Scarlet get closer and coping with everything that is different from America in a more positive fashion. Like Bill is still consistently condescending to non english speaking Japanese people, but he starts doing it with a smile on his face with a air of playfulness rather than frustration as the movie draws on. So yeah, take the movie as you see it I guess.

BUT . . . here is what that film awakened me to; which is one of my quick switches actually. For anyone not of Japanese descent and unable to speak Japanese, please recognize the cold hard fact that you are a fucking guest in this country (an uninvited guest at that). Sure Japan allows people to visit so they can spend their money here, but the US is the same way or it wouldn't be so damn hard for foreigners to get a green card or US citizenship. Thus, as an uninvited guest, we need to act the part.

Here we go . . .

DO NOT COME HERE EXPECTING THE JAPANESE TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK ENGLISH!!! If you plan to vacation here, you had better study up on Japanese and their writing systems or get a sufficient guide (person) to help you around the country. To think that or act as if the people of Japan exist to serve your trivial recreational needs while you are on vacation is absolutely absurd. Please do not come here and start randomly talking to people that don't understand you and then get frustrated because they don't. How do you like it when someone gets in your face and starts blabbering in some language you can not understand?

HERE, JAPANESE CULTURE IS NOT WEIRD . . . YOURS IS! Do not come here and complain about how things are not the same as they are back home. The Japanese have several customs and other details of life, ranging from how one puts food in their mouths to how one views life, that differ greatly from your own. Get yourself informed of these differences, adjust if you failed to, and get over them. No one here is interested in your complaints except for maybe all the other babies that should have stayed in their home countries. And if your being in Japan was not a circumstance you wanted for yourself and you are stuck being here, do not burden your hosts (the Japanese people) with your problems and frustrations as they probably have their own to worry about. The depression is global after all at present.

Though you are an uninvited guest, I am more than confident that you will, more often that not, be treated quite graciously and with respect wherever you go if you make the slightest effort at being a pleasant guest. That means trying to comminucate in Japanese or just merely being considerate. Its really too easy to be treated well here. I have been here for a month and have yet to have a direct negative interaction with any Japanese person and am not planning to as long as I stay.

Whew ok . . . I'm over it and stepping off the box. Sorry.

Japan is different and definitely a destination not for everyone, as is any other country on this globe and some things I have seen or heard here from Non Japanese people have not settled well with me. "Lost in translation" randomly provided me the oppertunity to reflect on and articulate how I felt about the things I have been seeing.


and note that I am not speaking to anyone one in particular with this. I just wanted to vent this and let you know.