Through someone else's eyes

A fellow co-worker will be leaving next year. I was so shocked and sad to hear of the news. A lot more shock than I would have expected. He was so sweet and welcoming. I guess his absence will mostly be felt because he was always trying to make me feel at ease here. Telling jokes and asking me questions about America and such left and right.

But it's what he said as his parting words that left me really sad. He told me that I shouldn't give up on Japan. That the Japan I see here in Hasaki is not the whole country. I shouldn't make judgements on the country as a whole through just the experiences I had at my work place. This actually really shocked me as I hadn't thought I expressed or made any indications that I wasn't happy with my interactions here. It made me think if I was expressing something negative through my body language that anyone with eyes could see.

That's so sad....

My Last Event as Social Coordinator

Wow, I can hardly believe that a year has come and gone and my position as social coordinator for the JETs in Ibaraki is soon coming to a close. My has it been an interesting year. Together with my partner we've organized an event for every month, from baseball games, to glass blowing, dolphin swimming, "the" snow festival in Hokkaido and this last trip to Okinawa (a tropical cluster of islands in the south of Japan). Every month has been something different. In retrospect, this position was literally an answer to my prayers. After being here for about half a year, I felt as if my speaking ability had made no significant progress, as if it were a puddle of water in a dark corner procuring millions of robot algi to spite the sun. To say the least, I was no Marry Poppins with the realization.

Then suddenly I was thrust onto this position like a sacrificial lamb and lo and behold, the Japanese came gushing out as if it had been awakened from a long sweet slumber. Making reservations on the phone, reading about event venues and discount specials online forced me to dust out the cobwebs and speak, read and write in a language that only three years prior I spoke as a three month old child with cotton in its mouth.

This last trip has to have been the best of all the events hands down! With a great group of people, adventure at every turn, warm weather, and beautiful beaches, could there have been any other result?.... I will remember this trip as a trip of all groups for a while.

Thank you Lord for answering my prayer.