International Communications

We've been told that by now Veronica and I should have had a noticeable feeling of home sickness. They say it hits about four weeks after you arrive in a new country. We've been here for almost seven weeks now. No sign of such feelings at this time. Of coarse we miss family and friends but I'm not sure if we miss the states as a location. Knowing that we'll return next spring/summer is comforting however. We're just having so much fun I don't think we've had time to be home sick. Take for example our experience yesterday. I'll try to paint the picture as vividly as possible.

Our Ashikaga City contact person for all Heart Corporation ALTs invited all five Heart ALTs to her house for dinner last night (basically, we would call her first if we have any emergencies or pressing issues---I don't think anyone has called her yet with any problems). So, Veronica and I were finally going to be able to see the inside of a real Japanese home. But, we soon got the impression that her home was anything but typical as we were expecting. The moment that forced an uncontrollable smile out of me came after maki sushi while we were readying our stomachs for the desert to come.

I was talking to the Englishman (ALT Wayne, from Southern England) about his Japanese wife in Tokyo and what she does for work. ALT Bridget was reading a Japanese children's book (in Japanese) to our host's three year old son who understands French and Japanese. Kae's (our host) husband Philippe (a Frenchman) was carrying on a conversation with Veronica in French about something related to architecture I think. Philippe was feeding his youngest son Marc who he and Kae had adopted from Brazil (Japanese families almost never adopt children so this was a very rare household indeed). ALT P.J., from Michigan, was carrying on a Japanese/English conversation with Kae about Chinese politics. This is when I thought to myself, "Veronica and I probably won't see anything like this again for a long time if ever." The best part about it was that the room was filled with open minded people who genuinely wanted to learn from each other. Also, none of the trilingual speakers (Veronica, Philippe, and Kae) in the room were trying to show off their skills. It wasn't about that. The overall appreciation that everyone had for each others differences was slightly unexpected and refreshing. Being a mono phone myself (basically just English), I had been expecting that I would feel slightly uncomfortable at some point in the evening. But that never happened. Veronica and I really enjoyed the evening to say the least.

Of coarse I can't finish today's posting without saying something about school. I have met so many extremely dedicated students at my school that it almost makes me cry (I think all teachers dream about having students who almost beg you to teach them). One such student is this girl (Akari) who shows up at my desk at the end of the school day because she wants me to help her with her English Speech Contest speech. She wants to memorize her speech because her English teacher (JTE--Japanese English Teacher) suggested that she should. Remember what I said before about suggestions? They're not suggestions at all. Anyway, Akari wants to memorize her seven hundred word speech before the contest. A speech translated into English by the JTE consisting of many big English words. We finished cramming the entire speech into her memory a couple of days ago. It took her less than a week. If Akari was autistic, this accomplishment wouldn't surprise me, but from what I can tell she definitely isn't. Think back to your high school days when you were an 11th grader who's been studying a foreign language for a couple of years (for about five hours a week). Could you memorize a large word composition with complex ideas in that new language of yours, in five days? I couldn't, that's all I'm saying. Kids like Akari make work for Veronica and I so fun here.

Well, that's all for now everyone. I'm off to give myself a haircut. I haven't had a trim for seven weeks so that means that I'm four weeks overdue. I hope it turns out o.k.. If it turns out looking ridiculous I'll make sure to take pictures and post them so we can all laugh together.

Add a little international flavor to your life this week. You'll be glad you did.