A Full Weekend Plus Some

It’s annoying that I haven’t gotten a chance to blog recently but I’ve spent all my Internet time doing college work. Now that that’s out of the way I can get back to detailing all of my experiences for my American friends and family to enjoy. I do too much to include everything, so I’ll detail some parts and skim over others.
This past weekend I had a goal, to spend time with lots of people and do lots of talking. I achieved that goal. I had no long bike rides of lunches alone by the lake. A good thing too because while I enjoy those activities, I prefer to spend my time with people. Sunday I went to church and talked with a parishioner after mass about community service. She said there wasn’t any. Yeah right. So I’ll ask the priest next week. Then I came home and made pancakes for my family. I really like making food and this is the first chance I’ve had to cook for them. I’d really like to make dinner one evening or cookies on the weekend. But the first time I cook my host mother wants to watch me to make sure I don’t burn down the house. A valid concern. But the weekends are so busy with my brothers’ basketball games that we haven’t found a good time yet. After the finals next month I should have some mutual free time with her.
After lunch I hopped on my bike and pedaled out to Tsukuba Daigakuin University’s open campus. Despite going with no expectations, it still surprised me. Japan always does. It was more of a festival, with booths set up outside for food and a stage with dancers and entertainers. I watched the dance school do hip-hop for a while, and then wandered inside. Each room in the building had something going on. I played some carnival games and tried to learn about Lego robots. I would walk into a room, ask what was going on, talk with the moderator for a few minutes, and then move on. Eventually I found an English song contest. That was fun to watch. The Japanese have a real tough time with pronunciation. Hearing it in song was funny. I also met an English professor who was running the event. We talked for a while afterwards and traded emails. Hopefully he’ll contact me with stuff to do at the University once in a while. Maybe I can go in and help his class or a study group on the weekends. Or he’ll find a pickup game or free community activity I can join. I figure the more people I ask the better a chance I have of getting involved.
I rode home for Daichi’s birthday dinner. His birthday was actually on the 4th, but my family has been so busy on the weekends with basketball games that this was the first opportunity for a party. It was fun, and the food was delicious. Tomoko made a cake with slices of kiwi on top. She hates baking but makes a very tasty dessert. I had already experienced Ryohei’s birthday dinner but the differences still surprised me. We took a picture as a family before dinner, with the cake and dinner laid out on the table. They're not big on action shots. Every picture is posed for. I’m completely opposite. I think the natural pictures are the most interesting. Also my family rarely smiles for photographs. After pictures the cake went back into the kitchen until after dinner. When it was time for cake and presents, we sang the birthday song in English. Why English? I don’t know. I gave Dacihi a dart game and table basketball. Both were big hits, although Ryohei got angry when Daichi wouldn’t let him use the darts.
Monday was another day of being with people. I spent the morning at track practice. I like track but I want to try something else. I’ve been disappointed with my teammates. Some of them are friendly and I can talk at length with Nomura and less with Kaname, but they’ve made no effort to reach out to me. Several times I’ve asked Normura and Kaname to hang out on the weekends but they always refuse. They say it's because of testing and studying but I get this feeling like they just don’t want to take the time with me. It’s annoying because despite my efforts I can’t make friends on my own. It’s going to take something from someone else. They make virtually no effort to include me in group conversations. I have to continually assert myself. The trick is being able to say something relevant without interrupting the flow. Usually when I say something everyone stops to answer me, and then goes back to talking, excluding me again. It’s like they’re two circles, Scott and everyone else. It’s been impossible to penetrate and I’m spending lots of time with them. I like track and running but I want to do something more Japanese and at this point I feel like I’m wasting my time with these kids. I’m disappointed that the people who looked most promising initially have turned out to be complete duds.
After track I returned home to have lunch and check my email. Then it was off to meet the English club for pumpkin carving. These kids are clearly where my friend potential lies. It’s not just that Hazuki can speak English fairly well, it’s that he tries to speak to me. It’s that effort, not the language that makes spending time with him so rewarding. Too bad he lives a half-hour away by train and is a 3rd year. After summer break 3rd years spend pretty much all their time studying for college entrance exams. Most of them quick sports and take extra classes after school. That’s why there are no 3rd years on track. Again, making friends is difficult when the kids who are closest to you in age and maturity are always studying.
I met the English club at Ushiku station and the eight of us walked to Toyo Ushiku High School. We brought snacks with us as presents for their English club. This school was a little bigger than my school and much more impressive. Their athletic facilities surpassed ours, yet the fields are still dirt and sand. The first thing I noticed when I went inside was that their English teachers could speak English. My English teacher only teaches from a book, and cannot converse with me at all. He can understand a lot but cannot speak. My counselor has superb English, but still with a Japanese accent. They had a native speaker from California (still Asian) and every English teacher I encountered had excellent English. It’s possible they only showed me the good ones but I was impressed none-the-less. We were led to a room with one pumpkin and ten other people. This was a joint excursion with the local English club. We broke up into two teams and designed faces for the pumpkin. Our team carved Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas. I showed them how to cut off the top and scrap away the guts with spoons. Then we took turns cutting. Mostly I sat and watched or talked with other students over popcorn and chips. It was all around very fun and I could participate in conversations because it was a mix of Japanese and English. It was refreshing to be a part of the group and not watching from the outside.
We finished carving and took pictures around the lit pumpkin. I’ve never cut two faces into one pumpkin before but it worked out rather well. We probably could have fit three. I headed home and felt fulfilled from my full weekend. I felt like I made progress in developing relationships. My favorite part about Japanese is speaking and I’m glad I got lots of time to do it. At home I relaxed and talked about my day. I really like my host family. I know that when I go home I can talk as much as I want. They understand me and make the effort to speak back. I don’t have to constantly beat my head against the wall like I have to do at school. Even my host brothers and I can communicate. We joke around and tease each other until Tomoko yells at us and tells them to study. Some things are exactly the same as in Chicago. I’m very pleased that I have a good relationship with my family. I look forward to going home now. Even if my school day was quiet and no one would look me in the eye, I know I have people waiting who are interested in me and what I have to say. Unfortunately they can’t save me from the weekends, which can sometimes be daunting and painful.
Tuesday was a normal day at school, pretty mundane. Although I did discover my school library has a shelf of English books. They’re mostly short stories and very easy English for kids who want to improve their reading. But some of them are entertaining. It’s more than my city library has. Wednesday was different though. We only had the first two periods, and then the whole school took a field trip to a cultural performance. Not by bus though, by bicycle. Each kid was responsible for getting there on his or her own. So after second period everyone filed out, hopped on their bike, and rode off half an hour away to the theater. I’ve never taken a field trip by bike. I’m shocked they trusted all of us to make it there. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few kids stopped along the way to have a cigarette or if a few never made it. The festival was pretty cool. There were four performers. The first and third were comedians and I did not understand them at all. Comedy is very difficult in a foreign language. Especially one where understanding directions is a challenge. The second guy was really cool. He cut silhouettes out of paper in thirty seconds flat. Scenes like Samurai’s fighting or Geishas entertaining. It was pretty incredible. The fourth dude was a living treasure. That means he’s been deemed an extremely important cultural icon by the Japanese government. It’s a rank that is shared with famous shrines and temples. He was a storyteller who used sound effects, lighting, and props to tell scary stories. He was fascinating to listen to even though I understood nothing. He used a very old form of Japanese, different from what I’ve been studying. The inflection on his voice was amazing. He kept going up and down in pitch, like Bob Marley except in an authoritative Japanese way. Very neat.
Today – another normal day. Tomorrow is some strange field trip where I go to a college. I don’t know what I’m doing there but it takes the whole day. I hope it’s interesting. If it is a full day lecture I’m going to fall asleep. I’m more worried about this weekend. Worried because I have no plans and it’s a three-day weekend. I hate those because I tend to get homesick if I’m by myself for too long. I don’t have any excursions planned or festivals to attend. Hanging out with kids is so hard. I keep asking and asking and no one will play with me. I’m doing all the work, taking all the first steps. I join groups, talk to people, go places, make myself knows, ask kids to hang out but nothing happens. These kids are impossible. Why won’t anyone take a chance on me? It’s tough spending time with new people, I know that, but I’m getting sick of being turned down. Saturday is a big test so maybe I can convince someone to toss a Frisbee with me on Sunday. I don’t like Mondays off because the library and museums are closed then. I’m hoping I can start kendo this weekend. I’m really excited about that. It’s a community class so I’ll have a better chance of meeting kids in my area. At school kids come from all over so finding people near me is a challenge. It just makes it harder. Everything in my life is going well, family, school, and language, but not friends. It’s not just the language it’s the people. I’ll keep plugging away because the alternative is loneliness but it would be so nice if I was invited somewhere. I know that eventually someone will realize how cool I am but I’d be nice if it happened now.