Pre-Sports Day 2008
Today is my last pre-sports day. Don't worry, I'm not getting all nastalgic quite yet, but it is funny how much these annual events have changed since I got here. I missed my train this morning and got to work just in time to make it outside and see the kids lining up. I talked to one of the older kaiteika (Home Ec) teachers for a bit about how wearing black makes you look slimmer* and how she wants to lose weight (sadly, a popular topic for women everywhere) and listened to the announcements our "discipline chief" was making over the megaphone to the student body.
I picked up a few vocabulary words while listening (bushitsu is probably my fave), but - even though I can't speak - my listening skills have really gotten a lot better. I pretty much understood everything they were saying, and understood the comments my coworkers made as they were walking by. I think I get flustered and miss a lot when a conversation is going to quickly or someone is expecting a fast response in Japanese, but speeches and such (at least ones at school, where I know the everyday vocabulary associated with these sorts of events and class) are getting better.
It's also kind of funny just sitting outside and people-watching, to be honest. Most of the women are wearing bonnet-like hats, sunglasses, long-sleeve shirts and gloves. They just don't want the sun to touch any skin... even the younger ones, the ones around my age. It's the same everywhere. My neighbor, Miwa, showed me what she wore to her sports day this year and I can only describe this visor-helmet contraption that "everyone is wearing" as robo-cop meets darth-vador meets Mindy, from Mork & Mindy (I don't know why I chose Mindy... for some reason I can see her in a visor). We are allowed to wear sports-wear today, but one of my coworkers is even wearing a turtleneck. Pretty full on when it's over 70 degrees outside!
Alright, I have had three staff members pass by and ask why I am not outside. One thought I was hiding from the sun (see...), another was surprised to see me and wanted to know if everything was alright (I don't usually miss events or meetings, so maybe it's weird that I'm not there?) and I think the last just needed an excuse to talk... but I get the hint. We're actually only practicing for the big day on Friday today (the kids don't even really carry their class flags, for example... only the bou), so I am more conscerned with being present for the real-deal, but I guess I should go.
More in the next few days. I've been running again at night (getting in shape isn't fun but it's getting easier and I'm enjoying the "solitude") and have some more busy days coming up, but I'll try to blog soon. I'm also really pumped because I'll get to see two of my very favorite things in Japan tonight, both imported. One is the Bulgogi bake at Costco's AMAZING food court and the other is, well, from New Zealand. Adios!
*The comment about black making you look slimmer reminded me of something. Yesterday the teacher that called me "plump" (no grudges, no grudges at all) commented on how I have been wearing black a lot lately. I was wearing a black blouse, big black belt and black pants at the time, so I see why he would mention it, but I was essentially planning my comeback to his certain forthcoming comment about how black is a good color for me because it is thinning (ok, or preparing to bite my tongue), but the teacher actually gave me a compliment about how becoming I have been looking in such a classic color and was throwing out compliments left and right. Hmm, a little fishy, but I think the comments are basically the closest to an apology I'm going to get; but it's an apology I was surprised to hear and was kind of grateful for. The talk is honestly most likely all lip-service, but I consider that internationalization if this guy learns it's not ok to make comments like that to young women. Even if it's OK in Japan... it's not.
I picked up a few vocabulary words while listening (bushitsu is probably my fave), but - even though I can't speak - my listening skills have really gotten a lot better. I pretty much understood everything they were saying, and understood the comments my coworkers made as they were walking by. I think I get flustered and miss a lot when a conversation is going to quickly or someone is expecting a fast response in Japanese, but speeches and such (at least ones at school, where I know the everyday vocabulary associated with these sorts of events and class) are getting better.
It's also kind of funny just sitting outside and people-watching, to be honest. Most of the women are wearing bonnet-like hats, sunglasses, long-sleeve shirts and gloves. They just don't want the sun to touch any skin... even the younger ones, the ones around my age. It's the same everywhere. My neighbor, Miwa, showed me what she wore to her sports day this year and I can only describe this visor-helmet contraption that "everyone is wearing" as robo-cop meets darth-vador meets Mindy, from Mork & Mindy (I don't know why I chose Mindy... for some reason I can see her in a visor). We are allowed to wear sports-wear today, but one of my coworkers is even wearing a turtleneck. Pretty full on when it's over 70 degrees outside!
Alright, I have had three staff members pass by and ask why I am not outside. One thought I was hiding from the sun (see...), another was surprised to see me and wanted to know if everything was alright (I don't usually miss events or meetings, so maybe it's weird that I'm not there?) and I think the last just needed an excuse to talk... but I get the hint. We're actually only practicing for the big day on Friday today (the kids don't even really carry their class flags, for example... only the bou), so I am more conscerned with being present for the real-deal, but I guess I should go.
More in the next few days. I've been running again at night (getting in shape isn't fun but it's getting easier and I'm enjoying the "solitude") and have some more busy days coming up, but I'll try to blog soon. I'm also really pumped because I'll get to see two of my very favorite things in Japan tonight, both imported. One is the Bulgogi bake at Costco's AMAZING food court and the other is, well, from New Zealand. Adios!
*The comment about black making you look slimmer reminded me of something. Yesterday the teacher that called me "plump" (no grudges, no grudges at all) commented on how I have been wearing black a lot lately. I was wearing a black blouse, big black belt and black pants at the time, so I see why he would mention it, but I was essentially planning my comeback to his certain forthcoming comment about how black is a good color for me because it is thinning (ok, or preparing to bite my tongue), but the teacher actually gave me a compliment about how becoming I have been looking in such a classic color and was throwing out compliments left and right. Hmm, a little fishy, but I think the comments are basically the closest to an apology I'm going to get; but it's an apology I was surprised to hear and was kind of grateful for. The talk is honestly most likely all lip-service, but I consider that internationalization if this guy learns it's not ok to make comments like that to young women. Even if it's OK in Japan... it's not.
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 2:40 PM
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