Mathnerds and April 23, 25, 27

So as I tell more people about this blog I'm feeling more pressure to actually put things in it. Which I suppose is not a bad thing. I also thought about it, and realized that if I update two entries from my journal each time I post online, but write more than 2 entries in between each post, I'll never catch up with myself. I know what your thinking: man, that kid is using his math degree to all kinds of potential. And then I just want to start writing about whats happened recently, but then the story would be out of order, and the whole blog would probably just explode.

Just in case anyone was actually wondering how much of a math geek I still am, here's a little anecdote for you. Yesterday, all the ALTs in Chiba had to go to Chiba city for a police safety meeting that my company puts on every year. Its about as boring and important as it sounds, complete with those really corny instructional/anecdotal videos about how not to get your car/purse/wallet/pension savings(?!) stolen from unsavory charcters. Anyway, to pass the time, I tried to figure out if I could derive the formula for the area of a circle using calculus. Then when I got stuck, I turned to Winston, and we talked about polar coordinates, double integrals, and functions for the rest of the lecture. So now you know the truth. I am so awesome. Also, here's more stories from my first weeks in Japan:


These are transcribed entries from the journal I am writing in at school. I started the journal for a number of reasons, one of the main ones being that I didn’t have internet yet so I couldn’t post things online. The other being that I had free time on my hands. These entries are slightly modified, but mostly for grammar. I suppose you’d never know either way. Surprisingly, I had way more to say than I thought. Unsurprisingly, I have been bad (abysmal) at keeping my online entries up to date with my written ones. Someday, the dates will match but for now…These are the voyages of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away:

April 23, 2009 (mokuyobi) Thursday
Maybe crazy days are going to be the norm. in Japan, because this is two in a row. First, Kay. Sensei either for got or just chose to not tell me when it was time for class this morning - and the schedule this week has been all wonky, so I didn't even know I was supposed to be in class until 10 minutes after it started! This is a big bad in Japan, so I'm not sure what to think. I realized something was off this morning when I couldn't find Kay. Sensei a few minutes before I thought the class was supposed to start. Fortunately, I found K. Sensei and asked her what was up, and then we both freaked out when we realized what had happened. I walked up to the classroom (10 minutes late) and Kay. Sensei acted like nothing was wrong as he beckoned me in.

I was totally on edge the whole class, which makes the genki smiling particularly difficult. However, when I started apologizing to Kay. Sensei after the class was over he told me it was "no big deal." I have no idea what to think, but this seems like one of those call-the-company-to figure-out-wtf-Japan. (I did call the company, and Nav - my boss- laughed at me. He said that this stuff happens to ALTs all the time, and that I shouldn't worry about it. I considered worrying about whether or not Nav was just trying to make me feel better, but that's stupid, so I didn't.) Stupid sideways culture, in Japan you hardly ever know if you've made a mistake because no one will say anything to your face about it. Preserve the wa (harmony) - its stressful.

Lunch was fun as always. First year students are really interesting because some of them act like little kids, and some of them have started to act like "grown-ups." One kid cracks up over every little face I make when she "shoots" me with her hand, "bang!" Another student just looks at me straight faced and says "I don't speak English" - in one of the better English accents I've heard at school - and then ignores me. I supposed she's mastered the important phrases first.

April 25, 2009 (douyobi) Saturday
Women, I miss them so much. More specifically, I miss women I can flirt with and talk to. I suppose there are plenty of women in Japan, but if they can't speak English, it doesn't really count right now. I haven't had the opporitunity to do much honest flirting in Japan, and its starting to bother me. That combined with a near constant feeling of isolation - being surrounded by people who can't talk to me, and who are totally foreign (to be fair, I suppose I'm the foreign one) - makes me really wish for a girlfriend/someone I can be comfortable with. Also, don't discount the part where I haven't even been on a date since last September. I'd be feeling the same way in America, but there I'd be able to do something more about it.

I definitely have a huge crush on K. Sensei, but at the same time, I don't. Its one part adoration - I would be 10 times more lost and confused at school without her there to take care of me - one part environment - she is litteraly one of about 7 girls I've been able to speak with since moving to Japan (and the only one in my school)- and all the rest of the parts where is a good person - funny, thoughtful, patient, smart, happy, and pretty cute.

On the other hand, she's a co-worker, so, awkward, and I know that we don't really get each other. At least I don't get her. Different cultures. I'm never sure exactly what anything means. While her English is pretty good (note from the future: her English is really good compared to pretty much any other Japanese person I've met, definitely in the top 5) its not like she's fluent, and together with my uncertainty about Japan's do's and don't's I rarely feel comfortable or relaxed when I'm talking with her.

However, on Thursday we totaly went out to toss the disc around while a bunch of teachers were in a meeting. That was a bonding moment, and a huge stress relief. We had talked about doing it before, and today I finally just turned to her and said "lets go throw." I swear, by some definition I'm probably addicted to frisbee. Even though K. Sensei couldn't really throw, it felt so cathartic to just be outside holding and chasing frisbees.

We also have our own little secret now, because she sliced up some flowers in a flower bed on a wild throw. It was a bonding moment. Also, I've never seen a frisbee do that much damage to plant life. Seriously, flowers were decapitated. Laughing and giggling and "inconspicuously" returning to the classroom, I finally relaxed a lot. It felt so natural and unforced; I really liked being able to share a laugh about something that was genuinely funny and spontaneous.


April 27, 2009 (getsuyobi) Monday
The other day Winston remarked that we always seemed to have so many stories at the end of every day we go to school. He seemed amazed by this, but at first I didn't see what the big deal was. Sure, we had stories, but I felt that wasn't so surprising. I thought our job was to make stories happen. We are supposed to be sensational at school: we're white, positive, and happy...all day. We're the most popular person on campus, of course we have stories to tell.

But maybe he as a point. Today, some third years got into a fight and one got cut with scissors! The kids all played it cool, but there was freaking blood on the floor! Ever looking for a teachable moment, I made sure the san nenseis knew the word for "blood." Also, that they missed that spot over there...I mean really, how often is this kind of crazy stuff supposed to happen? That's my crazy story for the day, and that's really all there is to tell. After the blood was cleaned up, lunch was served, and everyone acted like nothing had happened.

On a lighter note, lunch today was absurdly delicious! Curry and omelets, and of course rice. I ate with the third years (but I didn't come in the room until after the shanking) - something I don't usually look forward to because they dent to ignore me - but they were rather lively today. (possibly as a result of the stabbing earlier) The third years are funny because they have better English comprehension, but they don't speak much more than the first or second year students. I think its that they're old enough to have inhibitions, and I get the feeling that they don't like to speak English unless they know what they're about to say is right. They are less willing to experiment and string together extremely broken English, even though I can usually understand the broken stuff just as well as the full sentences.