Eye Opening Experiences in My Own Backyard
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2006
1
92
93
Trip End
Ongoing
Kobe, Kinki, Japan
Friday, May 23, 2008
I had a riot! And I learned a lot about Kobe. I visited temples, shrines, parks, lakes, rivers, stadiums, shopping streets, sought out fault lines, got free rides from strangers AND managed to take loads of pictures. But more importantly, I met many people and spoke Japanese for nearly two days straight. It was a great experience for me. The places in the book were all over my ward (Japan's system of breaking down areas- kind of similar to townships in the States) and I hadn't the slightest clue how to get to most of them, so I had to stop for directions- a lot.
I had a number of interesting experiences but would just like to share a couple.
Mystery man in the park:
At one point I approached Oike Lake where I was suppose to take pictures of a park. There were no signs locating the park, but I was pretty sure I was at the only lake in the area. So I walked up to an elderly man who was busy painting a picture of the beautiful scenery. In Japanese I asked him, "is this Oike Lake?" and he told me yes. As I was walking away he said, in perfect English, "Are you Brianne?" My mouth dropped. Here I am prancing around in a park no where near my home or school, scantly clad to work on my tan, and someone recognizes me?? He must have seen the shock in my face, because he went on to tell me his name. It didn't ring a bell until he took off his hat. Turns out, he's the substitute professor who comes to critique the young art teacher who just came to my school this year. He only comes once or twice a week, and we've never been introduced to each other- but I have seen his face 2 or 3 times. The fact that he knew my name, could speak English, and just happened to be painting a picture of the same lake that I was suppose to be photographing was eerily coincidental. After formally introducing ourselves, we continued to talk for a while. I was busy rambling away, trying to explain why I wasn't at school, and he offered advice about how to get to the most picturesque areas. Now when I see him I make sure to say hello to him (on the rare occasions that he comes to school.) I'm still waiting for him to bring in his finished masterpiece that he was working on that day at the lake.
Boy on the bus:
After a discouraging day out to the middle of nowhere to find fault lines that no one seemed to know even existed, I was heat stricken, and still feeling the effects of the virus that I picked up in India. I boarded a bus back to the station, and quickly became lost in my own thoughts as I stared out the window. I was thinking about the people who helped me out that day, or the people who purposely avoided me. I zoned in on people in general, and couldn't help but think that even though the world is small- people are NOT actually all the same at heart. I knew it was a bad thought to think, but honestly- people in different countries have different priorities, different thought processes, and different concerns. Part of me began to think that Japanese people (this is me thinking negatively AND over-generalizing here, my apologies) can be a bit heartless at times.
As I am thinking this an elderly man gets on the bus. I'm sitting in the back seat, three seats in, and cannot possibly offer him my seat without disturbing the rest of the passengers. There is a high school boy sitting next to me, and his mother is on the outside. She gets up, grocery bags in hand, and offers her seat to the elderly man. The bus ride is very shaky and instead of walking away, she takes him by the arm and guides him to the seat. I rarely see people give up their seats to anyone in Japan, and I ride packed trains at least twice a day if not more. It just isn't something that is done in Japan. If you get a seat, you keep it. School kids, men and women my age, it doesn't matter, people rarely offer up their seat. In the few instances that I have seen someone offer up their seat, I have never seen anyone do it with such care. Usually they just get up and walk away, or maybe motion at the free seat. But this woman nearly carried the man to the seat, groceries in hand, leaving her young, healthy son behind.
At this point I'm wondering what is wrong with this student that he didn't let his mom take his seat, or at least offer to hold the groceries. My negative attitude is not yet gone and I'm seeing the worst of this situation, not the better. He opens his bag and pulls out some form of sugar in a box. I watch him nonchalantly pop one in his mouth amidst all of us sardines packed into the back row. At this point I'm thinking mean thoughts, 'yeah, you just eat that sugar, you lazy little...' and at that moment he turns to me and offers me a piece of candy. I am dumbfounded. Not only do people never offer up their seats, but they never EVER share food with strangers. I could not believe my luck. I took the candy, not because I wanted to eat it, but because I didn't want to disappoint the boy who was breaking out of the norm to speak to the foreigner sitting next to him. I thanked him, and commented on how delicious the candy tasted. I tried to name the flavor, and mistakenly said buta instead of budo- although a single letter difference in Japanese, it changes the meaning from grape to pig. I quickly corrected my lazy tongue and he laughed, and said 'grape' in English. Yes, good~ now the excited teacher in me was coming out. I sat for a bit, savoring the taste, contemplating what I should say next, and what language I should use. Should I speak to him in Japanese so as to not scare him? Or should I say something simple in English, and let him practice what he has learned in school? But he was up and out of his seat before I had the chance, apparently the next stop was his.
I couldn't help but smile at how quickly a small series of events changed my outlook for the day. After my encounters on the bus, I was no longer thinking about my dehydration, my stomachache, or the fact that I had ridden 6 different trains and 2 different buses in the last 4 hours. Instead, I was thinking about the adorable little town of Murayama that I happened upon in the mountains. Turns out there are beautiful, quaint little areas of Japan existing right here in Kobe. I thought about the yummy popsicle, with actual chunks of grapes inside it that I had found to quench my thirst. But mostly I thought about how God is always looking out for us. He saw how my happy go lucky mood for the day had taken a turn for the worst. He realized, before I did, that I was no longer appreciating all the good things that had happened over the day and was instead stuck in a rut, assuming the worst. He knew this wasn't my style, and that it would be a shame to let such a great day go to waste. So he helped me out~ working through the people closest to me to bring me back on track.
Amazing!
