She's Coming!!!!!!!

Yes folks my baby sis will be arriving in the land of the rising sun in less than 40 minutes as we speak. I can't wait!

I have been anticipating this day like crazy for hmmm... say two and a half months! So now there won't just be one Haitian trying to solve the jigsaw of the Japanese mind, but two! Although, she'll only be here for a week (her spring break), we'll definitely try to wreck havoc. ;)

I am absolutely so grateful that she's getting the opportunity to visit me here. I consider the both of us blessed beyond measure. Myself for having the opportunity to live and work here and my sister for being able to travel and expand her view of the world. You see, this is her first time leaving the western hemisphere and I'm going to be able to witness her reaction to her first exposure. She'll finally be able to see just how small our world is in Miami. And hopefully, maybe, she'll grow to want to explore the world more and make it apart of her domain. Oh, Lord, thankyou SOOOOOoooo much for this wonderful blessing.

Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. Here is what our schedule looks like for the upcoming week. (Note: I'm going to be taking off FIVE days of work. wahoo!!!!!!)

Today (Friday)
Pick her up at the airport and take her directly to a JET's party in Mito! We're having a changeover party for the new council of my prefecture and I have to be there because I've been elected social coordinator. (Hmmm..... we'll see how that goes ;). I've got mad plans.)
Note: This plan is a recipe for disaster. There will definitely be no sleep tonight. Thus, I told D to get AS MUCH sleep as she could on the plane. ;) It's party time! As for myself, I did a lot of sleeping this week to be able to perform my best for tonight!

Saturday
Previous Plan: Was going to take her to the sites in Tokyo, but decided against it this week.
Current Plan: Waking up in Mito. Then heading to my town, Hasaki (this'll be the first time she actually sees my apartment ;). but not for long though, cuz we're mostly going to be out on the road ). We'll have lunch with my Japanese family (Saeko and Masatugu). Then chill in the afternoon. She'll prob want to rest a bit from the night before and adjust to the time change. Later we'll have diner with my Brazilian friends.

I'm excited that she'll get to meet them all!

Sunday:
A day of site seeing in Tokyo!

Monday:
Off to see the big buddha and many other cool sites in Kamakura!

Tuesday-Thursday:
If you come to Japan, one almost "has" to go to Kyoto. To tell you the truth, I'm not all that attached to the place, but I can't deprive my sister of the experience because of that.

Friday:
Playing doge the deer in Nara! We'll see tons of them as well as the world's largest sitting buddha! Or is it the largest wooden buddha? I can't remember. I'll tell you what it is when we get back.

Saturday:
We're going to zip it back to Hasaki and the world's coolest sister is going to do my hair. Yey for sisters that can do hair!!!!!!! If we're done in time, I'll take her to Mito again and we can party out her last night there.

Sunday:
A relaxing morning. After which I'll be taking her to the airport to say goodbye.... :(


haaaa.... after the time it took to write this post... she's here folks!!!!!

Good and Bad News

Okay so if you didn't know already i'm kinda ocd (obsessive-compulsive disorder). I'm not proud of it, but it explains a lot of the silly things i do. One being my lack of water consumption. Now see if you can get the logic in this.

I don't drink water or fluids much because I HATE, repeat I HATE going to public bathrooms (heck, sometimes I don't even want to go to my own!). Since college, I've found that WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too many people for my liking don't wash their hands! This is kinda gross, but no matter if it's number one, two, or the monthly friendly visit, they just don't do it. Even here, one would expect the PLEASE-YOU-DIRTY-FOREIGNER-TAKE-YOUR-SHOES-OFF-WHEN-YOU-ENTER-MY-HOUSE Japanese to be different, but surprise!, they aren't. At school, once in a while when they know I'm in there they'll do a perfunctory flicking of the hands under cold water, but PLEASE what does that do! What does momentarily flicking your hands under COLD water do? Maybe, if it was hot water I could cut them some slack... Thus, the inevitable tissues I use to turn on facets and open restroom doors.

The interesting part is that I had no idea that this phobia of public restrooms was actually causing me harm. I literally stopped drinking water on a daily basis because unconsciously I knew I would have to use the bathroom if I did. If it wasn't for a friend that pointed out the connection between the two, I would have never noticed.

So, the good news is that I drank tons of water this weekend and today. To the point where my pee is the color of water. ;) Good, eh?

The bad news is I've had to go to the bathroom like 20 TIMES today! eeeeewwwwwwwww!


Side note: I can now walk around my apartment without fear of frost bite. :) yippee!!!

Penetration of the Hardcore American Skin

Here I am, enjoying what will certainly be an amazing weekend in Tokyo, when I finally realized that it's hit me.

Yep, it's finally happened. Slowly, but surely the Japanese mentality has seeped into my subconscious and ruptured my previous "balanced" reasoning. Take for example the previously thought of absurd custom of waiting at a red light without a car or bus in sight. All of a sudden I realize that something major has happened when a JAPANESE person crosses the street and leaves me on the curb at a red light. Still numbed by the experience, I ponder what else I've succumbed to.

Then the gym experience resurfaced. I don't know why, but for some reason, another foreigner and I crossed paths while I was heading out the gym the other day. And you want to know what happened? Rather than the expected, "hey, what's up?," without a single utterance we both bowed our heads and continued on in our destination. It wasn't until I replayed the moment that I realized how bizarre that interaction was.

Thus, I say, I've only been here for seven months now, but by the likes of this by the time I leave here after two years I will have turned into a proper Japanese. ;)

Graduation

My third year students graduated today. Why only three years in high school? Well, elementary is until the six grade here. Junior high is 7-9th and High school is 10-12th. Thus, only three years. Anywho, the third year girls that I always have lunch with said their last goodbye until who knows when. I was sad for sure, but gave them my contact info so hopefully I'll be able to see them outside of class, without trying to make it a secret. ;)

Anywho, graduation in Japan is very, very, very, very, very, very, very VERY formal. There's a lot of bowing and standing and sitting and bowing and standing and sitting. With total and complete silence in the room (well, almost, i had an uncontrollable cough today that brought me UNWANTED attention. what an embarrassment!) There's almost no emotion in the ceremony. Except for the perceived weak females that have tears in their eyes as the leave the gym that one last time.

I learned a couple of things from this whole experience. One, is that the Japanese really do NOT mess with time. If they say this is going to start at this time and END at this time, this is exactly what happens. Graduation was supposed to end at 12:05pm today and sure enough, at 12:06, the students had already walked out the gym and an announcement was being made to the parents that the ceremony was over. Just like that. No room for error. No room for delays. Can you imagine that happening in the States? Speeches run over, people get late, all sorts of things happen. One would be lucky enough to get things started five minutes after schedule let alone ending on time. Well, the Japanese don't play around. When they say something will start at 10, that actually translates into 9:45!

Okay point two. On to the graduation. Which was a LOT more low key than what we have back at home. One noticeable difference that was actually really sad was the lack of family members involved in celebrating a pivotal moment in the youth's life. In attendance were mothers and two or three fathers just for good measure. What happened to the fathers and brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and cousins and friends, and so on?! Apparently, the value of work is so far entrenched in this society that one can get away with missing out on something as important as your high school graduation. Why? Because the stack of papers I have at my desk just can't wait one day! If you ask me, that's ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!!!

I don't know how the kids here do it, but I'm pretty sure that few people here have close relationships with their fathers because of this absurd work ethic.

People, work should NEVER exceed in importance to FAMILY!!!!! What do you have left after you retire? You MUST retire, you know?...