I LIKE APPLE GREEN (6/25)
And the only shade of blue you wore when you made me realize there are people like you in this unfamiliar place.
Hello. It has now been a month and a day since Mella and I arrived Japan. A month has passed since we first set foot in this beautiful clean place they call Gunma.
A month has passed and yet everything still seems to be out of reach. Waking up and living each day seems like being reborn all over again. A whole new day = another new set of friends, new words, new food, new EVERYTHING. I was like opening a big gift from God every day. Every new box has new contents that never failed to surprise me and thank Him for them.
Let me tell you about the first month. I’ll skip the not too thrilling part, m’kay?
How did I feel when I first set foot on Japan? I felt scared…and hot. It was raining, but I didn’t feel the coolness of the outside inside Narita Terminal Airport. I felt scared because neither Mella nor I knew our way out of the airport. Everyone spoke in Nihongo. My basics weren’t that good, so what was there to rely on? Signs. Luckily, they weren’t written in kanji. We survived but I even felt scared when there weren’t any signs on who would pick us up at the airport. We stood still, hiding our worries that we may not be found…or we may not find the one finding us. We laughed at the thought that maybe we were just going to stand there…and maybe sleep over the night at the airport. Good thing, someone approached us. Good thing that person found us. Or else, I would’ve cried right there and then. Just kidding.
Anyway, one more thing you should know: it was A LOT colder outside the airport. I think it was around 20 degrees Celsius?
What was Narita like? I was shocked at the narrowness of the roads. At the same time, I had the impression that all the cars in Japan were white because I kept seeing white cars. That impression was broken the next day, when we were exposed to the larger areas on the way to Gunma-ken.
5.25. Shock and love at first sight. There was nothing but love when I was still on the bus. I thought, “I’ll be in this place for 10 months. I’d better love this.” And it was easy. Just looking at this clean place made me love it at first sight. It is the place I wanted to exist…and it did. There were bicycles everywhere. Even men wearing coat and tie rode bicycles. Roses were there on the front yard, and yet not even one flower was lost. No one takes it but its owner.
I got off the bus and that moment was shock. Why? Who wouldn’t be if the first person who greets you is a man and a camera? That’s…shocking. And culture shock. Who from the Philippines wouldn’t get troubled if you needed to change shoes just to enter the first room of the first floor of the first building of the school? It’s too near. And yet, CHANGE YOUR SHOES TO SLIPPERS. And after about 15 minutes, you change your shoes again, go outside, move to the next building, CHANGE YOUR SHOES AGAIN. That’s shocking. If our counselor did not exist, I might’ve gone back home because I’ve stepped my outdoor shoes inside the school building. What luck?
By now, I’ve mastered the art of changing shoes. And the art of getting annoyed at it. Almost every day, I complain. Yes, I do. I really do. Ang arts-arts, ehem.
5.26-27. Paranoid. Because all we did was sit, listen, go up the stairs, go down the stairs, eat at 12 pm, sit, listen, eat at around 6 pm or later, sit down, wait for your turn to use the bath, pray, sleep. I got paranoid that maybe I would die of bangungot. I can feel that the food doesn’t melt(direct translation of: Nararamdaman kong hindi na ako natutunawan ng pagkain.). I had the drive to finish the large obento because,duh, like they first said, everything given to us were paid by Gunma people and that we should make good use of everything, study hard, do our best, so on and so forth. So Mella AND I had the drive to eat all that we can…and end up finishing them all. The consequence was that there were no activities to burn all those food. Though, we still felt proud because among the others, we ate the most, ahahaha! Tell me, is it something to be proud of?
Paranoid. Because every 5 minutes, I would go to the toilet and pee. Come to think of it, I drank at least 4 BOTTLES of water a day during this period. I did not know why, but I drank a lot of water. Define A LOT.
Paranoid. Because everyone had the drive to study Japanese while Mella and I were sneaking up to the room, trying to have our own supply of laughing gas—eggroll. The tatami room was spacious. The futons were folded every morning. We had the space. So we took it for granted and did the eggrolls. The funny one. We promised we would study hard when our Nihonggo classes start. For that time, all we had in our minds were to roll…laugh…roll…and laugh.
5.28. We met our host families.
5.29. I secretly cried all day because of a disease you’ll have once in a while. My Okaa-san was the petite and slimmer version of my Nanay. Kamusta ka naman? Was I found out? Yes, I was.
5.30-6.27. All I needed were friends. You, reader ,should know the value of every single friend you have. I now know how it feels to live without every single one of mine. Mella was 2 trains away from me. The others were one airplane ride away from me. While you could still see yours and yet not realize their value, change your mind now. Every single one of them needs you to be happy. Every single one of them… you need them all to be happy. All I needed to be happy again were friends. And you’ll be amazed at how many we’ve made within just a month. One of the greatest findings for the first month: friends are essential.
6.24. A friend of mine cried when we unexpectedly met. We met again by chance. Where? In the most humorous place to meet-and-cry—the toilet. I was there by chance, preparing myself for the presentation. My one-week-long-lost-friend was there…because she needed to. I was sure she wasn’t there to meet me. But, we met. And she cried. Maybe because we both had low hopes of meeting again despite the fact that we were in the same country and in the same prefecture. But we met. She was the first Japanese friend to cry on me. My friends from her school were the first people I felt sad to be separated from, in the first place.
Practice, hopes, prayers, and perseverance. All you need are those things to be able to succeed. Believe. Believe the good things. And it will happen. He’ll give what we deserve. And Mella and I deserved to be praised and blessed during this day. It was the first time we performed in front of a big audience. It was the first time we showed the world what we’re made of. Every sweat and spill of water were worth it. Ask the tatami.
6.25. One of the people who will forever be remembered in this 10-month journey would be Tomihiro Hoshino-san. You’re wrong. We haven’t met each other. But I have encountered his works. Today, Okaa-san and I went to Tomihiro-san’s art museum. Tomihiro Hoshino was once a PE teacher in a junior high school. Due to an accident while training the school’s gymnastics club, he was then paralyzed from the neck down. He started painting in the hospital using his mouth to hold the paintbrush. Not only that, he wrote poems and essays, too. If you could have seen his first try writing using his mouth, you would possibly have teary eyes. I did. I saw his first trial on writing. To give you a clue on what it looked like, imagine my handwriting on my left hand. Remember, I am right-handed. Then if you would have seen his writing after 2 months, it would have been a lot better than my left-hand writing. It was as if it was truly written by hand. If you have seen those two, you could never have been motivated in your life. I felt as if I’ve been putting my life to waste these past 15 years of living. I had the urge to do something different. Something out of my capacity but even I can excel. But through his poems, he replied to me:
“What I can do is nothing great
If I can do it with a deep sense of gratitude,
That would be great.” – Little Berries”
6.15. I like APPLE GREEN and the SHADE OF BLUE you wore on this day. Thank you for opening my eyes that there are a lot more people like you in this place. Ever since then, you've helped me see the goodness in every thing in here. See you again、like you said. :D
Hello. It has now been a month and a day since Mella and I arrived Japan. A month has passed since we first set foot in this beautiful clean place they call Gunma.
A month has passed and yet everything still seems to be out of reach. Waking up and living each day seems like being reborn all over again. A whole new day = another new set of friends, new words, new food, new EVERYTHING. I was like opening a big gift from God every day. Every new box has new contents that never failed to surprise me and thank Him for them.
Let me tell you about the first month. I’ll skip the not too thrilling part, m’kay?
How did I feel when I first set foot on Japan? I felt scared…and hot. It was raining, but I didn’t feel the coolness of the outside inside Narita Terminal Airport. I felt scared because neither Mella nor I knew our way out of the airport. Everyone spoke in Nihongo. My basics weren’t that good, so what was there to rely on? Signs. Luckily, they weren’t written in kanji. We survived but I even felt scared when there weren’t any signs on who would pick us up at the airport. We stood still, hiding our worries that we may not be found…or we may not find the one finding us. We laughed at the thought that maybe we were just going to stand there…and maybe sleep over the night at the airport. Good thing, someone approached us. Good thing that person found us. Or else, I would’ve cried right there and then. Just kidding.
Anyway, one more thing you should know: it was A LOT colder outside the airport. I think it was around 20 degrees Celsius?
What was Narita like? I was shocked at the narrowness of the roads. At the same time, I had the impression that all the cars in Japan were white because I kept seeing white cars. That impression was broken the next day, when we were exposed to the larger areas on the way to Gunma-ken.
5.25. Shock and love at first sight. There was nothing but love when I was still on the bus. I thought, “I’ll be in this place for 10 months. I’d better love this.” And it was easy. Just looking at this clean place made me love it at first sight. It is the place I wanted to exist…and it did. There were bicycles everywhere. Even men wearing coat and tie rode bicycles. Roses were there on the front yard, and yet not even one flower was lost. No one takes it but its owner.
I got off the bus and that moment was shock. Why? Who wouldn’t be if the first person who greets you is a man and a camera? That’s…shocking. And culture shock. Who from the Philippines wouldn’t get troubled if you needed to change shoes just to enter the first room of the first floor of the first building of the school? It’s too near. And yet, CHANGE YOUR SHOES TO SLIPPERS. And after about 15 minutes, you change your shoes again, go outside, move to the next building, CHANGE YOUR SHOES AGAIN. That’s shocking. If our counselor did not exist, I might’ve gone back home because I’ve stepped my outdoor shoes inside the school building. What luck?
By now, I’ve mastered the art of changing shoes. And the art of getting annoyed at it. Almost every day, I complain. Yes, I do. I really do. Ang arts-arts, ehem.
5.26-27. Paranoid. Because all we did was sit, listen, go up the stairs, go down the stairs, eat at 12 pm, sit, listen, eat at around 6 pm or later, sit down, wait for your turn to use the bath, pray, sleep. I got paranoid that maybe I would die of bangungot. I can feel that the food doesn’t melt(direct translation of: Nararamdaman kong hindi na ako natutunawan ng pagkain.). I had the drive to finish the large obento because,duh, like they first said, everything given to us were paid by Gunma people and that we should make good use of everything, study hard, do our best, so on and so forth. So Mella AND I had the drive to eat all that we can…and end up finishing them all. The consequence was that there were no activities to burn all those food. Though, we still felt proud because among the others, we ate the most, ahahaha! Tell me, is it something to be proud of?
Paranoid. Because every 5 minutes, I would go to the toilet and pee. Come to think of it, I drank at least 4 BOTTLES of water a day during this period. I did not know why, but I drank a lot of water. Define A LOT.
Paranoid. Because everyone had the drive to study Japanese while Mella and I were sneaking up to the room, trying to have our own supply of laughing gas—eggroll. The tatami room was spacious. The futons were folded every morning. We had the space. So we took it for granted and did the eggrolls. The funny one. We promised we would study hard when our Nihonggo classes start. For that time, all we had in our minds were to roll…laugh…roll…and laugh.
5.28. We met our host families.
5.29. I secretly cried all day because of a disease you’ll have once in a while. My Okaa-san was the petite and slimmer version of my Nanay. Kamusta ka naman? Was I found out? Yes, I was.
5.30-6.27. All I needed were friends. You, reader ,should know the value of every single friend you have. I now know how it feels to live without every single one of mine. Mella was 2 trains away from me. The others were one airplane ride away from me. While you could still see yours and yet not realize their value, change your mind now. Every single one of them needs you to be happy. Every single one of them… you need them all to be happy. All I needed to be happy again were friends. And you’ll be amazed at how many we’ve made within just a month. One of the greatest findings for the first month: friends are essential.
6.24. A friend of mine cried when we unexpectedly met. We met again by chance. Where? In the most humorous place to meet-and-cry—the toilet. I was there by chance, preparing myself for the presentation. My one-week-long-lost-friend was there…because she needed to. I was sure she wasn’t there to meet me. But, we met. And she cried. Maybe because we both had low hopes of meeting again despite the fact that we were in the same country and in the same prefecture. But we met. She was the first Japanese friend to cry on me. My friends from her school were the first people I felt sad to be separated from, in the first place.
Practice, hopes, prayers, and perseverance. All you need are those things to be able to succeed. Believe. Believe the good things. And it will happen. He’ll give what we deserve. And Mella and I deserved to be praised and blessed during this day. It was the first time we performed in front of a big audience. It was the first time we showed the world what we’re made of. Every sweat and spill of water were worth it. Ask the tatami.
6.25. One of the people who will forever be remembered in this 10-month journey would be Tomihiro Hoshino-san. You’re wrong. We haven’t met each other. But I have encountered his works. Today, Okaa-san and I went to Tomihiro-san’s art museum. Tomihiro Hoshino was once a PE teacher in a junior high school. Due to an accident while training the school’s gymnastics club, he was then paralyzed from the neck down. He started painting in the hospital using his mouth to hold the paintbrush. Not only that, he wrote poems and essays, too. If you could have seen his first try writing using his mouth, you would possibly have teary eyes. I did. I saw his first trial on writing. To give you a clue on what it looked like, imagine my handwriting on my left hand. Remember, I am right-handed. Then if you would have seen his writing after 2 months, it would have been a lot better than my left-hand writing. It was as if it was truly written by hand. If you have seen those two, you could never have been motivated in your life. I felt as if I’ve been putting my life to waste these past 15 years of living. I had the urge to do something different. Something out of my capacity but even I can excel. But through his poems, he replied to me:
“What I can do is nothing great
If I can do it with a deep sense of gratitude,
That would be great.” – Little Berries”
6.15. I like APPLE GREEN and the SHADE OF BLUE you wore on this day. Thank you for opening my eyes that there are a lot more people like you in this place. Ever since then, you've helped me see the goodness in every thing in here. See you again、like you said. :D
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