Giving Thanks
Today on my way to work I was in a pretty good mood. I had been reflecting on the positive aspects of my life what I am thankful for. That all came crashing down when a very mean man walked past me and said, very loudly, "糞外人." For those of you who don't read Japanese, he basically called me a shitty foreigner. I was pretty stunned because I hardly EVER encounter racism. But here he was, raining on my poor little pseudo-holiday. Granted, this man was obviously not all there. After saying this to me he proceeded to begin digging through the trash and kept talking about foreigners. I turned and stared him right in the eye until he backed off, which he did rather quickly. It was just a sad way to start my day. It really made me feel bad!
Anyway, I did manage to turn the experience into a positive. I'm so thankful that I don't have to deal with those kinds of comments on a regular basis like some people do. Whenever I have to go to immigration or deal with the trivialities of being a foreigner I am so thankful that I have people that are willing to help me out. I can't imagine how difficult it would be living here completely alone. I don't know how people do that; just up and move some place totally new without knowing the language or anybody. There are so many of those people in America, and their strength just blows me away.
Another thing I am thankful for as a foreigner is the freedom I have as an American. If I want to move half-way across the world, by gum I'm going to do it and no one will so much as bat an eye. If my Filipino friend, for example, wanted to do the same, not only would she have to wait in ridiculous lines trying to apply for visas and such, but her motivations would be heavily scrutinized. Even if she did make it here, she would be constantly questioned by the locals. Everyone here knows how mistrusted certain immigrant communities are. One of my friends and I were bitching about something random to do with immigration and he says, "I don't know why they're hassling me; I'm not even Brazilian!" It was funny because it wasn't. :<
My last class today was two 13-year-old girls. They are rather bitchy with everyone but I have managed to tame them a bit. At least they feel comfortable around me, even if they refuse to talk to anyone else! ^^; I decided to use the class time to talk about Thanksgiving. I thought it would be a brief part of the class but I ended up talking quite a bit. I talked a bit about food and then explained the tradition of giving thanks. I asked the girls to think about what they love. This turned out to be quite a difficult thing for them, but after a while they both agreed that the thing they love most is TV. So I at *least* got them to each say "I am thankful for TV." XD I then talked about the day *after* Thanksgiving. I know you are all thinking about Black Friday but for me the day after Thanksgiving is all about Christmas trees. My family always goes to a tree farm and picks out a gigantic pine tree and cuts it down. My mom is of the opinion that bigger is better so we always end up with a tree that's so wide takes up half the living room and so tall that scrapes the ceiling, even after my dad chops a good chunk off of the bottom. (For a while we had several tracks of pine sap on the ceiling left from Christmases past. Seeing them always made me smile.) It was really nice being able to open up and talk about my family traditions with those girls, who I really spent a lot of time winning over this year. So I guess ultimately the thing I am most thankful for today are my students, who teach me just as much as I teach them. I do really care about my students, even the evil ones. Seeing them learn and grow and connecting with them is just one of the surprisingly rewarding things I have encountered this year.
Anyway, I did manage to turn the experience into a positive. I'm so thankful that I don't have to deal with those kinds of comments on a regular basis like some people do. Whenever I have to go to immigration or deal with the trivialities of being a foreigner I am so thankful that I have people that are willing to help me out. I can't imagine how difficult it would be living here completely alone. I don't know how people do that; just up and move some place totally new without knowing the language or anybody. There are so many of those people in America, and their strength just blows me away.
Another thing I am thankful for as a foreigner is the freedom I have as an American. If I want to move half-way across the world, by gum I'm going to do it and no one will so much as bat an eye. If my Filipino friend, for example, wanted to do the same, not only would she have to wait in ridiculous lines trying to apply for visas and such, but her motivations would be heavily scrutinized. Even if she did make it here, she would be constantly questioned by the locals. Everyone here knows how mistrusted certain immigrant communities are. One of my friends and I were bitching about something random to do with immigration and he says, "I don't know why they're hassling me; I'm not even Brazilian!" It was funny because it wasn't. :<
My last class today was two 13-year-old girls. They are rather bitchy with everyone but I have managed to tame them a bit. At least they feel comfortable around me, even if they refuse to talk to anyone else! ^^; I decided to use the class time to talk about Thanksgiving. I thought it would be a brief part of the class but I ended up talking quite a bit. I talked a bit about food and then explained the tradition of giving thanks. I asked the girls to think about what they love. This turned out to be quite a difficult thing for them, but after a while they both agreed that the thing they love most is TV. So I at *least* got them to each say "I am thankful for TV." XD I then talked about the day *after* Thanksgiving. I know you are all thinking about Black Friday but for me the day after Thanksgiving is all about Christmas trees. My family always goes to a tree farm and picks out a gigantic pine tree and cuts it down. My mom is of the opinion that bigger is better so we always end up with a tree that's so wide takes up half the living room and so tall that scrapes the ceiling, even after my dad chops a good chunk off of the bottom. (For a while we had several tracks of pine sap on the ceiling left from Christmases past. Seeing them always made me smile.) It was really nice being able to open up and talk about my family traditions with those girls, who I really spent a lot of time winning over this year. So I guess ultimately the thing I am most thankful for today are my students, who teach me just as much as I teach them. I do really care about my students, even the evil ones. Seeing them learn and grow and connecting with them is just one of the surprisingly rewarding things I have encountered this year.