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Published: November 9th 2008
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shima851
Homeward Bound Well, what can I say? This is it. The end of my two years in Japan. The end of my life as Jennie-Sensei, as the only white person in the community, as the first woman to come here to teach English, as that weirdo who got countless stares but even more cheerful greetings, as an independent woman taking on the world. Obviously, the past two years hasn’t been all adventure and enlightenment. There was a lot of loneliness, feelings of not fitting in, frustration with language, culture, coworkers. But as a whole, these last two years were exactly what my predecessors said they would be: a life-changing experience.
Not only have I opened my eyes, mind, and heart to ways of the world I never knew existed, but I have also had the time (a LOT of time) to sit down with myself and realize what I want to get and give in life. I have made friends with people of all walks of life and of all ages, including a few amazingly powerful and independent women in this society that doesn’t make it easy. I have realized that teaching English as a foreign language is an incredibly rewarding job,
shima843
Final group photo of me with my preschool kids but not what I want to do with my life. Although I loved my job and especially my students, I’m now pretty sure I don’t want to work in the public school system. I commend the teachers of the world who pour their heart, soul, and every waking moment into teaching kids in public schools. I think this is one of the most emotionally, mentally, and physically stressful job there is, and that teachers are highly under-rated and under-paid. I’m not sure about the rest of the world, but in Japan, teachers are responsible for a lot more than math, language, science, and history. They basically raise the children, since kids spend much more time at school than at home, and when they are home, their workaholic father is usually at work leaving the mother to at least provide an evening meal.
But I digress. I have realized that I probably don’t want to work in the public school system, but I do know that I want to be a teacher (or an educator of some sort) to children. I just love being the means to provide knowledge to children who still haven’t chosen a path in life yet,
shima844
Me with the first-graders at the elementary school and who potentially still have so many opportunities ahead of them. I have finally figured out that I don’t want to go to graduate school for teaching English as a foreign language or for linguistics (although I’m still very interested in both), but, instead and maybe surprisingly to some, for ethnomusicology. I want to continue learning about culture through its music. And I decided I wanted to study this from my experience in Japan. I was a member of several local music groups and I took private lessons in the traditional Japanese stringed instrument called the shamisen. I loved learning about the difference between how Japan and my own culture perceive music. In addition to learning a lot about Japanese music myself, I began to realize that the thing I liked teaching my students the most was the music of my own culture.
Thanks to my coworker and friend at the junior high school, together we taught our students countless popular American songs. In addition, I taught them a ton of traditional old-time songs accompanied by my fiddle; When my mom came to visit me we gave a performance of old-time fiddle tunes and flatfoot dancing at my elementary
shima845
Me with the second-graders at the elementary school school; As I wrote in a recent blog, I created a ten-week course for my adult conversation class about American music; and I created two courses for two years of the International School Day in Hiroshima Prefecture on square dancing, old-time singing, and jug bands. My students always seemed much more interested in learning English through American music than from their text books, and this part of being an English teacher in Japan was the most rewarding for me.
As kind of a final musical farewell to my friends, students, and community, I organized a “sayounara party” at the community center a few days before my departure. We had a big vegetarian potluck dinner, some very expensive sake (Thank you Yamazaki-san!), some very cheap beer (Thank you Tecchan!), a sappy slideshow (in true Japanese form), and several music performances. First I played fiddle and mandolin with my mandolin group. We played “Take Me Home Country Roads” as well as some traditional Japanese tunes. Next I sang with the Yuge chorus. We sang a reprise of “Take Me Home Country Roads” in English and Japanese as well as the Yuge chorus theme song. Finally, I played three pieces with me
shima846
Me with the third-graders at the elementary school on violin and one of my past students on piano: “Ave Maria,” “Time to Say Goodbye,” and “Ashokan Farewell.” I had been stressing about packing up my life and organizing this party at the same time, but it ended up being a success. And I was showered with gifts, although I had to pack them up in yet another box and ship them back to the U.S.
The next day one of my students’ parents invited me over for dinner. It was an amazing dinner and reminded me of the great home-cooked Japanese meals that I ate every night while living with my host family in Osaka. They repeatedly thanked me for everything I had done for their child (this is the one whom I went to Tokyo with for the national English speech competition), and the father insisted (much like my host father in Osaka used to do) that I drink beer and sake with him. After several drinks we ended up talking about whaling in Japan and how he had no respect for Greenpeace, the Iraq war, political leaders in both Japan and the U.S. (something they said Japanese families never discuss), and I told them a
shima847
Me with my special-ed students at the elementary school completely racist joke I learned growing up in the U.S. about Japanese and Chinese people. Ha. A good time was had by all.
Then, finally, the day came when I woke up and knew the next bed that I would be sleeping in would be in my home of West Virginia, U.S.A. I woke up really early after having only about two hours of sleep from late night packing. I had to do some finishing touches on the cleaning of my apartment and take my huge boxes of stuff I’ve collected in the past two years to the post office. Shortly after I awoke, I heard a knocking on the door, and I thought, “Oh, great! I don’t have time to say goodbye to anyone else!” It was one of my obaa-chan friends equipped with cleaning spray, sponges, and rags. I welcomed her in, and soon enough there was another knock on the door. I had obaa-chan after obaa-chan coming to clean my apartment! I am SO lucky, and they saved my life! They also helped me get my boxes off to the post office, and finally we all drove to the port.
A team of four obaa-chan
shima848
Group photo with friends, students, and community members at my "sayounara party" and one ojii-chan escorted me all the way to the Hiroshima airport. As our car boarded the ferry off of Yuge a group of friends, students, and members of the community gathered at the port to see me off. As I stood on the edge of the departing ferry, I watched them wave goodbye to me, and it started to finally sink in that this would be my last view of Yuge. Tears were streaming down my face and one of my obaa-chan escorts gave me her handmade handkerchief to use. I watched as the waving people got smaller and smaller and finally disappeared. Within hours I would watch as the whole county of Japan disappeared the same way. When we arrived at the airport my friends marveled at the amount of luggage I had, but nevertheless helped me check it. We grabbed a quick tea, and it was time for me to board my flight. I hugged and said my final goodbye to them. On the airplane I looked at some of the goodbye letters my friends had written me. As the plane started to taxi and then take off, I looked out the window, and there were the
shima850
My friends waving goodbye to me from the other side of the security line at Hiroshima airport obaa-chan and ojii-chan on the airport roof viewing platform, waving their handkerchiefs in the air.
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marilyn
non-member comment
What a Trip!!!!
Hi Jennie, Once again I loved reading your blog. You lived in Japan for two years and I shared a tiny portion of your experience via these blogs. What a trip it has been for me and how much fun my students had learning about another culture. Thanks for sharing your life there. I know it was hard to live it and record it at the same time, but you did an awesome job! Thanks, Love, Marilyn