Pic of The Week: “The Crew”.

That is what we have been titled by the Training Department at Head Office. And we are a force to be reckoned with! We are our own support network and the management know we all talk so they are careful to look after us, so as to look after themselves. It’s very empowering to know our little union is so influential!

“The Crew” is made up of 5 very different people who live in 2 cities, work at 3 schools and come from 4 different countries and all different walks of life. Through our common goal of teaching English in Japan for a year at the same company we have become great friends.

These people have become my family in this country and I am extremely blessed to have been welcomed into their little posse of four, back in July. Over the last 5 months I have gotten to know each of them through travelling, drinking, eating, singing, shopping, having tea, working out, bitching about work, laughing, crying (usually me – nothing’s changed there!), discussing all manner of crude, rude, ridiculous, hilarious, sexual, sexist, spiritual, religious, political, professional, practical and educational things. Sometimes these discussions turn into debates, arguments even, but we respect and appreciate each others’ views and we’re always honest.

Making a group of expat friends that you didn’t know before and may never know again after you leave is a real eye-opening experience. It provides a wonderful insight to who and what exists in other countries and to who and what you are as an individual. There’s no need for bullshit because they have no preconceptions about you and they are not tainted by anyone else’s opinions of you. It’s just you, as you are, however you want to represent yourself. Like a fresh start. And for me I’ve chosen to show all of myself, warts and all (literally with some of them who I’ve gone butt naked into a public bath with!) I have never felt more myself.

I feel more at ease and confident than ever before. And that’s not to say I don’t feel stupid, fat, ugly, inexperienced or worse sometimes – of course I still have all those self-conscious moments but I’m more ok with them. So what? So what, if I don’t seem cool, look beautiful, sound smart, or I say something embarrassing? It doesn’t really matter. Just live life to the fullest and do it truthfully and genuinely, that’s what’s most important.

The girls especially have shown me that vanity, fashion and flawlessness are not the priorities I thought they were. Fun and relevant sometimes yes, but health, happiness, comfort in your own skin, knowledge, freedom and expression are so far above them in the list of priorities that they should never be obsessed or stressed about. Of course I value looking after myself and looking good but it has been very liberating to go out on weekends without makeup and be encouraged to do so. Not to mention great for my skin and self esteem.

Though we are a diverse bunch, we all like minded in that our minds are open. We want to learn more, work hard, play harder, love truly, be better and continually discover. We love to travel and want to see as much of the world as possible, both geographically and culturally. We are all very liberal, passionate and opinionated. And I love that.

To give you a quick rundown of these fabulous four friends of mine here is a caption with mini profiles of each of them.

At Izumo “Love” Shrine, the oldest shrine in Japan, said to be the best place to pray for romantic relationships, home to 8 million deities. Left to right (after me):

Fiona, British (Scottish), fluent in Japanese, brilliant cook, talented singer, wicked sense of humour, has a 5 year long distance relationship with her Italian boyfriend, loves Dragon Ball, lived in Tokyo for a year at uni before, always cracks me up, this time been here 10 months, wants to work in international relations.

David, British (English), finished top of his class in linguistics, lost like 30 kilos, loves taking photos and scrapbooking, has a boyfriend doing the same job but up the other end of the country, is extremely knowledgeable about history, did a summer in Spain, always sings and dances with me, been here 9 months, wants to be an academic.

Karina, American (but Ukrainian born), fluent in Russian, intermediate in Japanese, black belt in Karate, loves rocks and books, has lived in Lithgow (Blue Mountains), Costa Rica and Alaska, is self-admittedly socially awkward and emotionally void except adorably cute and loveable, always surprises me with her violent stories, been here 13 months, wants to be a geologist.

Cheryl, British (English) but Australian/ German parents, grew up in outback Australia (Dad moved around in Army), lived in Northern Cypress, loves wine, very competitive, unashamedly extroverted, always entertains me with her crazy animated outbursts, been here 10 months, wants to be an activist for human trafficking (or a military leader),

We have all made a pact to reunite The Crew at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Before the first person leaves Japan, we have to exchange letters for our Time Capsule: 1 for what hope to have achieved for ourselves, 1 for what we hope each other has achieved and 1 silly joke one for each other too. Going to be interesting and hilarious! As everything is with these special guys. Don’t know what I’d do without them here,

What I’ve learnt so far.

I’m feeling reflective so this is going to be a list of new things I’ve learnt that I didn’t know before, things that I now just understand better, and things I knew but wasn’t consciously aware of. Not just living here, as an Australian in Japan, but living as a human on Earth too.

For me, living abroad has been like going from living in a house that had the windows and doors locked shut, pleasant and comfortable as it was, to finally busting open a window and jimmying open a door. Suddenly the most refreshing breeze gushes through the window, tickling your face, stirring up excitement and wonder in the depths of your belly, causing you to deeply inhale the cool air, filling your lungs and giving you a spectacular burst of energy. Then you whip your head around to catch your first sight of the bare threshold, that once formed the boundary between your familiar cosy home and the awesome mysterious ‘out there’, but is now a mere step to the endless opportunities you’ve dreamed of for… well forever. Walking across it, anxiety and fear invade you but once on the other side, it is the most liberating, adventurous and satisfying thing you’ve ever done.

Inside my old ‘house’, it was like I was a child always watching and listening to the kids play on the swings but not being able to get out and join them. I could see and hear enough of what was happening out there to be curios, envious and restless but never so much that I could feel part of it. Now I am getting to run and jump all over the playground, and it’s even bigger than it looked from inside!

My mind, and consequently my world, is growing exponentially bigger and I love it. Apart from studying and immersing myself in a fascinating foreign culture, being away from your home, your family, your friends and your native country is like taking a highlighter to your social and physical identity, opinions, habits, interests and experiences. I just feel more…myself. And better yet, more and more ok with whom and what that is.

So, the list of my lessons (and confirmations) at 4.5 months in:

• Time really does fly when you’re having fun!
• Hiragana (50 character Japanese syllabary for native words)
• Some Katakana – it’s a work in progress! (48 character Japanese syllabary for foreign words)
• A syllabary is like an alphabet but is “A set of written characters for a language, each character representing a syllable.”
• Kanji – Ok I only know like 5! (The complex pictures that stand for whole words or concepts in Japanese writing)
• Japanese vocabulary that I remember easily (in the order I’m recalling them): hello/ good afternoon, goodbye, good morning, good evening, thank you/ thanks/ thank you very much, excuse me, sorry, beautiful, cute, scary, wonderful, amazing, me, mine, I, you, yours, too, to, and, so, um, yes, no, mountain, hill, river, road, egg, bread, rice, grilled, water, tea, coffee, different/ wrong, foreigner, train, station, please, book, this, that, here there, maybe, funny/ interesting, but, yet, nothing, cold, hot, weather, nice, really, right, ok, one of, two of, festival, juice, skilled, speak, a little, one moment, thanks for your hard work, teacher, company employee, bank, chair, meat, fish, cherry blossom, month, week, today, tomorrow, next week, 1-100 (kind of!), understand, have, don’t have, am/ is, am not/ is not, come from, person, English, American, Japanese, japan, bullet train, ticket, English language school, student, same, plum wine, chicken, tuna, take care, go ahead, month, let’s go, where, who, why, eat, drink, cat, dog, because, well, sweet, soy sauce, meal, hand…um is that all I know? Ahhh first time I’ve recorded these! Now I need to write them all in Japanese for homework, methinks.
• The people in your life really are the sun, the moon and the stars
• I have an exceptional support network of family, friends and associates
• I am patriotic (never thought of myself as this)
• I am a feminist (nor this)
• Australia really is the lucky country
• I don’t know enough about it
• I am actually interested in politics
• British people don’t say specifically the country they are from e.g. “I’m from the UK”, not England/ Scotland etc.
• Japan is roughly the same size as Victoria but its population is over 6 times Australia’s
• Australia is 350 times the size of Shikoku Island
• I have a serious addiction to sugar
• My boyfriend is remarkably accepting and encouraging
• I am stronger than I thought and braver than I believed
• Optimism is a decision
• I do not want to raise my children in a mostly homogenous community
• I am embarrassed by the racism I’ve grown up with
• My technical knowledge of English grammar leaves a lot to be desired
• Japanese people are amazingly kind, helpful and generous
• I enjoy my own company
• I love Japanese food, especially soba (buckwheat noodles), tempura and anko mochi (sugary red bean paste sticky rice dumpling thing)
• Japanese food is not just weird gross stuff like raw fish – prawn and tuna really are gross. But salmon is good
• Spaghetti Bolognese is my go to dinner
• Mediterranean cuisine is my favourite
• I love cleaning, especially my floors
• Acne is my biggest hate
• I’m not a fearful person
• My family is very difficult to draw as a linear tree
• I like hiking
• Hiking is just bushwalking
• I’m more outdoorsy than I thought; when I go back to Australia I want to take advantage of all the nature-based activities around me
• I have a small face, according to Japanese people
• I love being naked
• I love onsens (public bath houses using natural spring water)
• Japanese customer service shits all over Australia’s. All customer service trainers should study their models.
• I love being on, near or in the water
• I want to travel, I want to travel, I want to live overseas in other countries, I want to travel
• I want to continue studying Japanese even when I leave Japan
• I want to revise and further my Spanish studies
• And I definitely still want to live and teach English in Spain
• I can’t function without lists and schedules
• I am a natural mediator
• Waxing is one of my necessary evils and Japan is sadly not on board
• The best thing about driving a car is being able to transport large or heavy things. And temperature control
• Asian men can be hot
• Exercise is extremely important to me and I want to train as long as my body can handle it
• I get excited over vegetables
• Grocery shopping makes me happy
• I can’t push a trolley without wanting to put my whole body weight on the handlebars and glide along the floor
• Soybeans are one of my favourite snacks and sides
• Evening Primrose Oil is a permanent fixture in my life, I’m sure it prevents me from moody dives and dips
• Japan is very good at problem-solving; spare glasses next to the spare pens at the post office, head nets for preventing makeup marks when trying on clothes, automatic parking machines – as in human less, baby seats in women’s’ toilet cubicles,
• Japan is shockingly far behind in ‘saving the environment one plastic bag at a time’ – you get plastic on and for everything here! I mean every bag of cookies has each one individually wrapped. And there is no question at the checkout, you have 5 bags on your person but if you buy a drink you will get it in a plastic bag, plus a plastic wrapped straw and a plastic wrapped towelette.
• I love, love, love watching TV series, movies and listening to music – can’t imagine life without them
• I am an excellent networker
• I will not settle for mediocrity
• I want big professional, material, monetary success and I believe I will get it
• I really do want my big, beautiful Northern Beaches house by the ocean, this dream has become a goal
• I also want to be seriously and actively philanthropic
• I kind of want to change the world, a little bit (mostly in terms of educating people, and children most importantly, about good mental health and happiness as a choice)
• My mind is chaotic sometimes
• Excitability is a good characteristic
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder
• I really, really love animals
• I still baulk at and hate conflict
• All clouds have a silver lining.

There is so much more I have learnt and realised, I really should be documenting more of it. I am going to make more of an effort with this blog. Maybe If I wrote more often it wouldn’t be such a long, random, rambling! I guess I usually go to Facebook or Instagram to share my thoughts, feelings, moments and findings. I do want to have something more in depth to look back on, and practise my writing though so I am going to attempt to write once a week for the remaining 38 weeks or so. (Wow that’s like a full term pregnancy!).

I am already in my 19th or 20th week and I only have 5 Funny Pics of the Week up! I guess it’s not always funny, or fun, or worth writing about; sometimes it’s very serious, or mundane, or normal or difficult. So I will at least just upload a Pic of The Week, no set tone.

At the end of the day, I am working full time and looking after myself by myself so it’s business as usual a lot of the time. And then I remember I am in Japan making one of my dreams come true, and I am truly enjoying my life!

Anyway, this experience is proving to be extremely rewarding and it is building a strong foundation for me to continue learning and discovering. I never want to be stationary or complacent. Here’s to our collective human revolutions.

If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.

Just quietly…

I’m pretty proud of myself for having made it to the two month mark. 🙂

Bike Blunders

Leaving work the other night, my bike was parked in (yes it happens to bicycles too), and somehow in the process of trying to get out, I managed to drop not just my own bike but in picking it up, knocked over the red one and then trying to quickly stand that one back up knocked over the blue one too!!! A trio of bike blunders!  Hopeless!  Of course I did the quick look-over-the-shoulder each time to make sure no one else was watching this foreigner’s embarrassing fails, and lucky for me they weren’t.

This is an example of an experienced Japanese rider successfully maneuvering around on her bike in a long skirt.

The following story is an example of a ‘gaijin’ who should probably have training wheels and a helmet, or better yet should just be in the child’s seat on the back of a real adult’s bike!:

Getting ready to spend the day with her new Japanese friend, this white girl thought she would dress up nice and wear the only long skirt/dress she brought with her from Australia – a black, pleated, flowy ankle length skirt that she loved. Quickly dismissing thoughts that riding in it might be hazardous because she could just position it carefully around her legs, she put her outfit together and smiled at herself in the mirror. Setting off across town in the morning sun she was happily riding along leisurely until suddenly she feels her skirt rapidly growing tighter around her hips and feels her bike jolting to a complete stop to the sound of ripping material! Just managing not to stack it, the girl squealed out of fear and looked pleadingly at the shocked Japanese lady who had just seen the whole disaster on wheels.  Her lovely long flowy skirt was now a wound up mess around the spokes in the bike, with the back seam torn down. Luckily the skirt had layers so her bright pink undies weren’t on display as she expected when turning around to assess the damage on her derriere. The onlooker was kind enough to come over to help the girl but to no avail, the skirt was surely stuck. After 6 more amused men and women came to the girl’s rescue and 10 humiliating minutes, she was back on her bike with her long skirt tied in a knot – thanks to the man who gestured this genius advice. She quickly fled the scene with her bruised ego & bleeding ankle. Dickhead.

I can’t read Japanese but I believe this could be a parking fine that says something like “Don’t leave your bike out the front of the convenience store for 3 days while you’re off travelling, we know it’s free but now you have to pay this penalty”.
Pleading ignorance on this one!

Fear, you work for me now. Pt 1.

When people ask me if I am scared lately I tell them, with absolute truth & conviction, that I am not scared anymore, I have worked though the fear & anxiety of it all & I am just ready & excited for the journey ahead.

I am realistic though, I know I will get scared, again, but when I am confronted by it this time, my response will be…Fear, you work for me now.

—

There are so many brilliant quotes & pearls of wisdom on fear & courage; here are some that have inspired me & strengthened my conviction. The first one is by my favourite poet, E. E. Cummings:

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it. ~ Bill Cosby

If you need to make a change and fear is holding you back, ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. What is the best outcome that can happen?

2. What is the worst outcome that can possibly happen?

3. What is the result of remaining the same?

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the brave. ~ Helen Keller.

Fear is only as deep as the mind allows ~ Japanese proverb.

—

So it is & so it will be.

Home Town To-Be

Home Town To-Be

So much to discover right at my doorstep.

Can’t wait to experience ‘onsen’ (hot spring)!

Excited!

My Certificate of Eligibility is on its way from the Japanese Immigration Department, that means I will be off to see the Embassy in the city to get my Visa in the next couple of weeks! Excited!

My preparation To-Do Lists are fast being marked complete as it is now under a month til I leave!

And what a busy fun-filled month I have ahead; looking forward to a string of parties & celebrations with friends & family. I will miss them so much. I can’t even comprehend how much right now, it will be a whole new emotion I’m sure. Bring it on.

Famous Haiku Poem

Listen! A frog

Jumping into the stillness

Of an ancient pond!

– English translation of Matsuo Basho’s most famous haiku.

Basho was the great master of this particular Japanese style of poetry which consists of a 17 syllable form of verse.

This poem is also the inspiration behind the title of my exciting new blog that will document my 12 month long working adventure in Japan as an English conversation teacher!

This same frog with her 25 years of experience living in Australia is bravely leaping into a whole new pond to better understand and appreciate both her inner world and the one we all share.

78 Days, 15 Hours & 29 Minutes until my journey begins!