The Earthquake, Roll Call

Ever since I was a kid, roll call has been one of my favorite parts of group work. The litany of call-response was very reassuringly to me. Whenever my friends and I go out, we always have a roll call or sound off of some kind to keep track of the group. Because everyone was scattered in the midst of daily activity, one of the first things that happened after the tremors stopped was to take roll call.

Just of few of the 40-some Wadaiko members
we needed to call roll for everyday

This was easy enough for my Wadaiko kids, who I was with at the time. After the first evacuation, we were able to call roll and establish that everyone was there. But getting a hold of someone outside of the area was more of a problem: the phone lines had been jostled, everyone was contacting each other at the same time, signals were down or lost, and there was too much going on at one time. I couldn't even call the girl standing right next to me. We went into a tizzy trying to contact everyone we could think of, find out how they were, where they were, and how they'd get home. After the major quakes, I started emailing my family, Gina in Thailand, friends studying abroad here in Japan, and and people who have been taking care of me here, like Mr. Spengler and my Wittenberg sempai. They all sent, but none of them arrived on time. My phone, too, wasn't receiving any of the emails sent then; it wasn't until 4-5 hours later that I began to receive messages from my friends.

As it turns out, my close friends and classmates are doing well and are safe now, but some had a more difficult time than others. Of course, the Wadaiko OYRangers (Alice, Jorren, Sarah, and I) were all together with my roommate, Miki, and the rest of the team when it happened. Thankfully, my best friend Gina was enjoying some amazing summer weather in Thailand wasn't in harms way in the slightest. My Zelkova Familia, however, were all across the board: Lia was in New York, Sho was in Virginia, Rei was in New Zealand, Ellie was in Hong Kong, Meghan was at the Starbucks near Musashi-sakai here in town, Yuta was driving near Yokohama, Matt H. was in the pool, etc. In the end, we were all accounted for and made it home that night, except for Mika, Jorren's sister, and Meghan's dad. It turns out Mika and her childhood friend had gone to Disney Sea (that place I was so excited about with the Soul Run kids) and they got stuck there once all the trains stopped running. She, her friend, the entire Disney Sea and Land staff, crew, and customers, were stuck there the rest of the day and into the next morning. They slept in a movie theater as the Disney staff scrambled to find bread and rice for people to eat (the local cafes, stores, and vending machines were all empty). Jorren's sister was visiting him from the Netherlands and arrived in Japan on the morning of the earthquake. She doesn't know Japanese or anyone else here, let alone have a phone, so he was terribly worried about her. Meghan's dad had come to visit her, too, but his company forced him to board the next flight to China when they found out there had been such a major earthquake, so they did not get to see each other before he left.

The girls organized the sofas into a nest with room for
2 girls per couch. Even at night, they left the TV on
in case a new development was announced.

Since then, we've been holding up together in groups, and the girls on my floor have been sleeping together in the lobby for the past few days and many of the foreign students have made camp in the first floor lobby. The Wadaiko team has been super paranoid about us always traveling with a partner, especially between cities. Meanwhile, some people have started to leave the country. My friend Elliott is the kid who usually has all the information, so I steal a peak at his blog every now and then for good links and up-to-date reports. He is currently on his way to/has arrived in Australia where he will be for the next two weeks. The rest of us are going to sit it out here. I'm keeping track of where everyone is, in the meantime. We are still on break for the rest of this month, so I don't have to worry about classes, homework, or tests. I'll do my best to get more information out there.

Keep us in your prayers.

The Earthquake on Friday

I know that I'm behind the times on my blog, and I will fix that, trust me, but this is breaking news!

As most of you now know, Japan was hit by a massive earthquake/tsunami mix on Friday. Truly, truly frightening! I can't really give all the facts, but those are swimming all over the news and internet now. At first they were calling it an 8.8 M earthquake, but said that Tokyo was only hit with a 5.5 M quake, but it seems these first numbers were inorrect. All I knew at the time was it was a big enough earthquake to make the Japanese scared, so that is saying something! After the first major shake, and many aftershocks, we all began rushing around for answers, damage, friends, and a safe place. I'll try to use these next few entries to share what it was like for me.

For the English version of the first Japanese report, click here
Read more about the earthquakes results here
View photos from the time of the quake here
See more photos here

Plum Blossoms

 A while ago, I was surprised to see a bunch of white fluffy things stuck to two of the trees in main field here. It wasn't snow or cotton, but it was still so cold out. I asked around and found out that these are the campus' plum blossoms which are notorious for blooming in late winter. They are so cute and they all cover the trees! They are such great flowers, I wish I could keep some. I couldn't get over the contrast between these soft little buds and the stark branches all around them. Hopefully some of these came out well, but I'm going to try and snag more photos later on.

The next exciting flower blooming time will be in April when all the cherry trees start up. ICU's main road is lined with cherry blossom trees, so I won't even have to travel very far to see some. Rumor has it, though, that everyone and their brother swarms our campus in the spring time to look at the flowers, so I might have to fight off an army of hanami (flower viewing) enthusiasts to get some good pictures when the time comes.

Zelkova Family Tree, the Basics

Just to warn you, this is a huge post with a lot of information! If you can't finish it all in one sitting, don't worry; this took me a few days to write.

Zelkova House is mostly for underclassmen here at ICU. That would explain the rather high security, strict regulations, and all the kids here under 20. But, for some reason, ICU decided that it would be a good idea to also open up the dorm to third year foreign students. Ummmm, lots of 21-something, party-loving, loud and proud, American students in a super-conservative, Japanese dorm? You really thought that was going to work? Hahahahaha!! It makes me laugh because it is numerous!

While I love my roommate and many of the other April students, it really has been a relief to have the other foreigners around. At first, I must admit, I wasn't too sure if I'd like anyone else here (my track record for making friends in my dorms has been pretty low), but during the fall term, a little group developed and started hanging out, eating out, talking, and doing a lot together. Most of the students are from Middlebury University, a language school in Vermont that I was interested in going to, but that was too, too expensive for me to think about for long. Then there is myself and a boy from Taiwan/New Zealand, but he's just here avoiding the mandatory army service for a while. The other students are 4 year regulars; most of them freshmen who grew up outside of Japan and now returned for college.

One of our members starting saying that we were like a family; something I normally find too clique, but it seemed to work here maybe due to some of the hostility from the Japanese students to our group. Pretty soon, we even started assigning family roles (mommy, uncle, sons) to the different people. I wanted to make a little family tree, but luckily enough one of the girls with more artistic talent than I beat me to it. (Note: I didn't draw it this way, but only the white or mixed kids have round eyes, but all the full-blooded Asians -Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean- have slanted/closed eyes. The one that says "Me!" is Mika, the artist.)

The relationships are all self explanatory, so let me introduce you to the family!

A baffled Matthew helping Yuta with English 

First, we have Grandfather Gan-san. His real name is Matthew, but Gan (or cancer) is just his nickname because he complained about getting too much sun on his unnaturally pale skin. He's rather tall, quiet, and timid, but a wiz at kanji! This boy knows words and kanji in Japanese that I haven't thought about in English for years. He is a huge Arashi fan, too (no, like you don't even know!) so I still get a frequent dose of boy-band banter with him.

Next is Lia, the mommy in the group. She is absolutely gorgeous, very responsible, a model student, and a grammar fiend! She'll make sure you speak good (I mean, well) if it kills you.  She's a great dancer and really fun in arguments because she never backs down. I love her fashion sense and she's always making sure we stay on task.

Elliott is smart-mouthed and cocky, but well informed and good to have on your side of an argument. You can't force this kid to do anything he doesn't want to. He's chill and usually practicing some new dance moves during class. His main interests seem to be his girlfriend, current events, and mocking/insulting his friends, mostly Kaze.

Kaze, Ellie, and Lia (left to right)

Kaze (really name is Tony?) is super quiet, Taiwanese film major whose studied and lived almost everywhere! We used to laugh at him a lot in Japanese class, but he's gotten much better now. He's also really sporty, swims, runs, and plays basketball. He usually takes care of everyone else at parties, and all the girls agree that he's such a gentleman and too sweet for words.

Ellie is so young and genki (really, I don't know where it all comes from), but this tall and thin Hong Kong model is such a good student and always has such nice things to say about other people. She dresses so well all  the time and is so curious about everything the group does or talks about. I am so jealous of her skin, hair, height, heart, everything! I'm so glad I met her!

 According to our family tree, Ellie's twin sister is Mika, who is sassy and surprising. I don't know when she's going to be quiet and when she's going to play music really loud! She did my mermaid-bubble make-up and is great with fashion, too. She has a way of making other people feel better and can calm down the boys after they get too rilled up.

Sho is the classic cool, no other way of saying it. He plays lacrosse, cuts class, is always in a constant "chill" mode, wears name brands, etc.; it continually surprises me that he and I are in the same circle. Elliott likes to rag on Sho for not being serious enough and partying too much, but that is just what he does. We've come up with a lot of nicknames for him, but my favorites have got to be "Shosuke" (a play off of "Ryosuke", a typical Japanese boy's name), "Feather Now Spring" (the direct translation of his name), and "Fo' Sho!"

Zelkova Family's "golden son" would have to be Rei. This kid can do lay down the law in Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, and cooking. I love listening to what he thinks about everything from the complications of life to the consistency of a pizza crust. He's really talented with films, directing, and impressions. Having him around always leaves me in stitches; either from laughing so hard or bending my brain around so new perspective he's shared with me. What is more, this energetic New Yorker has picked up the yo-yo as a new hobby and watching him practice some of his advanced tricks leaves me hypnotized most of the time.

Takana (not officially in the family), me, Kaze, Elliot, Lia,
Meghan, Jerry, Mikey (left to right)

Mikey acts as the uncle in our group. He's a wonderfully talented musician, who will hopefully be able to study abroad in California at a legitimate music school. The girls (myself included) always force him to play his guitar and sing for us until late into the night, sometimes even after his voice is dead. Sorry, Mikey! His family are professional Outrigger Hawaiian canoe racers and his arms are as big as my legs, I swear! He's usually practicing at the pool when he's not int he library, or trying to stop talking with us and get to either of those places.

Jin plays sister to both Mikey and Elliott in our family tree. She's our Korean beauty, very mature, and a fantastic cook! Sometimes she'll treat the group (well, okay, mostly Elliott who misses his mom's food) to spicy and tasty Korean meals with names I can't remember (I think "thug" was one of them?). She's a great dancer and was even learning Arabic dancing, which made me happy to hear. It is good to just sit and talk with her when I'm feeling stressed or fried  from too much drama. She has even offered to help me learn the Korean alphabet! To think, she's had to learn to speak two languages fluently and is practically fluent in Japanese too. What a smart girl!

Jerry is a great balance to Lia. In the family structure, he is my dad because is the only non-Asian guy we have in the group. He's loud (always) and is not afraid to let you know that you're wrong, so get used to it. He reminds me a lot of my high school friend, Mike; he loves languages, studying cultures, and getting into debates. He is a great source of knowledge for Asian music, especially Korean and Hamasaki Ayumi. Now, I thought that I enjoyed a good stroll, but Jerry loves walking so much, he's refused to buy a bike because he knows he'd rather walk somewhere instead. Power to you, Jerry.

If Jerry is Mike, that would definitely make Meghan Sophie (and Lia would be Rashmi, come to think of it. Would that make me, me? Or is there someone better suited for that position? Regardless.). Meghan and Jerry always go off on Spanish tangents since both of them grew up in Hispanic households, but their arguments look so lopsided since Jerry is so much bigger and taller than Meghan, although she's got enough spunk for both of them!

Then there is same old, same old Zaiton, the oldest cousin in the Zelkova family. Zaiton is the romanization (or latinization) of the Japanese pronunciation of the American version of my family name. I would have done the Arabic pronunciation but Japanese doesn't really have an "tuu" sound and anything close to it wouldn't be close at all. It is better this way, and I'll let you all know when I find the right kanji for it.

Yuta is the newest member to our group. He was always getting help from Matthew and then came over one night. He doesn't talk much, but we try to get him into the conversation From what we've been able to gather, he's wicked tall, plays on (or is the captain of) the volleyball team, and likes (among other artists) Justin Bieber. Hahahahaa, he'll learn. Yuta is one of the only April students who is willing or bold enough, not only to hang out with us at the dorm, but in public, too! He's really laid back, which is good for our group dynamic, but I worry that we might scare him sometimes. In the family system, he got to pick where he wanted to be, and decided to be Ellie and Mika's older brother (he specifically asked to be under Kaze and not Elliott).

That wraps it up for the current family members.Why mention all these characters now? Well, we constantly have family outings, dinners, and parties, so it is all preparatory knowledge for later stories and blogs. Sorry for making this so long, but it needed to be done. お疲れ様でした。Good work for reading all of this! I'll try to make the next ones short, sweet, and interesting.

Bonsai Tree

Since fall term, Mrs. Kaji and I have been meeting for weekly English-Japanese language exchanges, having tea and cookies, and reading books together. She knows that I like traditional culture, so she always gives presents and treats. But this week (starting from St. Valentine’s Day, actually), she and Mr. Kaji had to leave on family business, so I am taking care of….ready for this?....their bonsai plant. That’s right, the tree, I, and Miki are all living together in for this week. I introduced the tree to Miki and everything the first night I got it. Before she left, Mrs. Kaji gave me instructions on how to water it with this little spritz bottle once a day, but I think my room is too dry for the plant. After the first day, I told Miki,*この盆栽は私のこのがあまり好きじゃないと思うよ。もう四枚の葉が落ちたし、かじさんもいないから、盆栽は死にたいそうなぁ。(See, Anna? I use Japanese in daily life – might not be correct, but I use it). All I have to do is make sure this little tree lives until Mrs. Kaji gets back from her trip. She would be so disappointed if it died while she was gone! **今からもよろしくね、盆栽ちゃん。


*"I don't think this bonsai likes me very much. Because 4 leaves have already fallen and Mrs. Kaji isn't here, it seems like it wants to die."
**From now on, be good to me, little bonsai.