Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
Vietnam
Chapter 2
New Home
in Kofu
Chapter 3
Hong Kong
China,
&
Korea
Chapter 4
Yamanashi
Chapter 5
Society
Chapter 6
Hospital
Chapter 7
Nikko
Chapter 8
Holiday
Greetings
Chapter 9
Culture
Chapter 10
Holiday
Trip:
Kansai
&
Kyushu
Chapter 11
Mores
Chapter 12
Hankos
& Brush-
writing
Chapter13
Friends
Chapter 14
Festivities
Chapter 15
Okinawa
&
Nagasaki
Chapter 16
Hong Kong
&
Australia
Chapter 17
Special
People
&
Events
Chapter 18
Coming
to
Japan
Chapter 19
Letter to
Editor
Chapter 20
Teaching
English
Chapter 21 Hamamatsu
Chapter 22
Women's
Relation-
ships
Chapter 23
Reflections
on
Education
Chapter 24
Nephews'
Visit
Chapter 25
Thailand,
Korea
&
Home
Chapter 26
Taking
Stock
Chapter 20
Teaching English
April 30, 1996
Dear BJ and Dick,
I don't have your letter in front of me as I write this because I left it at school for Tom to read. I am teaching four classes a week with him at Eiwa. "Bible Ethics" is the topic of the course, and it is a challenge to teach, with the student's limited English, and their unfamiliarity with Christianity. (While Eiwa is a Christian school, on 10% of the students are.) Also, we don't believe we have the right to push any religion (or our values) onto anyone else. So the course is more focused on helping the students get in touch with their own ethics and helping them look at issues such as discrimination, bullying, drugs and alcohol, etc., with the main theme, "Love your neighbor as yourself". That is a basic tenet of all the major religions, including Shintoism, and of course is preeminent in Christianity. In addition, Japanese Christians tend to emphasize the sterner Old Testament instead of the loving message of the New Testament, and we are glad to bring that message to the students. We enjoy doing this together.
In addition to the Eiwa course and the five students I am teaching at home, I am now teaching five classes at the YMCA. Three are children's classes and the other two are advanced women's groups who want to discuss everything under the sun. As I write this letter, I am getting ready to go teach one group of children. It is a class of 11, with three hyperactive little boys and the rest very ladylike little girls. We meet in the room that is also the playroom at the Y and has a lot of playground equipment, so you can just imagine the scene. You also know how much I like a challenge like this.
I'm glad you are fighting for the program (the guys!) now and confronting people assertively. It can still work!! It makes me feel better, that maybe I did teach some things that aren't being forgotten, and that others have the same vision for the program that I had. I feel better about it than I have for a long time. For awhile it was too painful to even think about the program, and I wondered if all my blood, sweat and tears were for naught. And I wondered if anyone read the letter I wrote when I left to come to Japan.
Please tell the returnees (and others you hear from) that I said "Hello" and I think about them and wonder how they are doing. It makes a big difference to me when I know that some things we did made a positive difference for the guys we were trying to help.
Gotta go and teach the little sweethearts. I'll come back to this later.
May 1, 1996
Well it is the next day. The class went well. I really like those kids (the rotten boys the most! You are not surprised are you?). That class and the one on Monday are 1st and 2nd graders. The class today consists of 4th graders (all girls) and it will be my first time with them.
In Japan all children learn English for 6 years, from junior high through senior high, and some schools teach English in the elementary grades, but that is not required and is fairly unusual. Therefore, the parents who want their children to be "international" enroll their children in English classes from an early age. It is fascinating to me. Even the smallest children I meet in my travels often know more English than I know Japanese.
The one women's class I am teaching is going to be very interesting. They are five very bright women who have a pretty good command of English and have traveled quite a bit. However, they have little knowledge of certain portions of their own country's history or politics, even though they read a lot. They have believed a lot of the propaganda that is printed here and the denials about many of the things that Japan has done in the past, including its treatment of the people in Okinawa, before, during, and after the war. Therefore, you can imagine my chagrin when they wanted to spend the first class talking about the current problems of the American military in Okinawa and how it was responsible for the deaths of many Okinawan civilians during the war. Their facts were skewed and they have no concept of the brutality of the Japanese military toward the Okinawans. I don't believe it is my job to teach them Japanese history or be negative about their culture, and I want to be respectful toward them. I take in articles from the Japan Times to clarify some issues and hope that is the right approach to handle this dilemma. Meanwhile, I remind myself that it is an English conversation class and not social studies, and I know it is important it to not be defensive about the USA. Next week they want to talk about cultural diversity in the U.S. It could be interesting. I have a feeling that I will learn as much from this group as I teach them.
As I write this part of the letter it is very early in the morning, and I have been worried about Tom for a couple of days. He sort of collapsed while hiking two days ago. He threw up for about 24 hours and couldn't even keep water down. His pulse was 100, when it is normally 60, and he has felt weak and weird since then. But I could not convince him it might be a good idea to see a doctor. It doesn't seem like the flu to me, but have no idea what is going on. It is very difficult to be in a foreign country at a time like this. On the other hand, I have absolutely no confidence in our primary physician in the U.S. and know that he would blow us off, as he would have with Tom's problems in November. With the state of health care in America I have no confidence in getting the help we need when we need it, and really resent being treated as a hypochondriac on the few occasions when we need a physician.
Enough ranting and raving about the US health care system. I guess we'll just have to deal with that when we come home. Meanwhile, Tom is going to the doctor this morning to be checked out. It is the one day his doctor is in at our local hospital and I will feel better if he is seen. This guy is very thorough and doesn't minimize problems. And Tom finally is willing to go, so he must be more worried than he wants to admit.
We have a big trip planned for this weekend. We have reservations to go to Hamamatsu for the kite festival. That is something Tom has wanted to do for years, but was never able to attend before. Hope we can go for his sake.
I should close before this gets too long. So much is going on. We are spending a lot of our energy in anticipatory leave-taking of our friends in Japan, and we are eager to come back home. We have sent 17 boxes so far and hope there won't be too many more. We've sent most of our winter clothes back, plus gifts from friends and other souvenirs. Lately I have had some spectacular trips with some special friends and there will be others. We have had contact with 19 of the 23 exchange students in the time we have been here so that has been very nice. For Tom's birthday, I surprised him with a scrapbook made up of the exchange students' memories and tributes to him. Please remind us to show it to you. I am so proud of him!!!
My nephews are coming to visit us on July 1st until July 18th. We are excited about showing them Japan and educating them a little. They are 13 and 12. It should be fun. After that we will be coming home, maybe via Thailand or Korea, but we aren't certain at this time.
We miss reasonably priced goods (especially groceries), ease of communication, our washer and dryer, freedom of speech (too long to explain at this time), our garden and yard, etc. etc....but most of all the people.
Glad we are back in touch. Please take care.
Love,
Marie
