The Change of Seasons

...and another summer is over. My how things change! It's finally cooling off a little here, just in time for my school's yearly festival. The girls have been preparing for weeks, decorating their homerooms, painting signs, and practicing the performances they'll give, and it's just now soaking in that this will be my last one. Plus, my kids that I've taught since I arrived are graduating in March and I can't imagine what it'll be like here without them! When I got here, they were 3 months into their first year, so pretty much, I've been here since they started high school. And I still feel like I just arrived.

Last month I participated in the orientation for the newbies here in Saitama. Since I was older than most of the kids who came when I did, now I feel like an old woman compared to them! These kids, 22, 23, and 24 year olds, have so much enthusiasm and passion, that I can't bear to imagine how one or two years here will change that. Don't get me wrong, I'm still here after more than 2 years, so there's gotta be something good about it, right?! The real pity is how little we can do to make a difference. In the end it comes down to that story about the old man on the beach after the storm. You know that story, right? The storm washed hundreds of starfish ashore, and as a young man comes down to the beach, he sees the old man picking up starfish one by one and tossing them back into the sea. The young man says, "What are you doing? There are hundreds of starfish on the beach. How can you imagine you'll even make the smallest of differences?" And the old man picks up a tiny starfish and sets it in the tide as it rolls onto the shore, and as the water carries it away, he says, "It made a difference to that one." Every morning I wake up, and think, "Do I really have the energy for all this today?" Then at the end of the day, looking back on the lessons I taught and the students I talked to, I have to smile because what I do is so much more than teaching English. I allow students to get a glimpse of another culture, another way of life, and it makes every single thing worth it. Obviously, I'm feeling rather sentimental - as always happens in fall.

I just finished reading the most amazing book, "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It tells the story of King Arthur from his sister's perspective, and allows the reader to see what life was like for women in the time of kings and knights. It's almost 900 pages and took me days to read, and during that time, several people asked me if I had a cold. I responded that I didn't and asked why. And they said that I was talking differently - my voice was different. And I understood that when I was reading the book, I was in a different place, as if I was somehow in the book and part of the story. And when I took a break, it was as if I was then in a dream world, still in the book, and that my real life was not real. It was rather surreal, if you can imagine, and things that normally would seem aggravating or important weren't so. Nearing the end of the book, I almost didn't want to finish it because I was afraid the calm that came from reading and contemplating might disappear when I was finished. Now that it is finished, I can feel the dreaminess drifting away and I miss it. Strange, that a book can do that. When I was a kid and we thought about the future, we imagined that there wouldn't be books anymore, but everything on computer. Thank goodness that isn't true! Books allow us to develop our imagination and create a place for us to go to relax, laugh, or even cry, in order to add color to our lives.

Back to reality, this summer was busy with no fun trips, but lots of business trips. I look forward to being home in Iowa for 2 weeks around Christmas and New Year's and seeing family and friends I haven't seen since last summer. I want to take this chance to congratulate my friends Michelle and Richard and wish them all the happiness in the world with their new spouses. I know that although life tosses us some trying situations, both of these people have wonderful futures ahead of them and I wish them all the best.

Until my next episode...
shar