Spring break

it is cold and rainy today, but i still planted the basil and tomatoes that i bought yesterday. i watched UCLA dominate defensively this morning against Xavier... then hung around for the NC/Louisville game despite the battle that my father and I had over the slingbox. he accessed it from work while I was in the "next day" here in Japan. Technology is a funny thing!

(Kids fishing, folks kayaking- taken @ Ama Beach on Zamamijima)

My knees have been hurting because I am not as young as I once was. It stemmed from participating in the school marathon a couple weeks ago. I ran a 2K with the ni nensei girls... then, I had to prove myself and earn some respect so I ran it again with the ichi nensei boys... big mistake. I was out of shape and stressed my legs much more than they were ready for because the boys' course turned out to be 3K! So, when I turned on the after burners, anticipating the end of the race, I was quite surprised to have to double back around the lake at Urayama park. Needless to say that was the beginning of the inflammation. riding my bike for the next week or so, putsing around and getting to work too didn't help. And running and getting fit for the spring compounded everything. Oy. So, two days of hiking around Zamami-jima and one day of hike/hitchhiking in Miyako-jima in the Okinawa prefecture made it altogether a disaster. Walking around Naha to change ports for various boats... all with a heavy pack... And things were going rough. Got home and iced it- days later.... big mistake. Locked my knee and pissed off the tendons altogether. Brilliant move, Dave!

(Picture of Furuzamami beach, clearest water in Japan, they say)

Fortunately, everything works out for the better... and I rested this weekend. Ikeda Naoko- the world's kindest woman and the ALT's unofficial mom here in Kurume, assisted me at the doctor's once again... translating and just being so sweet. The world is a much better place because of people like her. As my friend Jamie said, "you just want to be around her... you can't help but be happy and nice because she radiates it. It's an energy that just makes you be a better person." Well put. She has checked up on me and made sure that I understood the doctor's directions and determination about my condition (I forgot the right word!) she is also the one responsible for my access to organic food; she is helping me set up the compost for our apartment complex too. What a wonderful person. And her whole family... they treat me so well whenever I pick up my food- and inevitably stay for dinner! The cooking lessons and food-sharing... I truly enjoy Japan, especially Kurume, because she has made such a positive impact in my life. 先生　ども　ありがとう！

(Posing on the eastern side of Zamamijima)

My friend Wendy is a genius. She single-handedly changed the course of my life by setting up the different keyboards on my computer. Now I can play with Japanese and even use the Spanish accents and "ñ" without a hassle. Communication is key! And now I use the right keys for proper communication!

(From the lighthouse at Higashi Henna-misaki on Miyakojima. Low tide and lots of reefs!

Speaking of communication, I just wrote an essay for the annual JET Programme competition. And communication was a strong point of that paper. I also wrote about my role here. Winning the competition isn't all that important at this point. I probably write as bad as the next guy/gal. But it was sure nice to get some of the feelings of my chest- regarding my experience as an assistant teacher here, the things I've learned about myself and about the Eastern mentality, and sharing the importance of my traveling... not simply for pleasure and leisure, rather for continuing my role as a cultural ambassador.

(Looking back at the channel next to Miyako-jima from nearby Kurimajima. Off to the left is the longest white sand beach in Japan... stretching over 7km it is called, Mae-hama beach... and we got some good beach volleyball going in the afternoon!)

Wow, I have put down a whole bunch of things that have nothing to do with Spring Break! Oops. I guess not having written/typed for 16 days has led me to a bit of a backup. I stopped right around the time I hurt my knees and then was away from the computer for a week, so this has been in the making.

(Fisherman up to no good on the lighthouse peninsula- Look out Octopus!)

It's funny because I was rather depressed in the winter. I have been trying to explain to family and friends that I was pretty miserable in the winter without knowing it at the time. I didn't realize that I stopped, basically shut down my love for life and passion to get out there and get my hands dirty with the Japanese language and... you get it. The lack of sunlight had a tremendous impact on my life. And, as the spring has come forth (APRIL on TUESDAY- WOW!) and the Ume blossom is over and the sakura blossoming has just begun, I can look back over my winter time and pat myself on the back for getting through it. Really. It's not an impressive feat, and 20 days of snowboarding helped me with it. But, wow, its great that there is more light during the days now, even if today IS cold and windy and rainy. I feel as if I have written this before, so I will leave it at that.

I went to Okinawa last week. I left on the last flight out Wednesday, to return Monday evening. In a whirlwind trip, I stayed in the main city, Naha, for only 7 hours- to sleep. I island-hopped to Zamami-jima (座間味島) and Miyako-jima (宮古島). Camping on the first island was fabulous, as I hiked most of the island, enjoyed nice weather (even though it was overcast) and even saw a humpback whale that was passing through the northwestern channel.

(Naha at night, with the full moon. I was aboard an overnight ferry on my way to Miyako)

Miyako was bizarre because i had planned to camp there too. Long story short: friend of the son of my fruit vendor, an ALT also, put me up for 2 nights and arranged for SCUBA diving. Bad weather cancelled the dive and Jeff put up with me for two days... As was the case of a random dude invading another dude's pad. We drove around the island, ate fairly well and got in some beach volleyball (on the nice day)... but I felt a bit weird because we didn't even know each other and he was sort of stuck with me... it all worked out and I certainly appreciate his kindness.

The vacation seemed like more work than leisure (although no "ambassador" stuff on this one, however!) because of the way it all panned out. But, I guess it did the trick because I did get back to my apartment feeling rather refreshed and relaxed...

(Shri, Praju, Hana, Murray, Kendra and Jamie in the dining hall)

Immediately following, I went to 久留米高校's annual English camp. That is Kurume High School. Two days, lots of English. In the cultural fair (here is the ambassador part), my group presented about Chile. They learned a lot about food and culture of the "long country" that runs parallel to the Andes. I taught groups how to make Salsa; not a Chilean thing per se, but a Latin American thing... so that was fun. Jamie, Kendra, Hanna, Murray and Praju had cultural lessons on Hawaii, France, England, New Zealand and India. All in all, we really did some good over those two cold days in the eastern Fukuoka (福岡) mountains.

(This Japanese thing is really cool!)

(Jamie's masterpiece: A picture of us in cartoon form... our names are written in Katakana across our chests!)

This post has gone on for quite a while. I could break it up and post chunks over the next couple of days, but I'd forget. Plus, as the scroll hanging in my apartment reminds me, Ichigo ichi e (一期一 [ ? ]). Once in a lifetime, one opportunity... except I can't find the right kanji! "This is the only time that I can possibly do this, so I had better be here while I do it!" is the way one can understand it.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. There are a bunch of pictures of new, spring flowers posted along the right column of the blog too. Here is a Sakura at a small shrine near Naoko-sensei's house!

getting warmer and spring break

it is getting warmer.

and

spring break.

i will be away from a computer from March 19-24th. Then I will be MIA, as I am a counselor for English camp, on the 25th-26th.

So, I'll have some pictures and ramblings after the 27th, yo.

Of course, if there are any emergencies, please email my cell phone: strich@softbank.ne.jp

Two in a row!

This short shout-out and the following posting.

Shouts to my boys D. Dash and M. Berner. Hard-working bastards! April is just around the corner boys,... earn those salaries and then take nine months off why don't you?! Just playin. I've been listening to quite a bit of rap (with my new workout routine) and Nate Dogg's, "Nobody does it better," and Nikitina's "Killa Whale" reminded me of both of you (and that you're working hard this season.) Here comes the obnoxious part: the harder you work, the more money I make. The exact specifics of huge debts of dollars that you find makes the Yen rise (until the government steps in soon) and my salary is bigger as a result. Granted, I have yet to actually change money at this rate, but if I had, then I would have come up!

Lakers, Bruins.... basketball life is great. And number 2 is always better than number on because there is no stress, especially if you have the same record... but at the end, you play number one and have to beat them! がんばって　下さい！

Surviving my first winter...

... in 26 years I have never cycled through a year of seasons. i have experience the most intense seasons throughout travels, but I have never linked them together. It has been, for example, sunny southern California summer to freezing cold Chile in the midst of a record cold year... but I didn't get to go through the transition. Country/hemisphere/continent-hopping has never left me in a place for more than 5 months at a time. And I am going on 7+ now.

Spring has arrived in Kyushu. It is amazing. There are still cold bouts, but it's not like the past two months of living in a refrigerator. I feel like I have accomplished something; in essence, I proved that I can survive. That, to me, is a huge feat especially considering how different the weather has been. I finished with a total of 20 days on the slopes, so that is one way how i probably survived the cold. I tried to embrace it as much as I could, but there is no doubting that the winter took a toll on my life. I shut down. I hibernated. I tried to stay warm. I didn't live. The snowboarding was the only thing that got me out of the house. It was better to skip a meal than to run out to the store (on my bike) in the freezing cold. Not that the outside temperature was any different than inside, but the thought of using so much energy really kept me back. So, spring has arrived and I am really fired up.

Spring has arrived and the Ume (plum blossoms) are blossoming in pink and white and fuchsia. The Rape should be popping out with canary yellow along the riverbanks any day now. I hope to check them out this weekend, after graduation. Yes, here the school year is coming to an end, right before a well-deserved spring break (for everyone!) Though I will have only one day for my weekend, I have a lot on my plate. I want to see the flowers and manage to get to the city to buy some bagels... it has been far too long since I have had one of those.

The price of my (organic) groceries went up 10% last week. That's a lot of money, but I will just cut down on other things in order to maintain the healthy lifestyle I am aiming for. I have started working out again, i may try to find a bench to put outside so i can pump iron under the spring sun! I also will try to set up a compost for our apartment complex. I have to check with the neighbors to see if it is OK and then hopefully I can contribute more to the earth (in the form of real nutrients) and less to the air (in the form of pollution). these are spring goals and it doesn't really matter if they happen or not. But it is a sign that I am excited to wake up in the morning. I was struggling to get out of bed last month and now I feel like I did in September when I had a hard time sleeping because I was just ready to get up. Seasons are amazing and one truly has to be patient in observing them. There is no rushing involved and I cant talk to anyone about changing anything. Between the lessons of patience and the feeling of success/rebirth/reawakening, all brought on by this new Spring,... well... I got more to do! Rather, the same things to do, but a different outlook.

the importance of words, no castellano: lo siento

... and silence too. But the "words" section first:


(A mis amigo/as quien hablar castellano, disculpame por favor. No he tenido tiempo para escribir en la idioma. Mis sentimientos estan en ingles normalmente. Tambien, el japones esta en la cabeza y dificil para recordar palabras; palabras faciles y simples tambien!! Ahh,, que wea! Pronto quiero escribir un blog en castellano porque es importante a usar todos los idiomas... especialmente porque conoci un chileno el fin de semana proximo... en japon... que raro...)


A teacher asked me if I liked Japanese women. I had a hard time understanding him because my Japanese has regressed from +1 (on a scale of 0--> infinity) to about -141. I was at -140 before I even came, so I think this is a sign that I should start studying again. But, as he was talking he said, "Gaijin." I don't think I reacted in any particular way to hearing this. He quickly corrected himself and said, "Gaikokujin," as he continued his reference to the non-Japanese, in Japan, who like Japanese women, can grow beards, etc. What's in a word? It's like saying, "foreigner" versus "person from a foreign country." The one implies, "what the hell are you doing here," and the other one seems to be "a non-native Japanese person who is hanging out in Japan for a bit). I don't really care; in Chile and Argentina, my nickname was "Gringo"-- which can be considered derogatory. Japanese are trying to make the shift in their language as they practice opening up (still working on it from 1868)

Why is this significant? Because, in that moment a teacher recognized his own framework and is trying to better himself. To me, it makes no difference- i understand that it's hard to re-learn words that one has learned previously. But my being there was the spark he needed to work on that change. That is a huge compliment to me, whether or not he'll ever know it. It even beats him (his?) telling me that I look handsome with a beard and that i should grow it back (I shaved it off yesterday). His words were important, and so were the non-words.

Zen teachings say that if there is not an answer, silence is OK. There is no need to fish for something to say. I have been lured quite a bit lately, by friends, enemies and strangers alike to speak... to give an answer when there is nothing to necessarily say. I have been catching myself from jumping into speech that has no relevance. I have slowed down my response time and feel that I am not as spontaneous as a result. But I still go with the spontaneous moment of speech when the right answer appears. And, in the case of the irritants, its better that my spontaneous response comes later, otherwise it'd be means to start a fight. This is new for me because I have been quick to react and speak and go with the flow that way. My new practice of breathing prior to a response has helped me clarify an particular words that I need to speak, if it is determined that I even need to speak them. Long winded, but it's a new change for me and it's really weird. It's bizarre that I can even recognize it. That's more on words, but the emphasis here was silence... not as an answer but as silence... when there is no answer.

Randomly there was a huge wind and rainstorm as i left the house today for work... carrying a lot of dust from China... I would have hated to be in China for that storm... EVERYTHING was filthy today... I know that the "US is the leading producer of pollution... but every country is doing its best to destroy the earth. I am convinced after the freak storm today... and as my neighbors continue to ruin the new spring weather by burning their household waste... the crops burn just as well as the plastic and other shit they put into those steel drums.

As usual, I lost track of the point, but maybe sharing is the point.