I went to another concert last week! Monkey Majik!!! I
mentioned them in an earlier post when I saw them on stage at a same event as
AI, Nishino Kana, and Naota Somethingsomething. Anyway, great concert! I knew
all but 4 or 5 of the songs (out of a total of about 20). They played my
favorites like Change, Together, ただ、ありがとう, fly, Around the World, Headlight,
and others. Fantastic. I ended up buying a towel and three CDs. I’ve become a 大ファン (big fan)! Unfortunately, it will be their last
concert in Zepp Sendai, as the building (and that whole area) will be
demolished and renovated (or something). And their next concert in Sendai is
sold out, so I definitely won’t be seeing them for a while. Still, though, I’m
happy to have been able to do so.
This past weekend was cool, too. I was an extra in a movie!
The movie is called じんじん “Jin Jin,” and is being filmed in
Matsushima. It’s apparently the first movie to have been filmed there since the
Earthquake and Tsunami disaster last year. I don’t know what the movie is about,
but from what I could tell, one of the main characters is either an actor or a
stage performer. In the scene I’m in, the actor is on stage and telling some folk
tale or other story while we in the audience are laughing boisterously. The
camera panned across the audience and stopped when my friend and I are in the
center of the shot. It’ll be funny to see myself in a movie theater when it
comes out next summer. My friends and I also provided canned laughter. That’s
amusing.
I FINALLY started watching Firefly! A friend of mine (who
reads this blog; thank you!) recommended it to me years ago. Anyway, I’m
watching it with two other friends, now. Very fun. I love the female
characters; they’re all so unique and so amazing. I’m trying to juggle it with
Game of Thrones, which I just started watching after having caught up with The
Walking Dead. The fifth season of Breaking Bad will start next month; really
looking forward to that. On the anime/manga front, I need to catch up on Naruto
episodes and get on with Full Metal Alchemist. And my brother suggested reading
the Walking Dead comics. Too much to watch/read, not enough time!
Lastly, it’s story time! It’s been a while since I’ve shared
a story with you all. I found this in a Jr. High 3rd Year English
textbook called “One World.” I wonder if it was written for the ALTs or to
improve student-ALT relations. Either way, I wish something like this was
present in every English textbook.
On Your Graduation
Day
You all have a
big future ahead of you. My message on
this special day is this: Take your time
before you make a judgment.
Before I came to
Japan, people gave me some advice. Some
people in my country said, “Japanese people are very shy.” Others said, “Japanese people will never open
their minds to a non-Japanese person.”
Soon I started to
think those pieces of advice were more or less true. Of course, you greeted me every morning, but
when I asked you a question in class, often no one said anything. “Japanese students really think silence is
golden!” I said to myself.
A few weeks
passed, and you still were silent in class.
I started to have a different idea.
“Maybe they are not shy. They are
just not interested in me. They are just
not interested in English at all!” This
thought depressed me.
Then we had a
school trip to Kamakura. While we were walking,
Aya told me a secret. At lunchtime Kenta
gave me some su-kombu. He said it was “Japanese chewing gum.” After that everyone wanted to bring me something
Japanese, and you were talking to me in English!
That was the
turning point. You started to talk to me
in class, too, after that. It made me
very happy. You’re not shy at all; you’re
talkative! At the same time, you have
things you want to say.
When you were
silent in class, I wondered about it. “Maybe
they don’t want to talk.” “Maybe they
are not interested in the topic.” “Maybe
they don’t understand me.” “Maybe they
know the answer but don’t know how to say it in English.”
Also, I was
confused when I asked a question and you would turn to your friends and talk to
them. “I am talking to you.
Why don’t you talk to me, not
to your friend?” I wanted to say.
I’m happy now
because I didn’t judge too quickly. You
have become students who can try to say something. I’m happy that you’re trying to communicate
with me. That’s the important
thing. Don’t worry about making
mistakes. Making mistakes helps you make
progress.
Some people make
judgments right away. When they discover
that I’m from Australia, they are sure that I am always late. However, that’s not true. I am an Australian, but I worry about being
late. I come to school at least thirty
minutes before it starts. I think it
depends on the person.
In conclusion, I
believe it’s important not to make judgments about other people too soon. I am glad I didn’t, because you proved that
people’s advice can be wrong. Now I want
each of you to be a person who can respect others without prejudice. Prejudice is caused by premature judgment. I hope you’ll be able to enjoy communicating
in English with someone different from you.
We are, after all, people living together in one world.
Word of the Day: 話 「はなし」 "hanashi," which means "story."
