Feeling Great

Japan really freaked me out Saturday. Eggs come in packs of ten here. TEN! Not a dozen, but a number that makes some sort of sense. I tried explaining to my host family why I was so on edge but they didn’t quite get it. Actually, Megumi did. She said that when she visited Australia last summer she flipped out when the she saw a dozen eggs in a carton. I was buying eggs because Saturday I did Easter egg coloring with my family. My mother sent me a large package of Easter stuff, thanks mom, and in it was an egg coloring kit. So I spent a lazy Saturday afternoon coloring eggs with Megumi, her friend, and my host mom. They were all very excited to participate in an American tradition. I’m puzzled but also thankful that nobody asked why we color eggs on Easter. What’s the word for pagan ritual in Japanese? The eggs were fun though. I’ve never seen Easter eggs with kanji drawn on them. Very cool.

So that was my Saturday. Sunday was Easter of course so I went to church for the first time in a long time. It’s not that I don’t want to go. It’s just that I always seem to be doing something on Sunday morning. But I found out that this church, which is very close to my house, has mass on Saturday evening as well. So church here I come. After mass I went up to Tsuchiura to say an Easter hello to the Stahmans, the family I had Thanksgiving with. The whole time in I was in Tsuchiura there was a little voice in my head saying, “please don’t let Watanabe-san see me.” The whole city still gives me chills. It’s too bad I feel that way because I had a lot of great experiences there. Unfortunately the last few weeks put a bad taste in my mouth that obviously has not gone away.

Even without the joy of Easter things have been going very well lately. I would even go out on a limb and say great. Honestly, what’s not to love about Japan in the spring? With the possible exception of sweating through my button-down shirt this season is awesome. School has been going very well. Last year I hardly got anything out of my classes. That’s all changed this time. I pay attention and learn in almost every class. That could be because the school year just started and I haven’t gotten bored of it yet. Or it could be that I have teachers who are interested in me and helping me advance my Japanese. Plus it helps that I can understand the teachers when they talk. Except for Japanese class, and biology, I like all my classes. Japanese, both modern and classical, goes right over my head. That’s one subject I get nothing out of. It’s oddly ironic. But now that I can understand lectures other classes like social studies and history have suddenly gotten a lot more interesting. And English is a great class. My homeroom teacher is also my English teacher and I’m pretty sure she requested me. For the first time ever, I was asked a question about the text we were studying in class, and I knew the answer. I realize it’s not that big of a deal but I was pleasantly surprised.

I mentioned how I can understand teachers when they lecture in class. It’s way more than that. At some point over spring break I realized I could understand the words that one Japanese person said to another Japanese person. That’s been my weakest point in Japanese for a long time. I’ve been able to talk one-on-one well since like, December. But watching TV, listening to teachers, engaging in a group conversation, were all still daunting. I don’t know when it happened but it feels like it happened overnight. I can now understand almost everything. Not everything, I still have to stop people and ask them to explain a word or phrase countless times throughout the day. But I can understand. There’s nothing quite like this feeling. The best word to describe it would be: awesome. Like if you could bottle the aura surrounding Samuel L. Jackson. Pure awesome. I still wouldn’t say I’m fluent just because there’s so much I don’t know but when people comment on my Japanese now, they are genuinely surprised as opposed to politely commenting me. It's a big difference. I feel great.