random thoughts

most of you in america probably dont know, but typhoon #10 has been wreaking havoc the last few days. it was centered around kyushu, and has slowly made its way towards tsushima. last night, there was an announcement on the town announcement system (speakers are set up EVERYWHERE.. you can even hear daily announcements and chimes in the middle of the forest. i can't remember where i read this, but i recall somewhere mentioning that you know you live in a small town in japan when your town has its own megaphone/announcement system) saying in short that Typhoon #10 was going to be in Tsushima this afternoon. rather anticlimatically, today's weather is much much much more tame than the last 2 days. the last two days have been horrifyingly strong winds and oodles and oodles of rain. the last two nights, i've been awoken frequently during the night to the sound of my windows banging (even though they're all shut), and the constant whooshing of wind slapping around the trees that surround my house. i've learned new meaning to the phrase, "when it rains, it pours." i think that could be appropriately applied to tsushima. also, i've discovered new meaning to the term, "torrential rains." enough said.

as has been the theme with my last few posts, i'm all about adjusting to my new lifestyle and everything that goes along with it. as i've walked around town, there have been a few things that struck me that don't usually cross my mind...

* The other day, i was heading towards David's house (the other ALT in Izuhara... his place is about a 15 minute brisk walk for me), when i had one of those split second epiphanies: "I'm a gaijin living in Japan." And i dont know about you, but sometimes with those epiphanies, I'll get a split second of panic. I suddenly had this onslought of thoughts racing through my head, including, "what the hell am i doing here??" "am i seriously on an island in the middle of the sea of japan??" "am i really not going to see my family anytime soon?" But rest assured, I haven't changed my mind Tsushima. I think it was more of the fact that I hadn't had time to really register that i had in fact moved to Japan that i experienced my panic attack. And by now, I'm fully aware that i'm here and not in california. i still have yet to break into a daily routine as i dont start teaching until September 4th, but until then, i guess i'll have time to get used to my environment at least.

* I was walking home pretty late at night that same day, and as the street i use to get home is lit, I didn't have that much to worry about. While they're lit, they're not exactly well lit, so there was a slight possibility of heaven forbid, something "bad" happening. But after carefully analyzing why i didnt feel entirely safe walking home, i realized it was more of my fear of a huge bug leaping out and hitting me in the face, than it was some weirdo jumping out of some bushes and mugging me.

* Never have i felt like my roof is about to fly off. That is, until i started living here. The winds have been so strong that as i lay in bed (err, futon) trying to fall back asleep, all i can think about is the movie Twister, half expecting my roof to rip apart from the rest of the house, or my windows to suddenly shatter, sending thousands upon thousands of shards of glass flying into my bedroom. Yeah, the bad ideas that Hollywood implants into my brain.

* I always find it fascinating who thinks I can and can't speak Japanese based off of what little information they have regarding me. This is going to sound weird, but bear with me. If i were white or black, i'm pretty sure everyone would assume that I can't speak Japanese, right? But since i'm asian (and according to everyone -- i look japanese), when they hear that I'm from America, it's interesting to see who assumes I'm fluent in Japanese and who assumes i dont even know how to say hello. You know when people think you dont know what they're talking about and they'll talk really quickly in a hushed voice to someone else? Yeah, i've had some weird moments like that. The other day, i was so fed up with finding roach poop everywhere that I called up Patrick, the American who loves Tsushima so much that he's been living here for 13 years now, and asked him to take me shopping for plastic boxes to store my food. We drove about 20 minutes away to the best household goods store around. After visiting several stores, we ended up going back to that store again so i could buy more boxes. Both times when i was checking out, the same guy was at the cash register. Now, living in Tsushima for 13 years, Patrick tends to know a lot of people who were formerly his students. The cash register guy was no exception. When i bought my second round of stuff, the guy at the register looked up at Patrick who was standing about 5 feet behind me, and asked him in Japanese, "Deeto desuka?" which means, "Is she your date?" To not make the register guy feel embarassed, i withheld from laughing out loud, and just looked back at Patrick, who was laughing and shaking his head. Patrick later explained, "He probably thought you were my friend from home and hence didn't know Japanese..." Yeah, i sort of figured that too. There have been a few other "you wouldn't have said that while i was standing RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU if you knew i could actually understand what you were saying" moments, but as I dont know for sure i heard them correctly, I wont repeat them here.

Tomorrow I'm headed for Nagasaki for Prefectural Orientation. Sounds incredibly boring, but hey, it's a free trip to Nagasaki and I get to see people I haven't seen since Tokyo Orientation =) Tragically, i'll have to come back Tuesday night, but I'm not complaining. I haven't really been doing much to earn my pay (monday is payday. yay!). Wednesday I'll start meeting the teachers i'll be working with, so that'll be exciting. I hope they like having ALTs... it'd be very sad if they dont want me there (which i'm half expecting because many japanese English teachers don't like their authority taken away, etc.). Well, I'll let you know what happens :)

--Evelyn