Monday, June 20, 2005
Kanashii Toki
This is one of the best “r/l” mix-ups I’ve ever seen!
My couch arrived and it feels like home. I watched a movie on it the other night and I started to fall asleep. Eventually as I succumbed to my slumber and I got up to go to bed I had this weird feeling like I was home again—leaving the couch in my parents’ house or something—strolling to my bedroom in the early morning hours. It was weird…for me to feel at home here.
This weekend was a lot of fun. I didn’t have any plans on Saturday morning, but I ended up being busy the whole weekend.
Saturday, on my way to the gym, I saw Peter and Catherine at the Shinji’s house (the sailing people) so I stopped and spent hours there! I didn’t go sailing (except for a short stint where there was no wind and I had to paddle back to the dock) but I did get to drive Shinji’s motorboat—you actually need a license to drive a boat here, no matter how small so that was exciting—breaking the law! Talked with Tsuneko (finally figured out her name) and the mom of one of my students over Puarucha (a Chinese tea). It was nice.
Saturday’s word of the day was あこがれ。
Yeah, and I finally cleared this up!
Buy it please. 買って下さい。
Write it please. 書いて下さい。
Listen please. 聞いて下さい。
Come here please. 来て下さい。（おいで）
Tsuneko and me.
Sailing pictures. James (in the boat) was here for the weekend. Every time I see that guy it’s like, “How much more annoying can one person be?”
James couldn’t really control the sailboat and it blew him into Shinji’s big boat—it was really funny to watch him struggling.
The view from my motorboat!!
Also, haven’t shown you pictures of my “vegetable garden” yet!
My garden is growing wild even in pots!!! I can’t wait for my tomatoes!
Back to Saturday…
At the gym I joined the swim class again, but Tanabe is on a business trip so there was another coach today. Oh! I found out Tanabe is his LAST NAME! There were signs leading to this conclusion all along but it only clicked this weekend! I was suspicious when I got a student with the last name Tanabe. Secondly, “Hide” is printed on his official swim-wear (right above the bum region so I noticed immediately =) and Ryohei has “Ryo” printed on his. Ryohei is his first name so it should be the same. Duh. I’ve never heard his first name before—Hidetoshi. It’s kind of unusual.
At the pool I met Mary, a Peruvian woman who Kerry told me about. We’ve emailed a couple times about getting together (in Spanish, yeah!!!), but we finally made a date to have lunch on Sunday afternoon. Although this is the first time I’ve met her, I’m much more connected to her family than I ever knew. I’ve been going to swim class with her eldest daughter Keiko! AND I’ve swam alongside her husband Tsuyoshi and their other daughter Yoshiko for months as well. No idea. In fact, I thought her husband was really young—maybe worked at the pool and did this one-on-one lesson specifically for Yoshiko because she’s autistic. But no. He’s a doctor at Kamigoto Hospital—a spine surgeon, actually, though he doesn’t get to do much spine surgery on the islands so he’s itching to get back to the mainland. But it was cool to make that connection.
Saturday night I went out with Tajima-sensei, the art teacher to see the fireflies on the river. It was neat. My first time to see fireflies. We shared an ice cream and tea on a bench in the quiet darkness and fireflies around us. I heard him say, “Really you’re supposed to be here with a guy you like,” but I pretended I didn’t understand him.
Sunday I went to Mary’s house for a Peruvian lunch. While I waited for her husband to pick me up at the Bichiku 会館 I spoke with some students from Wakamatsu JHS. One of them was Futaba, who asked me for an English penpal and now writes my cousin in America occasionally. She is so genki—wears one ponytail from the top/side of her head and just has so much life in her! Learned a new phrase too. 悲しい時。I think it must be from a TV commercial or something ‘cause I repeated it to some high schoolers yesterday and got huge laughs.
Can’t remember the name of the girl on the left, in the middle is Maiko, Futaba is on the right.
Me and the girls. Futaba’s the crazy one!
Lunch at Mary’s turned into an entire afternoon in their community. Badminton and video-tennis with the girls and neighborhood kids, meeting the doctors and all their children (they live in hospital housing), discussing autism in Japan and the world, and lots of Spanish conversations! I felt very comfortable with them (despite them constantly telling me they CAN’T BELIEVE I’m only 22!) and their daughters warmed up to me pretty quickly. It was hard to leave their home (particularly because they loved my car and didn’t want to see it go! =) but we’ve made plans to see each other again soon. And I’ve got 2 books and 2 videos on autism to read and watch before our next gathering!! Very interesting family. Dad’s English is superb (better than my supervisor’s for sure) and I speak Spanish better than him so I can have almost secret conversations in Spanish with Mom! It’s great!
Speaking of moms.
My Mama.
My mom in front of the house she grew up in in Illinois.
Okay, I have to go do some work. (Yeah, I wrote while at school again!!)
Oh, I’m just remembering Daniel’s parents’ blueberry bush. I bet there are a ton of berries on that bush now. It’s already been a year since I was home, eating blueberry parfaits and … yum. I love summer in Oregon.
And still no rain! 2/3 through the month already. I’m beginning to think this rainy season isn’t coming at all! I’m calling it “humidity season” from now on.
Love, Sierra
Just when you think the ocean is safe....
