The big news atm is that we are partway to hearing a placement. We have been told I will be in Hiroshima-ken, (Hiroshima prefecture) but no more, so we expect I will probably be in a high school (elementary and junior high school JETs tend to get told a more specific placement). We expect to hear exactly where I'm going in July, but it's fingers crossed for it being close enough to Jinseki that I can live at home.
A couple of minutes ago an odd thing happened. The apartment shook, just a little and just for a couple of seconds. The building also shakes when my neighbour starts his incredibly noisy car, so this doesn't mean much, but - not being used to earthquakes - I wondered briefly if it was a truck driving past or something that had done it, although I hadn't heard anything... Thirty seconds later I got a text from Jeff (in Jinseki, two hours away) saying 'Earthquake!' I know for people used to earthquakes this will seem stupid, particularly because it was so tiny (I'm thinking of Christchurch as I write this!), but I find it bizarre, overwhelming and a little frightening that Jeff and I, so far away from each other, are both being shook around by the same movement of the earth. There is no escaping the power of Mother Nature here. Considering we were told Jinseki doesn't get earthquakes, that makes the fourth one in the less-than-a-year we have lived there! I know Jeff thinks nothing of them, having grown up in earthquake-prone parts of NZ, but it's a big deal for Aucklander Charly!
Now, for the grand finale of this update: my Mum is coming to visit me in Japan!! My boss had her new employee pull out pretty last minute, so I offered to work the first three weeks of July - taking the last week off to have a few days away with Jeff, make the transition from living in Kurashiki to living in Jinseki (or a new town/flat) and to pack my bags for the training in Tokyo. I get a little anxious when I think about everything I have to do in those five days, actually... Anyway, I have organised for Mum to come and help out for that last week of July when I'm away. Yay! As you would expect, I'm really really excited about showing Mum around. It's a pity it will be in the middle of the summer heat, but I'm still hoping that she will come back for the autumn leaves or cherry blossoms :)
I had a very cringeworthy moment with my students tonight. It is the most advanced group of youngsters, ranging in age from nine to about twelve. Their reader is set in America and shows a range of nationalities, with the lead character being a boy in a wheelchair - all very PC stuff. Until one of the girls pointed at the worried-looking black man, the teacher Mr. Williams, and said "Obama!" I knew I should just drop it - there was noone there to be offended - but one of the things I find hard about Japan is the complete lack of cultural diversity. In all reality these kids have probably never seen a black person, and maybe never will. But, all the same, I felt obliged to try to explain that I understood it was hard in Japan, because most people here are Japanese, but that saying he looked like Obama just because he was black was rude, and that it was like me saying they all looked the same because they were Japanese (there was no irony in this; the class consisted of a younger girl all grins, two older girls - one more hesitant, the other with a shrewd twinkle in her eye and a serious older boy. All very different looks and personalities). Of course, I was still doing a double cringe listening to myself, remembering some of the racist anti-Asian sentiments I have heard in NZ, but it just fueled my anti-racist fire! I think the girl understood what I was trying to explain...
Of course, with my boss and I both being natural blondes with that pale/pinky skin tone specific to blondes, the students have probably already concluded that all Europeans look alike! At least when Mum visits they will see that Europeans come in more than one colour, lol. It's stupid, but I wish I could bring Beth here and substitute her for me for a day, to see the reactions. People who know us never get us mixed up (we are very different - hair style, hair colour, skin colour, weight, face, body, etc. Actually I'm not sure what's so alike...), but people who have only just met us often get us mixed up and when we go out together we occasionally get asked if we are twins. So I would be very curious to see how many of the students and parents at the school would assume she was me (with dyed hair, perhaps?) and how many 'see' me clearly enough as an individual to see Beth as a different individual.
Ok, time for me to clean the bathroom and get to bed! Jeff is coming down tomorrow so I have to make the house look spick and span and pretend it's always like that! :D
Night,
Charly
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