Fortune and Reason

So a fellow JET named Chris Chu gave an excellent speech at our leavers conference (from a Captain America comic book - giving further example that the best laid plans are last minute and rely on popular culture) whereby basically fortune beat out reason in a match to influence a prince's decision. Or something like that. The point is, the moral of the story - is that sometimes your reason tells you this and that and your goals and expectations are this and that but really, you have to let life take control of you and realize that it is always full of surprises and always full of lessons and meanings that you must keep you mind and heart open too. We were asked to write a 6 word goodbye to Japan recently. Mine was "sakuras bloom when hearts are open." The Japanese love the sakura for it's transient beauty, for the few days in the beginning of spring when the cherry blossoms open and one is amazed at how spectacularly indescribable it is. But soon, the sakuras start to fall, and the Japanese look at it's life cycle as a replica of how ephemeral life and the emotions (happiness, sadness) are themselves. The ephemeral nature of happiness and sadness can be portayed by the sakura. So looking back on my experience here, I saw that I came here with certain goals that I wanted to achieve in my personal life, the type of person I wanted to be and the type of change that I wanted to see happen. And what did I learn? I should have taken it a bit more easy sometimes ; ) There was no way one can be prepared for what a foriegn country has to offer for your soul, and it's best to leave you heart open for the change. Living in a foreign country was best experienced with having goals and having direction of course, but also by keeping your heart and mind open to changes and to the beautiful suprises that life has to offer. So, "sakuras bloom when hearts are open." Looking back, I learned that "sakuras," which I take to mean "Japan," blossoms when hearts are open. One can really appreciate the beauty of a country is you keep your heart open to it, and you always look for the best in people.

There were tons of ways that I couldn't change and adapt to the cultural barriers that existed here, tons of miscommunication and things I took the wrong way. I bet it's the same on the other side, i.e., for the Japanese people's views of me. But that's part of it. Looking back though, those tons of things that bothered me in the beginning...still bother me, but who cares? Take it easy and realize that cultural differences exist, keep a positive attitude and try and love people. I mean, I am not being hard on myself at all for my experience, anybody would be pissed when your "supervisor" keeps on forgetting to mail you your schedule, and that's not "cultural differences" exactly, that's just irresponsibility. It's hard to adapt in genereal to foreign culture, now I understand a bit more of my family history better and have more respect for my parents experience, and for my mother's ability to adapt to America. So now I am a little more loose in my approach to different cultures. Just accept it, just appreciate it, and don't take it too seriously. Keep an eye on the positive side, at least my experience has showed me that in general, people do want to like and love you. You should always have your goals and those things you want, but keep and open mind and an open heart, and you will truly get the most out of an experience. It is probably one of the biggest things I have learned here. Trust your reason, but don't forget about fortune. I'm not going to go home and become a surfer, I mean, I want to get into international development next and I need goals in my life, but hey, you do need to learn to ride the tide and have fun if you are going to survive in an international experience. As long as you know that love is number one you'll be fine.

I went to India

First, the pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rishisensei/collections/72157605112928238/

So we went to Andhra Pradesh,

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/India_Andhra_Pradesh_locator_map.svg/530px-India_Andhra_Pradesh_locator_map.svg.png

on the southern eastern part of the state, right next to the coast. They speak Telugu there. Did you know that India actually has 33 nationally recognized languages? And because there are so many people in India, in fact, there are 76 million people in Andhra, making it the fourth largest state by pop in India, Telugu is actually the 15th most spoken language in the world! Little tidbit from my main man Jay.

So you guys understand the name of the sets of pictures:

Kavali is the name of the city that we stayed in, about 100,000 people, but we took a bus every morning for a half an hour to the small lower caste village of KI (which is Kothasatram and Indirinagar for short). BC stands for Building Communities which is the name of the volunteer program, so BC 08 is Building Communities 08. The KI food program was a program started by a volunteer last year who decided they needed more than just houses but food too, and we celebrated it's 1 year anniversary there. Yeah, we took an evening after work at the beach, it was perfect temperature :P

The trip was awesome, the crew was great and I learned a lot. But I couldn't have done it without everybody's support, we actually raised more than any other crew that has gone there in the past. Here's a link to my reflections on India on the groups (Building Communities 08) blog. 2nd one down.

http://building-communities.blogspot.com/

Thanks to all that supported, it meant a lot : ) Much love to Japan and my fellow teachers for their support as well.

I'm leaving

It's weird to finally accept those words, with my love-hate relationship with Japan the love is what I am feeling recently. While it's weird I know it's the right thing for me, but as I come back today from a night at waraku where I saw half of the town drinking and enjoying life I started to think about my successor and how she will have these experiences soon enough. It didn't make me sad, but it put things in perspective, the fact that I am only one in a possibly long line of ALTs, where the benefit really is to Japan and the chance in gets to meet different types of people from different backgrounds. I returned home and realized that my house will be occupied by somebody else, and how that new person will have a slew of experiences which will be so different from mine and will make Agematsu seem like a different town to her. I am sure we will have similar experiences and things to share, but at the same time it will be different and unique. Life certainly did seem beautiful tonight, we are only here on this earth for so many years and there's only so many things we can experience, but it's amazing all the different things we can see. I'm not too sad to be leaving, if I was that sad I would have chose to stay, but wow, the places I've been, the relationships I have formed, this is definitely one of the coolest things I've done. I don't think I can remain stationary in the future. I want to spend some time in India next and if the writing thing doesn't work out I want to get into international development, which means being international. The world is not international yet, cross cultural communication is still really tough and Agematsu is still a little hamlet in the Japanese countryside, but I do foresee it being that way and glad that I have had these experiences to make me forward-thinking and a bit more open-minded. Well, I still hold stereotypes and might even be racist in some circumstances, but I'm definitely more open-minded. Man, I know I will return and my relationship with Japan is just starting, but man, I am going to miss the coolest thing I have ever done.