August 31, 2007

• Yesterday’s Feelings!

  ‘Kay… I guess I’ve left this long enough… First update from Japan on
  it’s way. Right now it’s Friday evening, about 9:25 pm (at present time
  of writing,) 1 week after I actually got hold of my Visa and could
  finally commit myself to the fact I was returning to Japan. The flight
  was long and arduous, as flights across half the world tend to be, but
  I did get to see Spiderman 3, which final year workloads robbed me of
  the chance to do when it was released earlier this year. Verdict:
  errrmmm… ok! Yeah, just ok. It was definitely not a patch on the
  previous 2 films which is a shame cos it had so much promise…! The
  worst thing was definitely Peter dancing…! Why would Peter’s “dark
  side” start dancing like a total dork? Really coulda done without
  that! The Sandman just felt kinda flat after how awesome The Green
  Goblin and Doc. Ock were and the attempts to make him sympathetic are a
  bit too deliberate. Venom’s role is pretty limited (Sam Raimi didn’t
  really want him in it and it shows… and it probably had all the fan
  boys in tears when he referred to himself in the singular) and
  generally not much really gets to happen cos so much is trying to
  happen at once! Eddie Brock is played nicely (I really felt sorry for
  the guy,) and the best parts of the film are definitely the arc between
  Peter and Harry. It pushed all the right buttons… if only it coulda
  developed properly and been given adequate screen time!

  Awright… enough about the in-flight movie! I arrived in Japan at 9:00
  am and it was really bloody hot! I was met by Makino-San, an Interac
  rep. who helped me back to the hotel in Kanayama from where I headed
  straight out into Sakae to eventually meet Matt. The idea was I go to
  the Mac Store and e-mail his keitai from
  there but it soon hit me that after a year and a bit, and never having
  possessed the best sense of direction, I had no idea where the Mac
  Store was! In the end I found a random electronics shop and e-mailed
  from there, resulting in Matt and Dani heading from Osu Kannon to meet
  me at Oasis 21. We wandered the city a bit, taking in a couple of
  shops, a Robot Museum and some festival activities. My next few days
  were consumed with training, taking up most of each day until Wednesday
  evening those of us bound for the further reaches of the Chubu region
  headed out. There are 4 of us stationed here in Takaoka, which is a
  pretty outta the way place by Japanese standards. Incidentally I’ll be
  teaching junior high, not elementary like I had been told at first. Not
  sure whether I prefer it this way or not…? On one hand elementary
  kids are all excitable and innocent where junior high are likely to be
  awkward adolescents… however junior high requires less actual class
  time and less individual responsibility for the ALT…. and most
  importantly no singing and dancing
  (which was pushed for elementary during our training and had me itching
  all over because, for some reason, I get really itchy when I feel
  excessively embarrassed!) So there are pros and cons to each.

  I’ve spent the last few days visiting the 2 schools I’m going to.
  Shikino JHS is a pretty big place and seems quite up-scale for a
  Japanese school. That’s where I’ll spend 4 of my 5 days. Tuesdays I’ll
  go to Kuniyoshi JHS which is much smaller and a lot further away. As of
  now I have a self-introduction to prepare for both schools and a speech
  to give the students and head teacher of Shikino. Domestically I’ve
  purchased most of the essentials including a keitai, futon and rice-cooker plus a small amount of food and drink including wheat bread, minna daisuki na “scorn,” those little chocolate chip cookies we so often snacked on, the
  obligatory CC Lemon and some lemon tea! I have the weekend to prepare a
  speech for the entire Shikino student body (in Japanese) and a
  self-introduction for both schools about me and my country of origin. I
  was just scouring the web for Harry Potter pics when I got side-tracked
  on J.K. Rowling’s website which I enjoy perusing sometimes… Huh!
  Calex shares his birthday with Voldemort…! Anyway here’s my apato as scene from my cabin-style bed:

  Basically I’d describe my place as a larger,
  more up-market version of a Proxy apartment. Small entrance hall with a
  sink and stove and a door leading to a small bathroom then the main
  room complete with a raised futon area
  and plenty of storage space. Best part is the internet comes as part of
  the rent and (though there was a little set up problem) was fully
  operational when my… errmm… “self” arrived…!

  All of this “Back In Japan” stuff couldn’t fly by without an unhealthy
  dose of introspection on my part (…and the title of this post becomes
  painfully clear…) Everything was so familiar and yet so lacking in
  that vital part that made it what it was. Like visiting an old home
  after all your things have been moved out or an old school where none
  of your friends are anymore… I have to admit… even meeting up with
  Matt… it was like I had woken from a coma with amnesia and couldn’t
  quite remember who he was or even who I was, though I knew we knew each
  other. I reckon this stuff will all get easier over time and I’m
  certainly ready to jump into Japan again with both feet… but no
  matter how many times we say (or other people tell us) how it’s “never
  gonna be the same” you don’t appreciate that until it hits you
  that it really actually isn’t “gonna be the same!” I have found myself
  wondering, at least for the first few days, what I was doing back
  here… Wondering if my hope that some essence of NUFS would be
  innately woven into the fabric of Japan had brought me here only to
  find a familiar yet empty house I once lived in… The ferocity of
  those feelings soon passed and I don’t regret being here. It is good to
  be back because I do like Japan. It’s just NUFS, our NUFS…, I loved. I
  don’t mean to put a downer on the future returnees… it’s early days
  yet and there is still the chance to spend holidays together and the
  like to rekindle the flame… but there is a heavy place in my heart
  where I’m walking to the Higashiyama line, riding it to Hongo, climbing
  on a bus to that last stop before the familiar walk past Lawson’s,
  Yeast Paradise, Aoki and Kahma, Saizeria and finally through the doors
  of I House. Part of me feels like when I die there’ll be a flash of
  light and I’ll be stepping off that same bus and making that very same
  journey to that very same place…..

  Wow. Long update… Really long update. I guess there was a lot of
  ground to cover… There’s gonna be a lot more to come. I could really
  use some sleep now…

  Peesu. Rabu. “I will be chasing a starlight… til the end of my life… I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore…”

  • 11:14 am
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