The Land of Thailand

Yo! I am officially out of Japan and summer vacation has begun. I am currently in Ko Phi Phi, and island of the coast of Phuket, in Thailand. This island is where The Beach was filmed, and I can certainly see why. The beaches are absolutely stunning. Yesterday I lounged around hard core with Jillian-sensei and Mark-sensei. (my fellow JET teachers and co-travelers) We hung out, swam, tanned, and ate good Thai food. It was some much needed fun in the sun after a long, long semester. I will be sure to post the beautiful pictures of my surroundings soon, those which will most definitely make you wish you were here.

I will be out and about in Thailand and Laos, but will be sure to write and post more, maybe not any pics till I'm back in the motherland. Till then, take care, enjoy yourselves wherever you may be and know that I'm sipping a mai tai in your honor.

I Heart Hiroshima (even more than before!)

Continuing on my adventure in Hiroshima I decided to visit the infamous Peace Park and Peace Museum, the site of the atomic bombing and the museum dedicated to ending nuclear weaponry, respectively. The whole experience was slightly surreal... to be standing in a place that 60 years ago was completely destroyed by the country I call home. And certainly as a historian, the museum was enlightening and I have learned and experienced so much more that I hope to impart to young students one day.

There are two photos that I took inside the museum although it was hard to take photos, actually. There were so many things I had to force myself to even look at, just to make me realize the gravity of that bomb, in all its ugliness and truth.

However, the photos I took were of things that symbolize much more hope than despair.



This is a picture of the paper cranes folded by Sadako, a little girl diagnosed with leukemia as a result of the bombing. She had the idea that if she folded a thousand of the teeny cranes, she would be healed. She died before she finished all one thousand, so her classmates finished the remaining cranes for her and today it is a symbol of both hope, perseverance, and community. Particularly in Hiroshima, the crane is a reminder of peace and a memorial has been constructed in Sadako's memory.

On a personal note, being the daughter of a Japanese woman, in our family we fold 1000 paper cranes for the weddings of relatives. It's a nice tradition that I hope to continue.... if I ever meet that lucky man! ;)

The following photo was also taken in the museum. On the day of the actual bombing, one photographer dared go into the city with a camera. He was only able to take 5 pictures of the victims before he was too paralyzed to continue. Walking through the museum a group of school girls were on a tour. They stopped at the photo and I snapped a picture, wondering what their impressions were.



All in all the museum and the park were, of course, sobering. It was a unique and heavy experience tempered with thoughts of how far our world has come since WWII... and realizing not much has changed, either.

I wonder what the historians will write about us some day.

I Heart Hiroshima

For my first trip to southern Japan, I decided to visit the ever-so-wonderful Callie and Phil- old college friends from Seattle and also English teachers in Japan. Lemme just say, I Heart Hiroshima! I absolutely loved it down there, although I can't really tell if it was just because I was with my friends or if really the city is all that cool. :) Compared to Tokyo, Hiroshima is a walk in the park. It is smaller, still beautiful and has the usual array of both modernity and antiquity. I'm a believer.



Allow me to introduce my lovely guides: Callie and Phil. Callie studied Education with me at Northwest and Phil and I were both athletes at our university. And... these guys are wonderful! I had so much fun with them and they were truly great, great hosts... letting me pick the tv shows we watched, graciously allowing me the first shower after a long day of hiking, and best of all, showing me local hot spots in Hiroshima. Thanks again you guys!



Here's the beautiful gate at Miyajima island, near Hiroshima. The gate is on every single flyer for Japan- it's known as the floating gate, as you can see it is surrounded by the tide and appears to be floating. The whole island was one great big fun memory... there are savage deer everywhere that you can feed but they will try and eat paper or your shirt. I was afraid. But otherwise the island was awesome!



I even brought a friend. A la Amelie... here's my Hiroshima/Miyajima Kitty... she's a deer, fitting of the island.

Lastly, throughout the day on the island we ate delicious food and hiked around checking out the view. Phil and Callie took me to get tempura style momiji manju, a deep fried sweet cake with anko (red bean) flavored paste inside. It was chou oishii! (that is, finger-licking good) Anyway, after a great meal of oysters with egg served on rice and shave ice, we hiked up to the highest point on the island to get a 360 degree view. It was breathtaking and worth every minute of the hike, even under the blazing sun.



Coming back down from the hike, the tide had gone out and we were able to go up to the temple gate and stand near it on dry land. It was awesome to see the temple both floating and standing on solid ground.

All in all, a pretty good first day in Hiroshima. Did I already mention that I Heart Hiroshima?

Buechner for the Day

Just something I was reading today at work, from Frederich Buechner's Listening to Your Life. Today's entry for July 18th. Give it some thought and read slowly.

Vocation

"It comes from the Latin word vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to do by God.

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-Interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deoderant commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored or depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bipassed (a) but probably aren't helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth witll do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

So, I ask you as I ask myself... Are our (a)'s and (b)'s intersecting?

Sinecure

Sinecure. This is the definition of my job. I was perusing the dictionary the other day (I know, I have too much free time and I'm a nerd!) and I came across this word. I think it aptly describes my position as an ALT on the JET program.

sinecure: sinikyoor

• (noun): a position requiring little or no work but providing a salary.

Hmmmm... sounds sneakily familiar, huh JETs?!? And the most shocking bit of all is that everyone involved in this operation recognizes how LITTLE work we do sometimes. It's like, my principal knows I am taking 30 "study leave" absences this summer. Does he REALLY think I am working?! No! Does he care?! No! Unreal. But I'll tell you what is real... when I head back to the States for "real" teaching I'm gonna be so lazy I don't know that my body will withstand an 8 hour working day. How pathetic. At times I feel productive and kids are learning and it's great, and then other days it just feels like one long time-killing session, waiting for the bell to ring to send me home.

Yup, my job is a sinecure. All you lazy, under-achieving, don't-know-what-else-to-do-with-your-life people, feel free to apply.

Karaoke

Okay, please brace yourself for the beauty of what you are going to see: drunk Japanese people at karaoke. It ain't pretty.



One night we went out for an enkai, literally, a banquet. It's usually a big dinner party to thank all the teachers for their hard work. Or, just an excuse to get to drunk. I'm not too sure. Anyway, after the initial enkai all the grandma's and grandpa's go home and only the drunkest or the bravest of the young men and women go out for karaoke. And Japanese people LOVE their karaoke.




These guys can't even keep both their eyes open! Are we to entrust the future children on Japan into their care?!?!



And this my friends, this is what karaoke in Japan really looks like. One small room crammed full of drunk Japanese people grabbing for the microphone while another fails to keep beat on a tamborine. All you can drink for a couple of hours to help soothe the pain of listening to the tone deaf sing Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder. And trust me, they love the cheesiest of American classic songs. That and bad, bad, bad Japanese music. I'm talking songs about fruit and how grown men miss their mom's home cooking. Bizarre-o.