random rambling

Ya, so for once I'm just going to use this blog as blogs are ment to be used - to ramble.

Okay, first off It is wickedly hot here right now. The heat is hanging in the air like this massive elephant hanging off a trapeze. Or some such thing. It just hangs there, big and mamoth and unignorable (if that is a word? - well it is now). Not only is it hot but it is moist and sticky. They actually sell pads for your underarms here to absorb all the excess sweat. I know, how charming.

Today it was actually 29 degrees celcius in the junior high classroom I was teaching in(they actually had a thermometer tacked to the wall. How thoughtfull of them).

I was starting to feel like a lobster. That is, that I had been stuck in a giant pot of tepid water upon coming to Japan, only to have some devious chef slowly crank the heat. It happened oh so slowly, that suddenly I was cooking and I didn't even have time to yelp (if lobsters can yelp that is?).

Ya, so I was in this classroom finding it hard to string a coherent sentence together (have you ever tried to talk to a room full of half alive sweating 13 year olds while you are also half alive, sweating, and feel about the mental age of a lobster? No, I didn't think so.). When, suddenly I hapened to notice: "Hey arn't those big vent looking-appliances on the ceiling AIRCONDITIONERS??!!"For a moment I felt a rising sense of excitment. Could there be some hidden switch that I could have the power of flicking and thus unleash a wave of cool blissful magic? (oh dear).

So, I turn to the JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) I am working with and point at the ceiling contraptions and ask expectantly: "are those airconditioners?". To which she replied: "Yes". To which I replied, "um, are they not on?" (dumb question of course as I stand there drenched in perspiration.) "No, they are not on". Oh dear. This conversation wasn't going anywhere, time for some direct questioning. "Can we turn them on?", I finally muster. "Oh no," she said, "only when it is very hot can we turn them on". "VERY HOT??!", I screamed in my head, "what like when my toes start MELTING???" Veigly she added, "I think when it is maybe over 30 degrees". Oh dear, that didn't sound very promising. I guess I'll just have to suck it up (that is until I run away to wonderfully mild vancouver for 3 weeks in July!!)

Well, on the upside I was kept a bit cooler today by the fact that I was wearing a wonderful new skirt I bought in Harajuku yesterday.

First off, for those who are not familiar with the manic-rainbow-punk-rock-bliss that is Harajuku I'll elaborate. It is an area of Tokyo where many of the young, and wanabe young come out from their suburban homes to dress like life-size strawberry shortcake dolls and naughty french maids. Its a place where overly taned 40 year olds can plug in some alternative "jazz" and do improviational dance. It is where groups of kids covered only in blackness and studs can huddle together on the cement and exchange mix cds. Its a place where you can trample through the nearby park and end up either at a shinto shrine where a Japanese couple is having a traditional wedding, or stumble across a group of guys dancing to "You ain't nothing but a hound dog" while dressed in leather and tight pants and hair straight out of Grease. Basicly its a freakshow (and I mean that in every possibly good way).

So, ya, I bought a skirt. Now, this is not just any skirt. Lets just say I discovered the shop that was selling it by following these two girls dressed like matching lolitas (complete with frilly dresses, knee socks and mary janes) up a rickety flight of steps. Inside this shop were the most fantstic costumes bathed under the glow of several HUGE chandeliers. There were "naughty" geisha kimonos, school girl uniforms, elizabethian (shortened) gowns; basicly every posible combination of lace, leather, ribbon, and plaid you could imagine.

I saw my skirt the moment I entered. It called to me - a poofy white 50's length skirt covered in bright red cherries. There was even a bow at the back and a bit of poofy crinolin peeping out. I nearly fainted. It was so me in a gaudy-sweet-charming way.

So, yes, I wore this skirt to my school today. And, yes, my students gave a loud corus of "kawaii!!" (cute) when I entered the classroom (of course I hammed it up and did a few spins around the room).

Speaking of which, this is definetly something I will miss when I do leave Japan - the constant ego stroking I get here from my students. Only a person with a heart of iron would not blush with glee upon being told on a daily basis that they are (one or more of the following): "so cute/pretty/have a small face (I really never thought about the diameter of my face until all these students started pointing it out, oh dear)/have long arms(a couple old ladies who were stairing at me - while I was naked - in the Onsen kept rattling on about the length of my arms...go figure) /have nice hair ("is it real??" - I am blond and therefore a constant source of curiousity to my students)/sing very well (of course I just burst out in song at any oportunity).

I seriously would recomend that anyone with a low self esteem spend a year teaching in junior highschools in Japan. I SWEAR you will be magically cured of all feelings of inadaquacy.

What is more, you will feel like a celebrity. I have students CHASING ME ON THEIR BIKES through the streets yelling: "GRACE SENSEI!!" All my neighbours say hello, gauranteed, everythime I pass (now, could you imagine that happening anywhere in Vancouver?)

Basicly, I spend alot of my time with a stupid grin on my face because "heck I'd have to be crazy not to be happy" (okay, now that sounded a bit crazy. Actually I do have down days, but don't tell anyone I told you ;)

Oh dear. Okay, I think thats enough for today. I hope you are all doing gleefully. And if not gleefully, atleast getting by and staying positive about better things to come.

*hugs*
grace