Thinking about my country...



Messages of encouragement from my colleagues



    It has been a month since the earthquake and tsunami attacked the northern part of Japan.  The day after I heard the news, I departed for Argentina to see my brother. Visiting Patagonia with him was what I had been looking forward, and I enjoyed the trip.  My brother is not a chatty person, but we shared some thoughts and talked a lot about childhood memories during the trip.  The nature of Patagonia was magnificent, and even a touch of it was quite impressive.  I liked Los Graciares and the nearest town Carafate, which seemed to me a small village of Canada: cute little houses with long trianguler roof and chimney, poplar trees, water birds on the lake, pleasant fireplace, beautiful glaciers and their crumbling on the lake.  I also enjoyed Peninsula Valdés and Puerto Madryn: long shore, quiet beach, sea breeze, waves lapping on the shore, the changing colors of the skies, collecting sea shells, and the close watch of wild sea animals. 

     But at the same time, the trip was depressing.  I couldn’t help watching the news on the television everyday and thinking what the hell I’m doing while so many people in my country are suffering from the damage.  It was ridiculous and I knew that. I am too far away to do anything anyway and feeling bad does not help anybody. I often wondered whether I could feel a little better if I had been working in the office, not traveling.  Maybe.  But now I think what I have been feeling is the fear and anxiety of what would become of my country, which seemed to be so safe and sound.  I realized how much I was dependent on the belief that nothing would happen to Japan and I always have a place to go back. 



     March was a bit gloomy from the beginning in spite of the pleasant days of the carnivals since some very good friends of mine left Tarija and I still could not get over a certain incident which made me lose confidence in whom and what to believe.  I was trying to distract myself and expecting the trip would help me change my mood.  Then came the news of the earthquake and I was totally knocked off.  Coming back from the trip, I had a prolonging fever and bad stomach.  I felt like crying but couldn't.  It was the worst days since I came to Bolivia. 

  Things slowly started to change then.  Since the carnival was over, the schools are more or less back to normal and become ready to work on my project.   The project I prepared is quite simple: to make a school sustainable as much as possible by creating a system of cleaning, classifying and recycling garbage.   The life in Bolivia is really simple compared to that in Japan or any other "developed countries".  Most of the trash here is kitchen garbage.  People are used to reuse the products which we just throw away without thinking.  Many of them still use quite old electronic appliances, and naturally reuse the nylon or the containers of yogurt or cafe for other things.   Moreover, talking about the environment is almost like a fashion.  People do know that they have to take care of their "madre tierra" which is newly written in the law, and throwing away garbage is not good.  But when you walk the street, it is likely to see taxi drivers throwing plastic bottles from the window, and if you go to school after snack time, the play ground is full of trash.  It seemed to me that they just do not have the habit to practice what their head already knows.  

    

     As a Japanese it was natural to come up with the idea to introduce the cleaning hour to school (in almost all schools in Japan, the students clean their classroom as well as the place they normally use such as bathroom, library and play ground), and I decided to classify garbage into three: papers, plastics, and others which cannot be recycled in Tarija.  If the school offered fruits as a snack, it would be kept in other box to make compost.  It took long time to actually put whole idea into practice.   One reason is that I needed to get the understanding of the principal, teachers and parents, and then I can start working with the students.  Another is that I did not present a concrete plan for the school to follow: partly I just couldn't, and partly I didn't intentionally since I wanted to do it with the principal and teachers.   Schools in Bolivia are half a day.   Many schools share the same building in the morning, afternoon, and sometimes at night.   Many teachers work in two or three schools.  Often the principals in the morning are different from that in the afternoon, which makes things more complicated.  But little by little I could establish my own know-how.   In four schools where I mainly work, I am starting to prepare the students to make the system work in cooperation with teachers, and meanwhile they arrange the garbage can for their classroom.  JICA helped me buy the trash containers to keep the classified garbage till the recyclers comes and picks them up.   I am hoping when teachers become interested in the project and understand how to start it, they can apply it to other schools they are working in.  

    



     Being busy and concentrating on the work really helped me to get over this depressive moments.  After all that is the reason I am here, and the only thing I can do now.    Nothing is more joyful than meeting the interest and enthusiasm shown by Bolivian teachers.   I really appreciate to the teachers I am working with and hope we can see the whole system work by the end of this semester.   Again the people I see in Bolivia do not consume as much products and energy as we do.  But they will in near future, actually quite soon as the trend of globalization is so strong and dominant.  I hope they are well prepared for that and they are not going to make the same mistake as we did.

      This morning when I was watching CNN news, a caster casually said Japan would be out of world economy for a while.   I was a bit shocked.  Indeed there is less and less news about Japan these days.  Again what would become of my country?  Japanese Internet news keep reporting the continuing aftershocks,  problems of nuclear plants in succession, the radioactive pollution and the damage by the groundless rumor.   So many difficulties lie ahead of us.  Socially, economically, politically, psychologically...      

     However, among the sad, anxious news, there are always positive, encouraging ones.   So many countries all over the world have sent supporting groups to stricken areas, raised donation, sent messages, and been doing what they can do.    A famous singer said, "Japan has always helped other countries.  Now it's time for us to help Japan", and has been raising donation through her concert.   And she is not the only one.  Many Japanese enterprises are sending their products to the stricken areas, and some announced that they will help the children who lost their parents.  

     There are lots of news on how people in stricken areas are trying to recover: school children made newspapers with the messages sent to them and distributed to the community; the owner of the jazz bar who lost everything but wish to reopen his shop to encourage people received many old records from all over Japan; all the shops in one town posted messages of encouragements on show windows; people keep bringing purses with cash in it into the police station...   So many praises are being sent from the world to the hospitality and patience those people has shown.    This is the most important.  Whatever happens to Japan, if people could have hope, could care about each other, could unite to overcome this difficult time, everything will be OK.  

         
        Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies. "The Showshank Redemption"



El Cumpleaños en Tarija

I feel just the same way!

     February 26, the day of my birthday. For a long time I haven’t really celebrated my birthday.  Just a dinner with a few friends, and my mother would cook something special in the weekend. That was it. Always we had an exam period in the beginning of March, and had been busy preparing for it.  Never had I really been in a mood to celebrate.

     This year I had no idea what my birthday would be like, but kind of knew that it would be a special one. I spent my birthday away from Japan twice in my childhood in the States and 3 times in Canada or Mexico. Every each of them was very unique because of the cultural difference. In the States, it was the day I felt very special about myself and was the highlight of my golden days. In the morning I received a present from my parents, and my mother would bake a small cake for each of my classmates. I got lots of cards and small gifts during a party in the classroom. In the afternoon some of my best friends came over to the house with their parents. We went playing in the snow or skating on the pond behind our house. When the cold got unbearable, we went back to the house where all the parents were drinking and chatting, warmed up ourselves in front of the fireplace, had a cup of hot tea and a birthday cake, and opened presents. The birthday in Canada was the first time I ever hosted a party in my house, and that in Mexico was the only time my friends hold a surprise party for me.

     On the morning of 25th, my colleagues started talking secretly behind me. I knew what was going on since we did the same thing to my counterpart Ilsen 3 months ago and was asked the day before if I would be in the office in the morning. But I just kept pretending not realizing anything. At 10:30, all the colleagues gathered around the table and I was called. The “Saice”, typical dish of Tarija, was prepared on the table. The oldest colleague, Nora who is always making jokes and fooling around, made a small speech for me, and in a minute we were busily moving our mouth. The Saice, a spicy minced meat with pasta and dried potatoes was one of my favorite dishes and was really good. Afterwards everybody came to hug me and wished me for a good year.

     In the afternoon on that day I got a call from Gabriel, a family we got to know a while ago who had lived in Japan for 5 years. He asked if I would be busy on Saturday. He wanted to hold a birthday party for me. I said I had another plan, a little confused and overwhelmed. He said no problem, telling me we could do it on Sunday or the next weekend. And then on our way back home my counterpart Ilsen invited me for lunch on Saturday to celebrate my birthday. Again, confused and overwhelmed, I had to tell I had another appointment. I am still not very much used to Chapaco’s ways of making plans in a very last minute.

     A week ago, when I was visiting my friend Mauricio, he invited me to come to see his friends from France in the weekend. When he said February 26, the word slipped out of my mouth without thinking, and I was telling him it’s my birthday. I felt ashamed afterwards. He was surprised and then happily told me we could have a welcome party for his French friends, farewell party for an American couple, and a birthday party for me altogether. That was a nice idea. The decision was made and I was going to spend my birthday at Mauricio’s. I kind of liked the idea because the Mauricio’s house was where I met David, and got to know Jeni, and could socialize with other travelers all over the world. It was also nice that the party was not all for me, and everybody had a reason to make this day special.

     In the morning of 26, I woke up around 5:30. The sky was pinkish ready to start a new day. I went out into the fresh air to join my first class of yoga in Bolivia with Jeni. It was a wonderful way to start a day. The yoga class lasted 90 minutes, and was refreshing and relaxing. After the class we went to the Mercado central to have a breakfast of pastel and a cup of mate. Then we parted, and I went back home to take a shower. Olga was there waiting for me. She hugged me warmly, and gave me a beautiful pairs of pendant and earrings. We had a coffee and small cookies made of yucca as my second breakfast, which her sister had sent from Beni.

     At 11, Jeni came to pick me up to see the warms which I have been raising for more than 2 months to use in my project.  Olga always teases me by calling them “your daughters”.  I think my daughters are quite happy since they are much bigger and started laying what look like eggs.  We walked to Marucio’s place, talking about our new experience in the day of ComPadre.

     When we got to Mauricio’s, there was nobody except Mauricio. The American couple, Rachel and Nick was gone to buy meat and use the Internet.   We greeted and Mauricio said, "Happy birthday".  We had a cup of coffee, my second for a day, but this time not an instant Nescafe which is commonly used in Bolivia, but a real coffee made with Italian coffee maker which Mauricio brought from Italy. While Jeni was doing her laundry, I read a book. I felt so relaxed and sleepy, and eventually dozed off a bit. French couple, Helene and Nicolas, came but left to find out the party was not ready to start. It happened that friends of Mauricio who supposed to arrive on lunch time was late because of the delay of the plane, so we decided to have a quick lunch, a pasta with a tomato sauce. Rachel and Nick came back, and Mauricio left to pick up his friends and to buy some more meat. While Jeni was clearing the place to do a parillada, a barbecue, I made a salad. And then we went out to buy some bottles of wine. Helene and Nicolas arrived with more wine, and we started drinking and chatting.

     At around 4 o’clock, friends of Mauricio arrived. Mauricio, looking very happy, introduced them to everybody and started to prepare the meat and my favorite chorizo. Both the meat and chorizo were really good.  I ate too much as usual and could barely move. The common language at the table was Spanish, but there were French and English, too. I often got confused which language I was using; English or Spanish. Of course, French was out of question.

    When everybody finished eating, I started to prepare for a tea ceremony which Mauricio had been asking to do for a long time. I told them before the tea they had to eat something sweet, and when I turned around there were a cake of zucchini bathed with chocolate and peanut butter cookies which Rachel and Nick made. Everybody said, "Happy birthday", and I felt a bit shy but very very happy. Then first to Mauricio I made a tea in a simplified version of Ryakubon, a simplest version of the tea ceremony, followed by his friends Cecil and her husband, Lionel. I told them how to drink and what to say before drinking. A French guy Nicolas who told me he has been practicing Jyujyutu (shamefully I was not quite sure what it was exactly), was very much interested in the philosophy behind the tea ceremony, so I told him a brief history and the meaning. Doing and talking about tea ceremony made me miss the meditative moments I had at my teacher’s house in Kyoto practicing the tea ceremony.

     So my birthday turned out to be really nice and special. David called just before I started a tea ceremony when I was waiting for the water to be boiled, and some friends called, too, including my new friend, Durvyn. I liked the warm atmosphere of the place that people talking here and there. The American, Nick, who does not like a big group of people according to Rachel, was coming and going, and I, who can hardly mange a group of more than 5 people and often feel awkward, saw it favorably. People have their ways to enjoy their time even in a public environment, and I am slowly beginning to realize it. I began to accept myself who usually got very reserved in a group, and laern to enjoy and feel at home just being in a group listening to people talking.

     It was quite late when I made a last tea for a friend of Mauricio, Claudia. She asked me how old I have become, and when I told her, she was almost falling off the chair. I was by now quite used to the Bolivian's reactions when they knew my age, and could casually tell that I knew she was surprised and that when I went to school, the students saw me as the same age as them. I always looked younger than my actual age even in Japan and secretly felt happy about it, but here in Bolivia it was just too much.  Not liking to see their surprised reaction I have often lied my age. I know I look young mostly because of my face, which is a heredity (all of my relatives look comparatively young for their age), but sometimes I can not help thinking that it is probably because I have not achieved anything which I should have at my age.  However, I knew deep in my heart it was just a stupid idea.  The most important is my attitude toward life: I love what I'm doing, I have an interest in the world, I'm learning to accept any kind of change, and I have a hope for the future.  Claudia happened to be working in PROMETA, a NGO which I have once visited soon after my arrival to Tarija looking for information and the opportunity to collaborate. We promised to get in contact.


     I got home about 10:00, feeling tired but happy. Olga was waiting for me and told me to have lunch at home tomorrow since Elvira and her husband Wolfgang would come with their daughter Carina who is almost at the same age of me. Miguel came to say "Happy birthday" as well , and told me Maria Lilia was looking for me to give a present and would come tomorrow for the lunch.

     The next morning, I went to the Mercado central again to have breakfast with Jeni, Rachel and Nick. We had two pastels and one Sopaipilla, a deep fried pastel with honey, along with a cup of coffee and mate. Rachel and Nick were leaving to Salta afterwards, and I asked them to let me know how much time and money they needed to get there.  I wanted the information for my trip to Argentina to meet my brother. After the breakfast, I went to café Nougat to use the Internet with my computer. Since the American who used to live upstairs left, I did not have the Internet at home. Some friends sent me birthday messages, and it was nice to read them. Luckily my mother was awake and we could enjoy talking for about an hour. March 1 is her birthday, and we used to celebrate our birthdays together. We talked about how we are, how I spent my birthday, if she got my present, if I got her present (I have to go to the post office to see if it arrived!), how my brother and I are planning our trip to Argentina, what was happening in Egypt and Libya, and in China influenced by them… I went back home satisfied, to be ready for my second birthday party. It was a great weekend; one of the most memorable and relaxing birthday in my life.