In the Spring Time, the Only Pretty Ring Time . . .

 “. . . when birds do sing / hey ding a ling ding / sweet lovers love the Spring.”

I’ve been singing this ditty from Willy Wonka (stolen from our friend Will Shakespeare) for the past few weeks. It’s because it’s actually SPRING here, finally, after The Long Winter. Gunma actually has SPRING like God intended: warm, sunny days, periods of rain, and cool (but not chilly) nights. I used my heater once in a while up until the beginning of May, but since then, it’s been nice enough not to need it. My only complaint is Gunma wind, which whips around with a tornado force and sends my hair flying in my face and almost topples me on my bicycle, but when it’s calm, the weather is perfect. I feel so lucky.

Today after I failed my driver’s license test (more on that later; it needs its own post), I went to Mitsudera Park to write letters and study the ol’ Nihongo. I kept looking up, though, from my perch on a wooden bench, to the beauty that was all around me: the evening sun sinking into the pond, the flowers, the green grass, the waterfall, my students passing by in their bright blue uniforms (haha), and thought to myself, “I am so lucky.” Spring is so beautiful!

Side note: While I was sitting there studying, I heard feet behind me and a man’s voice saying, “Benkyo? (Study?)” I nodded without looking up and he guffawed loudly, coming around to the front of the gazebo. There were actually two of them, in their 40s or 50s, wearing painter’s clothes and smoking cigarettes. “Can we come in?” First Guy asked, and I said, “Dozo.” I wasn’t particularly scared—it was still light out and they seemed harmless enough—but I wasn’t particularly sure what they wanted, either. The more we talked, though, I began realize that they were just two country guys taking a walk in the park after work, and weren’t going to chop me up into little pieces and eat me (although that one guy was missing his top four front teeth, which made understanding a little difficult). But I was happy to notice that we were talking relatively smoothly in Japanese. And even when No Teeth’s cell phone rang and he answered it, I understood about 90% of what he was saying (“I was just taking a walk in the park . . . did you finish work? . . . I met this nice girl who teaches English . . . can you speak English . . . ?” etc.) punctuated by loud cackles. OK, so our conversation was really easy, but it was able to happen! I wondered how a Japanese girl studying in NC would feel if the men at Southern States (before it burned down) started up a conversation with her. Would it be hard for her to understand their country accents? 

Back to the spring, though: Last Saturday and Sunday were both as gorgeous as today was. I’m happy I was able to spend almost the entire two days outside soaking up the sun and the sky.

On Saturday, my friend S from Canada invited a good 20 or 30 people to a park in Shibukawa for what was deemed an EPIC BBQ. And it lived up to its name! I ate a hamburger, a couple of bites of steak (shared between four or five of us), assorted marinated meats, grilled corn on the cob and peppers, and lots of snack foods. Too bad I missed the chicken—it was all over before I got there—but I will not complain.

Among the guests were a Japanese woman and four or five kids between 4 and 10. After we ate, I spent the rest of the afternoon with them and a few ALTs, playing “Duck, Duck, Goose” (I forget the name, but it involves dropping a handkerchief into the goose’s hands), “Freeze Tag,” (Koli Oni), “Hide and Seek,” (forgot that name too), and “Red Light/Green Light.” It’s lovely that children’s games across the world are the same. How did that happen? I taught one girl Miss Mary Mack, and she in turn showed me the Japanese version, which is a little more complicated and whose story I couldn’t follow at all. We played on the monkey bars and the slides, and soared down a 20-foot long zipline, too.

Later on, our group joined forces with the group of older Japanese men at the table next to us. We all shared our food and got a bite of everything. Then we started an epic Frisbee game with five Frisbees and 15 people, adults and kids. Luckily no child got a black eye, so I consider it a success. Frisbees apparently promote internationalization, which is what JET is all about!

I stayed till almost 6:00 p.m.; afterwards, I went with six guys to an onsen nearby. They all disappeared into the men’s section for two hours, and I soaked alone in the women’s one for about thirty minutes. Onsens can be so relaxing, but nerve-wracking too when you feel like everyone is staring at you and you can’t stare back because you don’t have your glasses on. I just crashed when I got home; being in the sun all day and then in the hot springs made me sleepy.

On Sunday I returned to Maebashi Catholic Church for the first time since Easter, this time with my friend H from Colombia/Australia. The church only has one Spanish-speaking mass a month, and I had been wanting to go for a while! I can’t describe the happiness I felt when I walked in and saw the smattering of brown-skinned Latin American folk and heard them chattering in español. I felt so at home! There weren’t too many attendees, 20 or 25 at the most, but it was good because I could meet most of them afterwards. Almost everyone was from Colombia, Venezuela, or Peru, plus three nuns from Spain. The priest was Colombian, too, even though his white skin and reddish hair made him look Irish to me. Everyone except the priest had been living in Japan for the past 10-20 years, raising their families here. Having fluent conversations in a language besides English made my day: I haven’t forgotten Spanish yet!

In the afternoon, I met my friend M in Maebashi Park, studied some more Japanese, and threw around the Frisbee some more. It was so relaxing.

These are my favorite weekends: no huge trips anywhere, nothing complicated, just enjoying the weather and friends. I feel so grateful. 

Look for my next few posts about the driver's license debacle, and a list of all the food I want to eat when I go home this summer.