Endgame

I started this draft on June 30, but I'm writing it write now on July 5th, which is July 4th in the US! So, Happy Independence Day!

June was a packed month, as you have read in earlier posts. Like, check out this barbecue we had the other day. Friggin' fantastic.

BBQing

Doesn't that look so delicious?

July will be even more packed.

In the first week, I've been preparing for the move back home. Things I need to do:

- Pack stuff
- Ship stuff
- Sell stuff
- Pack/ship my sword (this might be a bigger obstacle than just winter clothes)
- Sell my car
- Prepare for the martial arts workshop that I'll hold for the Miyagi Art & Talent Show
- Write "goodbye speeches" for my schools and going-away parties
- Go to Leaver's Party at Oshima Island this weekend
- Buy a bunch of chocolate for Mom
- Juggle those responsibilities with work and social life
- Enjoy the last of my days in Japan

I have a bunch of video games. Brother suggested that I ship them back, but I'm afraid something might happen to them on the way. So he suggested that I get a CD binder and put all the discs in there while I ship the game boxes. That way, if I lose the boxes, I at least still have the games. Suddenly, I wish I had all of that data in "The Cloud." Thankful for PSN. I'll do as he suggested, and carry the CD binder with me as carry-on. Or, I could pack it in my suitcase. Either way, they're comin' with me!

The martial arts workshop next weekend is something that I'm pretty excited about. We're still working out the schedule, but I intend to have some Kenpo Karate, board breaking, and Filipino Escrima in there. Unfortunately, the small budget won't allow for real escrima sticks made out of rattan, but I will try to make some out of bamboo poles. The hard part will be deciding exactly what things to go over. If I only have 45 minutes, that's 15 minutes for each section. Perhaps martial arts basics, self defense, escrima drills, disarms, then board breaking. Maybe a brief introduction of history or personal background.

2 meter bamboo pole for $0.68!

At some point, I'm actually considering writing a full-fledged book (or blog) that comprises all of my martial knowledge. Then add to it as I gain more experience. You might have seen a short film that I helped an aspiring filmmaker with back in the day. Since it was for a class project, the director experimented with various filming and editing styles. I wish we could re-create the film, as she and I have both grown a lot since then, and I think a new project would better reflect our experiences.

Last year, I helped out on the English translation for a soy sauce spray bottle product. And here it is!

Just spray it on your food. Yum!

Anyway, first thing's first. Gotta write up something for my car!

Word of the Day: 研修会　「けんしゅうかい」　"kenshuukai" or "training workshop."

Quick Update

I had been toiling for a couple days about this sudden "opportunity" that appeared in front of me. The advice of one teacher was really hitting it for me. "Think about your future." Over and over, I was thinking about how this decision would affect my plans. I've realized that working and studying at the same is extremely difficult, especially for such difficult subject matter as science, medicine, and MCAT. I knew I had to make a decision for my future.

Last week, I had been working on the Successor's Manual, a guide that I'm writing for my successor. I put it on hold last weekend due to the situation, but I have since started it back up again.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I was informed that the Prefectural Advisers had discussed my situation, and as it turns out, because my successor was already contacted, and because he has already submitted the official Reply Form, it's no longer even possible for me to stay, even if I had changed my mind. Interestingly enough though, I was told that it might be possible to send me down to Ogawara, where they won't get an ALT until next April.

But I wouldn't want that. Shikama has become The Place where I spent 3 years of my life in Japan. I've traveled all around the country, and have even spent more than a month or two in the Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe) area, collectively. But Shikama is where I worked, where I lived. Where I've expanded my Japanese lexicon. Where I've built new relationships and a connection with the local community.

And soon, we will have to part ways. But it'll always be my second (third? fourth? fifth?) home.

Word of the Day: 一斉に　「いっせいに」 "issei ni" or "simultaneously."

Just, Maybe...

While I've been preparing for my repatriation this summer, a strange and peculiar opportunity has possibly, maybe opened up for me, かもしれない (maybe). Ever since I submitted my form to decline the offer to renew my contract with my employer, the Board of Education, the feeling of wishing I had accepted their offer has been growing stronger and stronger each day. My friends in and around Japan have been expressing how much they'll miss me and how they wish I would stay. And usually, I would speak from the heart, and say that I wish I could stay, but it would make the medical school interviews difficult to schedule.

After having taken the MCAT a month and a half ago, my plans were slowly changing. At the end of the test, there is a prompt on the screen, asking the test taker to choose one of the following options:

A. I wish to have my MCAT exam SCORED.
B. I wish to VOID my MCAT exam.


You have five minutes to make your selection. Talk about stressful, right? So there I was, legitimately contemplating voiding the exam. My gut instinct was that I didn't do so well; the test felt rushed. So much stuff to read and so little time to read through and choose your answers. But if I didn't choose to score it, then the whole trip of returning home for those two weeks and the prep work that led up to that day would have felt like it was all for naught. And the other side of me was still curious; perhaps I did better than I thought. So I chose to score it.

In the past month, I was contemplating my plans for medical school. Regardless of my score, I knew that my chances of matriculating into med school would improve dramatically if I attend a pre-medical post-baccalaureate program at a university or school of medicine. So, my focus has shifted from applying to medical school to applying to a post-bacc program. Finally last week, I received my test results, and やっぱり (as I thought), they weren't as strong as I had hoped for. That isn't stopping me from applying to post-bacc programs, as most programs would include an MCAT review course and have me retake the test anyway. But my morale did take quite a hit.

At the end of the week, I went down to Sendai to discuss Art Show plans that MAJET is hosting. As one of the presidents of the association for JET ALTs in Miyagi Prefecture, it's one of my responsibilities to help set up events. The person spearheading the Art Show is actually one of the Prefectural Advisers for Miyagi JET participants. During an informal discussion with her, I had mentioned that "Oh, I wish I could stay in Japan." She had then informed me that another JET who lives in the southern half of Miyagi had originally accepted the offer to renew his contract, but has since declined the offer due to plans to enter a graduate program. His town is now searching for a new replacement ALT, and that new person would arrive next April, during Orientation C. That would leave the town without an ALT for 8 months.

Half jokingly, I told her that they should just send my successor over to his town so that they will have a new ALT right away and so that I could stay in my town. She said, "Hmm, maybe it's possible." She told me that it's something she would need to talk to her supervisor about, so I should send an official e-mail to the advisers so that they could discuss it. I brought up the situation to the three JTEs I worked with and they were all for the idea of me staying. The school's English system is undergoing a big change right now from Elementary and Junior High, and since I am the bridge between the two systems, my participation would be a tremendous help to them. That, and they like me as their ALT.

The problem in all this is that in February I had submitted the paperwork to my BOE stating that I would be declining their offer to renew my contract. So since then, they and my supervisor have been preparing for the hiring of a new ALT to replace me. Just last week, my supervisor had a meeting with the prefectural advisers and he had received the Reply Form from my successor stating that my successor has accepted the offer to work in my town. I had also helped my supervisor write an email to him along the lines of "We received your Reply Form. I am your supervisor. We look forward to meeting you." It's not the official contract yet, but the first communication has already begun. I hate causing trouble for other people, especially if it's my employer (it's not good to upset the people giving you money). But perhaps these inconveniences would be better in the long run?

Of course the other, bigger problem has to do with my future plans. As it stands, I will do applications online, but I'm not sure which programs require an in-person interview. Some do, but I believe some allow phone/Skype interviews, and others don't have any interviews. What's also interesting is that the different programs have different submission and due dates. I am looking specifically into programs in Pennsylvania (hopefully Philadelphia), as my home and college are both there, and I know there are some great schools.

At the end of the day, I talked about my situation with another teacher who isn't a JTE but has acted as an assistant JTE and substitute in the past. Her English is perhaps the best out of everyone else in the school due to her previous job as a flight attendant. She seemed happy and surprised that my situation has come to this, but she reminded me that while I would indeed be helpful for Shikama and its new English curriculum next term, it's not something I should worry about so much. What's more important is my future, and I need to think about that as I make my decision.

Thanks, Sensei.

Word of the Day: 多分　「たぶん」 "tabun," or "probably." My students often translate "maybe" to "tabun," but I have to correct them on the difference.

Spork

So happy that my car is back! Isn't she so sexy and clean? ^_^

Misa is back!

So yeah, I'm still going back and forth between what to do about my car. On the one hand, it's old (16, older than my students!), so it has old parts that might need replacing in the next few years/months (probably the water pump), but on the other hand, it doesn't even have 90,000 miles on it, so in theory, the car should still last much longer.

But my dad is worried that if I do run into a problem, and I need to replace a part, the part either doesn't exist in the US, and I would have to import it from Japan, or the part is no longer made altogether. And that would be a problem. But daaaaaaaamn, I did a used car search using various websites (Kelly Blue Book, cars.com, Edmunds) and anything within my price range is some old crapper with 150,000 miles on it! I feel like it would be more worthwhile spending the money on a car I'd want to bring it back. But my buddy Oreo has reminded me again of the headache involved in the process.

Other than cars, I've been stressing out about the medical school application process. Today, I investigated the "committee letter," and apparently, requirements have significantly become more steep. 100 hours of clinical experience with a letter as proof? 20 hours of shadowing a doctor? What the hell? How is an undergrad supposed to do that, let alone a post-bacc like me? It's getting me worried again. But I'm not gonna give up! I won't let these annoying hurdles stop me from my dream. I have set a goal, and dammit, I will see it through.

Last weekend, I went with a coworker to Ishinomaki, one of the areas damaged by the tsunami. There, we volunteered at a local community center where we served food and entertained guests. I was the token foreigner, so I had the pleasure of surprising people with my English and the phrase "no, I'm not Japanese!" I was assigned the task of assisting in the kid's corner, where I helped kids make a cake dessert and do arts and crafts like folding origami. I also taught them the word "spork," which in Japan is called a 先割れスプーン "sakiware supuun," which literally means "spoon with the tip divided."

I will be home in a few weeks, but only temporarily, to take the wretched Medical College Admission Test. My studies over the past few months have given me some confidence that I will do better on this test than before. But I'm beginning to get concerned about my overall application. I need to have a solid personal statement as well as a good explanation for my previous life choices (moving to Japan, working at UPMC, etc.). No use worrying about it though. Just gotta remain focused.

It's getting late, so I should sleep. But I'll leave you with this, a song that I can't get out of my head, and something which I've been practicing on the guitar. Goodnight!


Word of the Day: 迷う　「まよう」　"mayou," or "to waver" as in being unable to decide upon something.

Old Jersey

Sometimes I forget (or am not informed) when I need a suit at work, so I show up underdressed. But then on days like last Thursday, when I do remember to wear a suit to work, there is some activity in the afternoon like cleaning (or in Thursday's case, changing desks) that calls for the athletic wear (jogging pants/jacket, or "jersey" as they are called in Japan). So, I was the guy at work wearing a white shirt and nice red tie, moving desks, sweeping floors, cleaning up cords, and vacuuming, while everyone else was dressed in more appropriate wear for that activity.

The underdresseding thing happened to me just a couple weeks ago for the closing ceremony, actually. I wore a tie, but instead of my suit jacket, I had an athletic jacket ("jersey") which teachers usually wear everyday (just not at ceremonies, usually). But I did notice that one teacher had the full athletic suit, pants, jacket, and all, during last week's ceremony, commemorating the teachers who left the school.

Today is April 1st, April Fool's Day. And lo and behold, the English teacher that I hugged "goodbye" last month is back! It was pretty funny; during the introductions, all of the new teachers are introduced to the current teachers, with "which school they are coming from," and that English teacher was introduced as having "come from this school." Heh. Anyway, glad to see her back.

Yesterday it snowed. While in other parts of Japan, cherry blossoms are blooming beautifully. I wish the nice weather would just come back already!

Word of the Day: ジャージー "jaajii," or "jersey."

The Decision

Back in the fall/early winter, I was approached by my supervisor about whether or not I wanted to renew my contract for another year. If I said yes, I would have been the first ALT to stay for longer than three years in this town. I was very happy to hear this offer, as that meant that they wanted me to stay and because I had been enjoying life here so much that I wouldn't mind extending my stay even longer.

So I had to weigh my options.

The plan was (and currently still is) to apply to medical schools this summer, with matriculation into medical school a year later, in the Fall of 2014. If I stayed on the JET Program for a fourth year, timing would be perfect: completion of the fourth year would coincide with the start/orientation for medical school. I would also be making the most out of my new iPhone 5 contract (which I started in October) and my syaken car inspection, which lasts for two years (and is currently being done).

My life in Japan is super fun; everyday is like an adventure. My Japanese language skills have increased dramatically since I first arrived, and even back then, they weren't too bad. Can I read a Japanese newspaper? No. Can I read Japanese manga (comics)? Yes. Well, for the most part. If I come across a word/kanji I don't know (which is often), I have my trusty "Imiwa?" app to help me. Can I watch a Japanese movie or anime? Yes, unless it's filled with jargon I don't know; but I understand at least the basic gist. What I can't do quite yet, though, is enjoy a Japanese video game that has lots of important or detailed story elements like Metal Gear Rising. I had been waiting for that game for months, and finally when it was released, I went and bought it. And most PS3 games have multiple language data on the disk, so as long as my PS3 is set to "English," the game will be, too. But noooooooooooooo, Konami decided to separate the language data between versions of the game. My theory is that because the game was released on PS3 and XBox360, Microsoft demanded that the content on the disks be exactly the same; and with a smaller capacity disk that XBox360 uses, it's likely that there are no options for multiple languages on them. Anyway, point is, I was super disappointed, and my language and kanji skills don't suffice to enjoy the conversation-heavy game to the extent that I'd like. I digress...

If I stayed in Japan longer, perhaps I could get to that point. I would need to buckle down and start learning and memorizing new vocabulary, new kanji, perhaps new grammar points. Well, at some point, I'd like to get to it. Staying in Japan would also allow me to have more opportunities to do things I haven't done yet, such as: racing up and down the mountain roads Initial D-style in Gunma Prefecture, feeding the deer in Nara, checking out Himeji Castle, exploring the beautiful shrines and temples in Nikko, climbing Mt. Fuji, or practicing some karate in Okinawa. But staying in Japan on JET for a fourth year creates a glaring problem when it comes to...

...Medical school interviews. The plan is to apply during this application cycle. That means taking the MCAT soon (April!), submitting the application materials in June, and doing interviews in the fall/winter. The problem is that I don't know when the schools would want to interview. And if I were in Japan, I would have to purchase an international round trip plane ticket to go and interview. And I would have to purchase another ticket for another interview at a different school. And again for another. That would get quite expensive. Plus, I wouldn't have the vacation days to be able to call off work so many times, and it would be a huge inconvenience to both my coworkers and my students. In theory, I could try to schedule all of my interviews at the same time/week/month, or better yet, during the holidays when I could be home. But that would force the application committee (and me) to wait. That would be no different from prolonging the application itself, and if I learned anything from past applications, it's that timing is everything. The earlier, the better.

So, I must come home! That means a lot of things. It sucks because now I know that the limits are set. I've always known that my time in Japan with the JET Program would be limited, but somehow it's sobering to know exactly when I have to go. Kinda sucks. But hey, at least I know exactly how much time I have left, and I could plan it to use the time wisely, right?

Lately, I've been doing a lot of MCAT review. So a lot of my time is spent with my head in the books. Well, book. Speaking of which, I still gotta finish today's review!

Word of the Day: 選択　「せんたく」　"sentaku," which means "selection," "choice," or "option."

The end of the world?

So when was "2012" supposed to "happen?" Some say 12/21/2012. But maybe it'll happen when 2012 ends? Let's hope not, 'cause I still have a lot of things to take care of!

So, despite it being December, I haven't had very many (physical) gifts lately, despite both my birthday and Christmas having just passed. But it's okay, as I happen to own 90+% of the things I want to own, and I've received plenty of blessings, love, friendship, and a lot of other non-physical gifts.

One of the gifts I got though, was (were) this (these):

Can the biggest head eat the rest?

They're called 達磨　「だるま」 "Daruma" dolls. They're made of hollow wood, and these particular ones fit inside a bigger one not unlike Russian Matryoshka dolls. As you can see, the faces on the dolls have eyes which don't have pupils. It's my job as the owner to fill in one eye with a pupil to signify a goal. Once the goal is accomplished, I'm allowed to "open the other eye" by drawing a pupil in the other eye. There are four dolls (the fifth one is a small egg with 福　「ふく」 "huku," or "luck" on it), so that means I can assign four of my many goals. Surely, at least one will be medical-school-related.


I've been reviewing for the MCAT, and finally I made a structured daily study plan to motivate me. This is probably the most excited I've ever been for studying. Maybe I can assign "levels" to each section and turn it into a real life RPG. Gotta level up!

Reading the material brings back nostalgic memories of studying the same topics in college and high school. Studying with my friends, teaching my classmates the material, and the feeling of satisfaction after acing a difficult exam. Natsukashii ne.

It has been snowing quite heavily! Snow was DUMPED on Miyagi Prefecture. After two days of snow, everything is white outside. Yesterday in particular was pretty scary due to strong winds managing to cover tracks left only minutes earlier. Here's my car:

Like a prehistoric beast buried in the snow

Yeah, so, pretty snowy. It doesn't look all that bad in the picture, but there was about 5 inches of snow on the car.

Japan doesn't recognize Christmas as a federal/national holiday, so I had to go to work. It's the first time I've ever worked on Christmas, and I gotta say, it's not a good feeling. But I was probably more sad about having to work on Christmas the weekend before while anticipating it. On the day of, I spent it studying for the MCAT at work, then going home and watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, playing some video games, and reading Initial D manga. Good times!

As the year is winding to an end, an opportunity to visit the crossroads again appears. Regardless of my choice to stay in Japan for a fourth year, I am doing everything I can to prepare for my application to medical school, which will occur in the summer of 2013. That's why I've been studying so much! Speaking of which, time to hit the books.

Everyone, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

Word of the day: 懐かしい　「なつかしい」　"natsukashii," or "nostalgic."

Lazy Interlude

The title of this post is actually quite misinformative (yes, that's an actual word). While the writing of this post is lazy, the reason for it (and the lack of posts over the past few days) is that I've been quite busy. Both my professional life and my social life have ramped up in busyness (and business) that I've actually lost sleep from having too much fun. Oops! Haha. That said, I intend to get at least 8 hours a night every night this week while still making time for all of the things I need (and want) to do.

I will respond to correspondence, e-mails, comments, messages, facebook pokes, text messages, and post a new blog entry in the near future! But please be patient, my adoring fans.

Also, a new project is in the works; still brainstorming, but let's just say I've been practicing guitar a lot. (The latest songs I am learning are "Because of You" by Ne-Yo, and "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz [SO FUN TO PLAY, especially 'cause I've learned it in two keys, but playing each set differently so that it ends up being in the same key, but with the guitar tuned differently; put in guitar terms, I learned it with the capo at the 2nd fret or the 4th fret, A E F#m D chords or G D Em C chords, respectively].)

Oh, and to give you an idea of what I've been up to:

Word of the Day: 楽しい 「たのしい」 "tanoshii," or "fun."

Lazy Sunday

Happy Mother’s Day! Treat your mothers right, ‘cause you’ve only got one of ‘em! (Yeah yeah, I know, some have more than one. Treat them well, too!)

So where was I? Ah yes, my dreams. I have a ton of dreams. I’ve mentioned the “doctor” dream and the “headmaster of a martial arts academy” dream already. But you may not know that I have other dreams; “closet dreams,” which I shall reveal now.

Acting. Have you ever wanted to be an actor? I was joking with some friends a couple weeks ago about becoming a タレント (“tarento,” or “talent”), which is the name given to TV celebrities who don’t really have any particular talent. But they’re just on TV for the sake of being on TV. Many shows in Japan have people just sitting on the side, occasionally commenting on whatever topic the hosts are talking about.

More and more foreign タレント are appearing on Japanese television, for better or for worse. The good is that Japanese people, especially those who live in the countryside, are getting more exposure to foreign culture. The bad is that sometimes this is the ONLY exposure some Japanese people get to foreigners, so the タレント end up becoming representatives of whatever country from which they come. This is a big problem because people in Japan have a tendency to think “Oh, David Specter said this on TV, and he’s a white American, so that must be what every American thinks.” (Conversely, people in the US are also guilty of this too, for Japanese people, or other foreigners. “He’s Asian? He must use chopsticks.” Etc.)

Anyway, back to the point. My dream isn’t to become a タレント. But I think it would be fun. And I would like to be on Japanese TV one day; ideally as a regular (like a タレント). But my real acting dream is to star in a hit blockbuster action/martial arts movie. I don’t know where I would get my start, though. I was supposed to star as the main villain in a movie that a friend of mine was going to direct, but the project got cancelled. (Actually, not the villain, technically; but rather, the last person whom the protagonist meets, fights, and kills. From the context of the story, though, my character is more of a hero, as he is the victim of the protagonist’s looting.)

My acting experience is minimal. I was an extra in my friend’s short film, “Mixed Drinks,” which is the story of a foreign English teacher who went to a party to meet a friend of his, another foreigner, who had been living in Japan for a few years. The two of them share stories and interact with other foreigners and Japanese at the party, but some drama happens, and the movie ends after a climactic physical argument. The short film serves as social commentary to various issues that occur between foreigners and Japanese people. I’ll post it here, if I can get permission.

I’ve also starred in a short documentary that my friend, a film major, created (directed, edited, filmed). The documentary was about me as a martial artist. I went with the approach of a comparison between traditional karate (using Shotokan Karate as an example) and modern karate (using my American Kenpo Karate as an example). It was really fun to make, and I’m thinking about doing a project like that again, where I delve deeper into the meaning of martial arts, and explain more philosophies and theories. Maybe I’ll make it a series...a YouTube Series…::gears are spinning in my head::..

To be continued…

Word of the Day: 俳優 「はいゆう」 “haiyuu,” which means “actor/actress/performer.”

Lazy Saturday

Continued from yesterday’s post, which itself is a continuation of Thursday’s post.

I think about those dreams and think about how awesome it would be to build that clinic. But then I think about the long and arduous road to get there. And I think about all the issues and problems about being a doctor in the first place. And I begin to question my desire to be a doctor. Is that really my dream? Or was it something that just sounded good? Or was it because I “dream big” and reach high because I want to fulfill my potential, but without really considering whether I would enjoy doing it? I think about the hours on the job and the stress of dealing with sick patients, and overall happiness. I currently enjoy working a “35 hour week” (actually it’s about 40 hours a week, like any other regular job, or more when I stay longer), but I still have a hard time finding enough time to do everything in the day that I would like to. And doctors have even less time! (Another reason I would prefer to run my own clinic than work 60 hours a week in a hospital.)

But before I get ahead of myself and worry too much about potential problems in the future (which may not necessarily affect me), I need to look at the “getting into med school” problem. And a big problem indeed it is, for me. One of the biggest faults of it is timing. The application season begins over FOURTEEN months before matriculation into the program. How much sense does that make? That means if I want to go to med school in Fall 2013, I need to have all of the application materials and documents and everything prepared by late May 2012.

Can I still apply this year? Yes and no. Yes, theoretically, if you look at the date. But in all practicality, no. And for various reasons. The biggest reason being that I wouldn’t be able to get the packet of recommendation letters written by my university’s “Pre-Professional Health Committee,” as I believe the due date for that has passed. But moreover, I would also have to refresh my MCAT knowledge, and take the test again. There are two test dates offered in Japan this year: June and August; neither of which allow enough time for me to review. Lastly, I haven’t had much volunteer experience relevant to medicine recently. So in order to wow the admissions committees and convince them to let a fun-loving late 20’s guy into their school, I would have to really bust my ass and prove to them that I want this, like I did with getting to Japan.

So what do I want? That’s the question of the decade; nay, century. Nay, millennium. I seem to never know what I want. Things here and there, yes. Dreams here and there, yes. And I’m fulfilling a lot of them simply by being here in Japan. I know my hobbies, and I know my interests. I love a lot of things. I have a passion for a lot of things. I have a burning desire to DO SO MANY THINGS. But I know that if I delve into medicine, that’s it for me; that’s it for those dreams. That’s it for those passions; I know that I would have to invest so much time and effort into medicine that I wouldn’t have the time or energy to focus on anything else. And perhaps that’s what has been preventing me from finally just going through with it all. My other dreams.

What are these other dreams? Find out next time, on ハロルドin Japan.

Word of the Day: 幸せ 「しあわせ」 “shiawase,” or “happiness.”

Lazy Friday

This is actually a continuation of the post I wrote yesterday, but it is a new topic, and thus I wanted to save it for another day.

And this brings us to my next topic: life. Rigidity in life allows us to proceed forward on a certain path; rigidity on this path allows us to (theoretically) succeed by moving up the ladder and mastering one particular skill. Of course, one has to loosen the rigidity to allow acquisition of knowledge passed on by mentors and peers; the concept of keeping an open mind. But this sort of rigidity and single track mindedness, while benefitting us in the “mastery” concept, restricts us from trying out new things, venturing into new fields, or exploring other professions.

I am at this fork in the road; which I’ve been stuck at for a while, actually. Too long, arguably. Basically, I’ve had this sort of “dream” to become a doctor. But I can’t solidly specify where this dream came from. There isn’t any one point in time where something happened and I had a lightbulb moment: “Eureka! I wanna be a doctor!” No, nothing like that. It was more like, “Hmm, I like sciences and math. I like people, and I want to help people. And it’d be cool to cure disease and fix people’s ailments. Hey, maybe I should be a doctor.”

And over the years, I’ve bounced around ideas about what kind of doctor I would want to be (oncologist, cardiologist, dermatologist, and most recently, pediatrician because I work with kids), or where I would want to work (hospital or my own private clinic; honestly would rather have the latter). Most recently (couple weeks ago), I DID have an apple-on-the-head moment: I should build a health clinic that is part clinic and part dojo. That way I can teach martial arts on one side AND give medical checkups and be a doctor on the other side. One of my friends joked that I could fix up one of my martial arts students in the clinic after giving them a proper showing of the ropes in the dojo.

(This reminds me of another Hajime no Ippo character: the medical student who challenged Ippo after he won the title belt. He made a comment that his hands are used both for fixing and for breaking. He was an interesting character, as he utilized his knowledge of the human body to pinpoint specific targets on his opponent. As a pre-med student, of course I was immediately interested in this character.)

To be continued…

Word of the Day: 夢 「ゆめ」 “yume,” which means “dream(s).” It may be used in both the figurative sense and the literal sense, just like in English.

Lazy Thursday

So here I am, sitting at my desk, on a Thursday morning at the junior high. There were no classes here yesterday. There are none today. And there won’t be any tomorrow. Why, you may ask? Because the first years were on a field trip to Hiraizumi, a town with a famous temple (Chusonji, a World Heritage site), the third years are on a field trip to Tokyo (JEALOUS, I wish I could go!), and the second years are doing job training. Er, not job training…but something like job shadowing. Where they split off into groups and help with work at various stores and such in the area, like hair salons, kindergartens, nursery schools, convenience stores, department stores, etc. So…yeah, no classes for the rest of the week. Yay, that means more time for blog posts and studying Japanese! And…sitting. Lots of sitting. Time to get up and do something.

...Whew! Okay, I’m back. I just did some shadowboxing and freestyle form, karate style and Bruce Lee style. I have been in a martial arts kick lately (see what I did there?). I have been talking to a friend recently who is interested in starting martial arts, and as a result, I’ve looked up a lot of Bruce Lee quotes and other Jeet Kune Do philosophies.

Jeet Kune Do means “Way of the Intercepting Fist.” It is Bruce Lee’s philosophy of martial arts. This philosophy entails a few basic key concepts: that of simplicity, practicality, and disobedience to tradition. With this philosophy in mind, martial arts practitioners should be able to adapt their techniques to a given situation rather than strictly adhere to certain stances or certain ways to throw an attack.

The downfall of traditional styles, according to Bruce Lee, is that the rigidity of the stances and attacks ends up becoming a limitation on the user. Think of it this way: if Guy A knows exactly how Guy B is going to throw an attack, Guy A can easily counter it. This concept was even touched upon in one of my favorite manga series: はじめの一歩 (Hajime no Ippo). The series’ “big, tough guy” Takamura was going for his first world title where he was fighting the champion (Bryan Hawk) who was a master of “unorthodox” style boxing. In other words, he had no set style; he was incredibly wild, and he threw punches from the strangest positions. Conversely, Takamura was well trained, and thus had perfect boxing form and textbook boxing techniques. Unfortunately,  Hawk was able to capitalize on Takamura’s “by the book” style, and he easily countered the attacks. It wasn’t until Takamura started resorting to his pre-boxing, wild gangster-style fighting and animal instincts that the fight started going in his favor.

Anyway, point is, rigidity leads to limitations. Let’s not get too limited by the routine we’ve created for ourselves. (Tomorrow’s blog entry will be a continuation of this one.)

Word of the Day: 無限 「むげん」 “mugen,” or, “infinity.” Literally, it means “no limits.”

Productive Day

Today was quite productive! Even though at work, I had no classes to teach, because it was test day. But I did give the Listening portion of the test; I hope my students did alright. I wrote the script myself (using the text book example as a base), but made it a little more difficult. Well, here's hoping! I also managed to work through most of my taxes. I should be able to submit it this week! And for those of you who think it's overdue, well, it isn't. For those of us who live abroad, we're given an automatic extension for the due date, and we can also file another form to extend it further (which is necessary in order to fulfill the strange "330 days present in foreign country" rule).

When I got home, I cleaned up my living room, put some things away on my book shelves, cleaned my yoga mat, sweeped the floor (actually, wiped it with a wet floor wipe), and worked out! Working out felt great (and terrible) since I hadn't done it in 2 weeks! And 8 weeks before that! I started P90X back in May, got to day 60, and had to drop it for a while 'cause of all my traveling. 75 days had passed before I had finally started it back up again (today). I started on day 61, where I left off, because I intend to finish this and move on to the 60 day Insanity Workout. It's unfortunate that I took such a long break from P90X, 'cause now all my results are messed up. The before/after shots won't make any sense. Really, I should probably start P90X over completely, but I really want to check out Insanity. Of course, I do have the option of just moving onto Insanity after I restart P90X from the beginning. Just a thought.

After working out, I did the laundry, bleached a towel and karate bag, and made myself a delicious Korean dish called bibimbap! Mmmmm, soooooo goooood. Just thinking about it makes me hungry again. Good thing I have leftovers. ;-) During dinner, I watched an episode of Breaking Bad. My brother was right; definitely a great series! After dinner, I washed the dishes, ripped open 25 milk and juice cartons for recycling, cleaned up some of my kitchen area, hung my laundry, brushed my teeth, and took a shower. And finally, after getting dressed, here I am writing a blog post!

Goodnight world!

Word of the day: 積極的　「せっきょくてき」　"sekkyokuteki," which means "proactive." It's a good word. :-)

The second First Day

It's the first day of the second year. And what a tiring, fun, awesome day. The first day of Tokyo Orientation for the newbies, and an incredible experience. I remember the first day of orientation for me, one year ago. It was like a dream. And at the same time, it didn't feel like Japan. But this time, I was on the "other side," being a senior member and guiding the way for all the younglings. Funny to call them that, as some of them are certainly older than me, and some with prior experiences in Japan.

Orientation was tiring. We had shifts at odd hours; early morning, late at night. But it was damn fun, even when we just wanted to sleep! In fact, those times might have been the most fun, 'cause we were tired and everything was amusing to us. The "shifts" I refer to are times that we are stationed to the Information Desk or Hospitality Center. The Hosp Center was arguably more amusing, as we were allowed to doodle on the portraits of all of the Orientation Assistants and Coordinators. I put my art skills to use and turned one of my friends into Kakashi from Naruto, and another friend into Super Saiyan Goku! Hilarity ensued.

There were a surprising amount of Filipinos there (as Assistants/Coordinators). Five and a half, I think. And perhaps some of the best parts about the orientation were meal times: free all-you-can-eat breakfasts in the hotel (Western breakfast, how I've missed you so!), and some sweet eateries around Shinjuku. Some meals worth mentioning: Burger King Whopper, it had been too long; kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi), always fun; ten-don (no, not tendons, the connective tissue between muscle and bone), but literally "heaven ricebowl," or rather, " shrimp tempura ricebowl." Sooooooo good.

Here's to more adventures!

Word of the day: 天丼　「てんどん」　"ten-don," explained above.

Living in Japan

Only in Japan, do you get a traffic sign with a picture of a samurai.

8/5/2010 9:52 PM

I have lived in my new apartment for a full day already. Of course, a great deal of that day was spent at work. I’ve perhaps spent twice as much time at work than sleeping. But being that it’s still the beginning of my term, I haven’t really done too much in terms of “work.” And of course, it is still summer vacation for the kids, so there are no lesson plans to be made. But there has been a lot of paperwork, and quite a bit more to go.

The paperwork I still have yet to take care of is my contract. Quite a troublesome thing, especially considering how important a document it is. I also have to open up a Japanese bank account (or two). I was advised to open one to accept direct deposits, and to open another to make it easy to do other services like wire transfers and perhaps remote purchases. Not sure why I can’t just do everything with one account, unless the banks are just that limited.

Unfortunately, I am still jetlagged. I was told (by many, actually) that I may be jetlagged for even up to a week and a half. Ugh. It’s weird, too, because besides affecting my wakefulness and energy levels, it also affects my appetite. As Shoe said today (the guy who is nigh native-fluent in English), “When I was jetlagged, I was tired, but not sleepy. I was hungry, but I didn’t want to eat anything.” Well said, Shoe. [Note: it is pronounced like you think it is; like the English word for the things you wear on your feet.]

Shoe took me around town. Well, technically, around multiple towns, and even a city. We’ve been looking around for various electronics stores, from which I’ll purchase a cell phone and plan. And perhaps a Nintendo DSi (though, I am leaning more towards getting one at a used dealer, as Japanese used merchandise is pristine compared to the American counterparts). I will probably wait ‘til after my first paycheck, though, before I invest in a DSi and the game/program called Kanji sono mama, which I will use as a tool to help me learn and practice kanji.

I met with an NTT representative today to discuss my internet access. He had informed me that there was some problem with my situation, so he couldn’t give me my internet access today. Part of the problem was that he wanted to give me a choice to choose what provider/plan I want to go with, and I’m guessing that there was also a problem with “transferring” a current service, so I was forced to apply for a brand new connection. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if I didn’t have to wait for so long to get access. He said “about one week,” which would push it back to next Wednesday or Thursday. But I have orientation in Sendai from Wednesday to Friday, so that isn’t going to happen. Hopefully, I’ll have it by the Saturday after that.

No point fretting about things out of my control! And I appreciate that he was trying to be helpful by giving me a choice. And hopefully, I’ll have my Alien Registration Card by that time as well, so that I can apply for a cell phone/plan. I’m really, really leaning towards SoftBank, as I’ve mentioned earlier. But I can’t help but feel like I’m interested in that particular phone for extremely shallow reasons. That said, the iPhone4 has really amazing functionality, and there are actually a decent number of Japanese people who have one (which means that it seems to be doing well to be able to compete against such devices with 8.1 megapixel cameras and beautiful screens that can turn sideways (but keeping the keypad vertical). The phone I’m interested in has those features, in addition to Wi-Fi capabilities and a design popular for Japanese phones (long, thin flip-phone).

I brought my laptop into work today in order to attempt to connect it to the internet. But I couldn’t figure out how to connect it, no matter what I did! I changed LAN Settings and whatnot to no avail. So I had to use the crappy Windows 2000 computer at my desk, which barely runs. But at least I can still check my e-mails, facebook crap, and update my blog. But only at work. Which also means that I won’t get to do any real immediate responses or use Skype. Oh well…just wait for 10 days. :-)

Continued at 10:57 AM, 8/6/2010, on a BOE Computer.

The Sendai Orientation is coming up really quickly! Once again, I’ll be donning epic business clothes, suit and tie, for three days straight. But in this wicked weather; it sounds so awful! I’m really hoping that the place we’re going to is well air-conditioned. I wonder what kinds of things will go on during this orientation?

I haven’t been given any specific work to do yet, as my classes won’t start for another few weeks, and there is nothing I need to take care of specifically, except for the following: Write an intro paragraph about myself to the community in English (which they will translate into Japanese later) to be published in a local magazine. I asked if I could write it in Japanese, and they said it was okay (after they said “sugoi” [awesome/cool/amazing]).

I must say, there have been very interesting differences about certain daily-life situations and daily-use items. I haven’t had a problem adjusting to them, thankfully; and it’s not so much difficult as it is different. For one thing, the keyboard I’m typing on right now is a Japanese keyboard. The layout is different, of course. It’s still qwerty, but all the punctuation is relocated! And the spacebar has been reduced to the width of two and a half keys to make room for three additional keys on the bottom that deal with kana and kanji. All of the keys have both letters (alphabet) and hiragana, but I haven’t figured out how to use them just yet. So far, I’ve just been typing kana phonetically, which works. But yeah, it’s really weird having to type an apostrophe by pressing Shift+7. It’s a good thing that period and comma are still the same. But colon and semicolon are on different keys, and the double quotation marks are Shift+2. And + is Shift+semicolon. Crazy, right???

Another hilarious/awesome difference is the toilet in my apartment. It’s not one of the typical toilets that you hear about, like the ones in hotels that shoot water at your butt. No, instead, its extra faucet is actually BEHIND the toilet, right on top of the reservoir of water that is used to flush the toilet. What’s it for you may ask? To wash your hands! It’s pretty damn clever if I say so myself. The plumbing around the toilet is routed so that the clean water that normally fills the tank (which later fills the bowl) is first made available to be used to wash your hands. Then, the water gets drained INTO the tank, so that it could be used for the next flush. You’re never touching dirty water, and you get to recycle the water that you just washed your hands with by using it to flush the toilet! Amazing.

So there is no central heating or cooling in Japan. This means stationary air conditioners and kerosene heaters are very popular. And no central water heating unit either, so you have to use individual water heaters for each faucet. This is actually a pretty good setup, as it saves energy and money not having to heat water when you don’t need it. It’s just interesting having to set up your shower by lighting a fire. :-)

Also, the trash system here is really interesting. It seems that there are two types of trash: combustible and noncombustible. And this is different from recycling as well, I believe. When the trash guys take the combustible stuff, they take it away and burn it. Not really sure about the process, like what happens to the remains or even the energy gained from burning it. But knowing Japan, I’m sure they do something with it. Though, it’s interesting to have a country that is so obsessed with efficiency and getting the most out of everything, yet whose citizens leave the car on when they run into a store to grab something (or in my case, introduce me to all of the teachers in an elementary school).

The typical Japanese office setup is like this: imagine a small classroom with a big desk in the middle, with room to fit 4 people with computers and printers in the middle. Then, put another desk facing the big desk. At this smaller desk sits the guy in charge of that section. This is the typical setup, and I’ll be damned if I see a different setup in Japan. Thus far, every single group of employees I was introduced to had their desks arranged in a similar fashion; no cubicles here! This setup, I feel like, almost forces intimacy between employees. Not only that; it also forces productivity. The lack of privacy tends to make us less inclined to goof off (at least for me! haha).

It’s fun pointing out the differences between cultures. But it’s when the differences start to bother me when there’s a problem; that indicates a decline into “Stage 2” of culture shock. Hopefully, if and when this happens, it doesn’t last long!

Word of the day: