A Day in the Life of…

A JAPANESE STUDENT ON SUMMER VACATION

Music: Another Day- Jamie Lidell

Wednesday July 30th, 2008.

5:55 pm

Toyama Amity, Toyama-city, Toyama Prefecture, Japan.

Scene 1 (there is only one scene):

Young Yuki comes rushing into class five minutes early, twitching and hopping with energy, ready for his weekly private lesson with Lindzy Sensei.  He throws his bag on the floor against the wall and chooses the red marker.

Yuki is slightly different then the rest of the Japanese children at Amity.  Yuki lived in America for some time and is a bilingual student whose English (like most of the “bilingual” students in Japan) is quickly fading.  He is only eight years old, and an English class once a week for 50 minutes is not enough to keep up his English.

As per usual, Yuki is laughing for no reason and his hands can’t stop moving and he’s sliding around on his chair making it squeak.

Lindzy: “Yuki, how are you?!”

Yuki: “Oh, I’m great thank you!  How are you?”

Lindzy: “I’m wonderful thank you.  How was your day today?  How is being on summer vacation?”

Yuki: “Good day. ”

Lindzy: “Yeah?  What did you do today?”

Yuki: “I studied.”

Lindzy: “You studied?!?  What–”

Yuki:”Yah!  Summer vacation homework.  Today was Math and Kanji.”

Lindzy:”Oh yah, you like math and kanji.  Ok, Yukiyuki, what did you do before you studied?  Did you study alllll day?  I mean, what did you do when you woke up this morning?  What did you eat for breakfast?”

Yuki (laughing histerically): “It’s a secret” he says crossing his arms to make an X.

Lindzy: “Lemme guess.  Rice?”

Yuki: Yah

Lindzy: Miso soup?

Yuki: Yah.

Still giggling like crazy.

Lindzy: What did you do after breakfast?

Yuki: I went to the park.

Lindzy: Wait the park?  What time?

Yuki: 7:00am.

Lindzy: Whoa… wait.. what?  You went to the park at 7:oo am??  Why???

Yuki laughs: To listen to the rajio.

Lindzy confused: To listen to the radio?  What?  Wait, did you go the park to study?

Yuki, laughing: nooooo

Lindzy: Did you go to the park to run?

(the Japanese study and run a lot)

Yuki: noooooo.

Lindzy: What were you doing at the park at 7:00 am listening to the radio?!  Radio?  Are you sure?  Like (listening to music and dancing motion) radio?

Yuki: Stretching.

Lindzy, exasperated: Ok.  You were at the park, at 7:00 am, listening to the radio and stretching?  By yourself?

Yuki: No with all the other kids in the neighborhood.

Lindzy: Ok, so all the children are in the park stretching at seven am.  How long do you stretch for?

Yuki: Maybe 10 min.

Lindzy: What do you do after you stretch?

Yuki: We clean the park.

Lindzy remembers a time when she would go back to school after her summer vacation (which was two months and not three weeks) and had to draw a picture or write a story about “What I did on My Summer Vacation”, it mostly included stories of sleeping in, eating popcycles for breakfast, playing video games, climbing trees and roofs and swimming in friends pools

This story is not a figment of Yukis imagination.  It is, in fact, true.  All children in elementary school meet at their neighborhood park to stretch and clean at seven am before they go home and do their summer vacation homework.

The End.

Millions of Momo

Music: Merry Happy- Kate Nash (a Fuji Rock performer)

Yikes, sorry… remember when I used to post every week? Sorry readers, I have a few excuses for you: I’m busy (the worst excuse in the history of excuses) , the weather is too nice to sit indoors annnnnd things are feeling like home these days and from this end seem uninterresting and monotonous to write about.

But! That’s for me to write about and you guys to judge right?

Well this is summertime Lindzy at the moment… the best Lindzy there is. Warm (sweaty even!), tanned, swimming and outside a lot.

The summer is really really effing hot here. I’m not finding it as bad as others, but going out for jogs at noon slightly hungover with no shade isn’t exactly top on my list of things to do in the middle of the day.

Going to the ocean and having barbeques on the beach with friends and playing in the cool salt water is on my top five list. Going for long bike rides along the river and getting lost in the suburbs and rice fields of Toyama is probably number 4 in the top five. Sitting/stretching/dancing/drinking on my roof with the view of the mountains and city is most likely number 2. Firework season is in. I’m into it. The Japanese go apeshit over their fireworks. I went to some a few weeks ago and they were amazing. Apparently there will be some every weekend for the rest of the summer.

Last but not least on my list of top things to do in the summer is to attend festivals. The best one so far has been Fuji Rock. Not the traditional festival seen in Japan, but still a festival. Ashleigh, Leah, Alyssa and I went to a three day music festival up up high in the mountains of Japan in Niigata prefecture. Not only did we get 2 days off of work, but we got to camp, dance, rock and jump all weekend.

The scenery was beautiful with all of the stages surrounded by mountain and the paths that lead to different stages were lined with tall trees decorated with stars and disco balls.

Top Acts of the weekend:

1. Underworld (best part was at the end when dozens of big white balloons got tossed into the audience)

2. Grandmaster Flash (Highlight: Jump Around and a dedication to James Brown.)

3. Rodrigo Y Gabriella (aaaaaaaaaaawesome )

Top Dance Parties of the Weekend:

1. DJ Mehdi

2. Bloc Party

3. Princess Superstar

Hot Entertainers:

1. Kate Nash

2. Jamie Lidell

3. The Go! Team

Goin Down in History (in my head):

1. My Bloody Valentine (loud loudloud)

2. The Presidents of the United States of America (yes they sang Peaches, and yes they changed it to MOMO -peach in Japanese)

3. Ben Folds (knows his way around a piano).

Wish I hadn’t Missed them:

1. Gogol Bordello

2. Kasabian

3. Paul Van Dyk

Honorable Mentions:

1. Tricky

2. Mice Parade

3.CSS

I’ve got the dancin out of me for the time being, but I will need some more soon.

Now comes August! The worst month at Amity. Extra summer classes, extra summer lessons, extra work. Extra laaaaaaaame.

sorry for the lack of and short updates!

Also, I havn’t said it in a while, but I really miss everyone back home. I’m getting really anxious to see you all again. Love love and hugs! xox.

(^_^)v

Please, Talk to me Like I’m Five Years Old

Music: Laments of a Mattress- Hop Along, Queen Ansleis

I’ve most likely already commented on this, but I’m going to say some more on the topic. In Canada (or America, or whatever dominately English speaking country you reside in) we are often confronted with those that have difficulty with the English language and may not be able to speak or understand it very well. As a result (especially if you work in the area of customer service) one tends to slow down their speech and talk to the person as though they are five years old.

Previously I would think that the person being spoken down too would be insulted and that we ought to lower our voices and speak to them as an equal.

I’ve changed my mind. As a person who doesn’t understand the main language spoken in Japan, I obviously often find myself in social situations with that squinty eyed, furrowed brow, cocked head look that always ends with an unfortunate shake of the head and raised shoulders.

PLEASE, speak to me like I’m five years old. I understand that much better. Clearly I’m the whitest person you’ve ever seen and not a native resident. I was at Starbucks and I made the mistake of asking the new employee if she was in fact new to this starbucks. By my bad accent and misuse of particles she should have caught on that I’m a newbie at the language. No, she asked me a question that I couldn’t understand, even when I asked her ‘one more time, but slowly please.’ Turns out she was asking me in a very polite and uncommon way where I was from. Ok, I know about three ways to ask this question, and she had to use the unknown fourth (which translates to, what country were you born in…).

The post office is a place I always take a deep breath before entering. I’ve been going into this post office for the last ten months and have never understood a word this man says to me. (You can thank him for all of your safely arrived packages). Nevertheless, he continues to have this longwinded, onesided conversation with me about lord knows what. The other day I was in there and he asked me a million different ways, which I assume was the same question, all of which I didn’t understand… then he took out a tape measurer.

Or the dry cleaners… again, I’ve been going in there for the last ten months and it’s the same shit. She asks me a question, I say one more time slowly please. She asks it again. I repeat a few of the words I don’t understand to see if I say them out loud to myself in different tonnes, it’ll suddenly ring that Japanese-word bell. She says the question differently, I do the cocked head thing, she says one word that says it all “hayai”. No, I don’t need it in a rush.

I know, you would think I’d have learnt by now what she’s saying, but just when you think you understand them and you answer them what you believe to be the right answer, they pull that (previously blogged about) I-don’t-believe-that-you-understand-me-so- i’ll-just-keep-asking-different-questions-to-further  -confuse-you business.