Choices
Yeah, I'm sitting in my apartment after ditching work a bit early. I'm contemplating going to Japanese class or staying home. I've just come down with a cold, seems like everyone is sick right now. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and I'm still beat. I thought that seemed ridiculous until I considered the sickness factor.
Maybe it's the full stomach of udon, but I really don't want to move. I figured my buddy would be calling me now asking if I'm coming or not, but nothing. So, I bet he's ditching class too. That's hardly motivating. Plus, I have 4 classes tomorrow, the 1st ever English club, and Japanese class after that. Ugg. Wednesdays are busy.
Anyway, I'll have to decide soon.....
Wow! I must be tongue tied
Crazy, it's been almost 10 days since I've last posted. Am I dead? In a ditch? In a serious bender? Could be. I've got all these fuckin' lesson plans that I should be doing...and it's starting to kill me. Work?! What?! You pay me to do something other than be cute and charming (snicker). Clearly not....
I started classes last week--okay, I only had 1 class all of last week, but still.... I'm so tired. I'm not used to working (crybaby, must be rough). And this week...all of my classes. So tiring. I'm trying to learn everyone's first name. (I didn't even have all the students memorized from before, so I have to work on their names too. A total of 840 students' names plus teachers that are either new or I didn't know before either. So, perhaps about 900 names--Japanese names of course.)
Well, off to bed so I can be on the bus by 7 am. Fuck.
Definitions....
One of my sensei's asked me today what being an American means. I didn't, and still don't, have an answer for that. I guess ever since I've been here, I've thoroughly contemplated said question. I realize all too well how "American" I truly am. So, what does it mean?
I always hated it when people said that America is the country with the most freedom. Is it really? How do you define freedom? You can't drink alcohol on the streets--you can here. You can't smoke dope, shoot heroin, or snort coke--can't you in the Netherlands? No swearing on the radio--what was that 1st amendment again? Then there's the Patriot Act. How frickin' patriotic. Yeah, as I will continue to point out "Freedom defined is freedom denied."
So, is being free only something Americans experience? I don't think so. Being American doesn't mean that you were born in America or that you are genetically from a certain group of people. Not like being Japanese. You must be GENETICALLY Japanese--5th generation Koreans will never be "Japanese," although there are Japanese citizens that aren't Japanese (haven't completely figured out what that really means). Hell, you don't even have to speak English.
Bottom line, I have NO IDEA what the definition of being American is. NONE. Anybody can be American.
