Wow, it has been so long since I have written a real post. A combination of being very busy and being more thoughtful of my online footprint is to blame. Since my last post a lot of cool stuff has happened. Here’s a taste:
- I got accepted to the Science Education PhD program at Columbia University in New York City and I am starting in September, 2016. I am beyond stoked. Also I am scared and could easily vomit at any moment if I think too much about money for school. Hopefully a PhD from an Ivy League university will be worth the heavy financial cost.
- I made a website like a real grown up professional person, complete with real grown up professional person photo www.chelseabrunner.com
- My mother visited me in Japan during the peak cherry blossom bloom.
Today I was visiting one of my special needs schools. I was helping the junior high kids learn the English words for different body parts. This was all well and good until we got to fingers. After we named the thumb and index finger, The JTE (completely innocently) stuck his middle finger up at me and said "What do you call this miss Chelsea?" I looked at him, laughed, and said "dame!" (Never/bad/don't do that!) He realized then what he was doing and started bowing for the next two minutes and apologizing while the other teachers teased him. So cute! I love that guy. He is one of the few very animated and comical sorts of teachers here. I felt bad correcting him in class but he has a really good sense of humor so it was fine. Really I just felt too awkward with all of the students holding their middle fingers up at once. Though, truth be told, by identifying the faux pas I probably only solidified the meaning for later mischief. Touché, cultural exchange. Touché.
When I signed on for JET, I was elated when I saw the “20 days of paid vacation” written in my contract. In Japanese, vacation is referred to as “nenkyuu.” As an American, I am used to just two weeks of nenkyuu, or about 10 days each year. Seeing this little snippet of contract gold gave more credence to my own selfish theory that Americans are some of the hardest working people in the world, whom I felt were often awarded the least credit for it (see the lazy American stereotype). However, if I’ve learned anything from this experience, it’s that my own worldview was (and still is) extremely limited.
20 days of nenkyuu is all well and good in writing, but the reality is that most Japanese people don’t use any of it. (OK, they might use a few days if they fall extremely ill and can’t come to the office. But, as a Japanese friend explained to me once, “I only stay home if I am really, really sick.”) In fact, Japan’s deep seated issues in the balance of family life (e.g. pregnant women are often demoted or fired if they return to work after childbirth), low birthrate, and a high suicide rate are all intertwined with the deeply revered, and expected, over-worked job culture in this country. In fact, the Japanese government is considering forcing people to take at least 5 days of vacation each year to try to ease some work-related stress.
My experience here as a temporary foreigner is obviously limited. But many of my coworkers come into the office at 6:30 AM and often don’t leave the office until nigh on 8:30 PM. In many positions this taxing schedule is expected and people here feel a great amount of social pressure to abide by those expectations. I am unendingly fascinated in the differences between the individualistic (Arrogant? Proud? Selfish? Greedy?) culture of America and the society-focused (Subdued? Suffocated? Stifled? Repressed?) culture of Japan. I wonder if there is a culture in the world that is the midpoint between the two?
I can tell you one thing, I use my nenkyuu and I don’t lose any sleep at night for it.
