First of all- here's a pic of what I deem to be the first "serious" snow storm here. The other one was enough of a hodge-podge of ice and hail and snow that it didn't really count, and it all melted quickly anyhow. This latest system has more of a permanent feeling- we're due for snow all week, and the temperature is staying pretty low. This pic was taken out the window of my larger shogakko- you can see some of the children's yukidaruma (snowmen) scattered about the field.
Also, midwinter is that lovely time of year when we ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) get to contemplate culture shock, and all the fun that goes with it. Some of my fellow JET's Google chat statuses read as follows: "in hell," "(name) is not having a good day," "a little bit homesick," "also a little bit homesick." January, in a prefecture that gets more precipitation than the Pacific Northwest, is not a cheery time. I also noted that my frustration with certain Japanese cultural tendencies, which before had seemed merely curious or even endearing, has been coming more easily and dissipating more slowly. I don't think that my social interactions are getting worse, though- if anything my teachers, and certainly my students, are much more comfortable with me than before. Out of curiosity- I thought I would take some snapshots of two of my social interactions with random Nihonjin- and see what the slant was (if there was one).
Interaction the first: A random older fellow who, far from exhibiting the usual Japanese shyness, talked my ear off for the better part of a train ride back from Niigata. Among our subjects were him trying to get ahold of my contact info with impressive tenacity (I stonewalled him by saying I was "sugoi awasenpoi" - incredibly forgetful, and couldn't even recall my own address or phone number- which was half-true anyhow). He also intoned that while he wanted to travel, he thought that the world was crawling with terrorists. "What about Australia?" said I. "Surely Australia is safe." He wasn't convinced. (after this, out of curiosity- I did a Google news search on terrorism in Australia. There weren't any articles about it beyond Australian troops helping in the so-labeled "War on Terror," and the only info I've ever seen about a terrorist group operating in Australia was about
Aum Shinrikyo, Japanese terrorist doomsday cult which happened to own some land in the Australian outback.) For all his terror fears he was very nice to me, however- to the point where I had to feign a little ignorance of Japanese (not that difficult usually anyhow) in order to not give him my phone number, email, hat size, and list of favorite spelunking places, mink farms, etc.
Interaction the Second: I went to Starbucks at the Shibata mall to get away from the solitude of my apartment, and was sipping my chai late when a smallish (not older than 7) child pointed at me (considered rude) and said "gaikokujin" (a respectful term for a foreigner). On the spur of the moment, I decided to be good humored and not offended- and was rewarded by waves and smiles from both of the family's kids (very cute) and bows from both of the parents. I'm guessing he just pointed because he was a kid and didn't know any better- and seeing me seemed to be the most exciting thing that had happened all day. I chalked it up to a good if brief moment for international relations.
On the whole- these are pretty telling. People respond to me with curiosity, awkwardness, and sometimes mild fear, but are generally happy to get to know me once some of the ice has been broken. I still feel very much the outsider- but generally speaking, a welcome one. At the same time, well, I miss English, coffee shops, family, friends, the Rocky Mountains- so we shall see.
All this and much more will need to be weighed as I consider another year of employment in Japan, or not (China's pretty cool too you know...).
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