Arielle's knees jutted out at 45 degree angles in her trademark riding style
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Coming to America
First off, before I get back on-topic-as in address the subject heading--I'm curious what people think about referring to the U.S. as "the states." I obviously need to be less irritable about little things. Having laid the blame squarely where it belongs, nevertheless I proceed to my confession. When anyone says, "the states," it has a nails on blackboard affect on my ears. I understand the logic for not saying America, but isn't saying the U.S. good enough? Anyway, I should and do have far more important things to do than talking about my distaste for the current trendy way of referring to the U.S.
Vyda will arrive in America on July 15th. Tickets out of Japan go up quite drastically after the 15th. So poor Vyda will be on airplanes literally all day with a four year old and five month old. The good news: Four year old Arielle is an amazing travel companion. She flew from the U.S. to Korea when she was three months old and hasn't ceased to be anything short of amazing since that time. The not so good news: five month old Ryosei is a far cry, so to speak, from his older sister. When he's not having an unabashed tantrum/meltdown he's really a cute, friendly baby. But when he uncorks it he gradually ratchets up the intensity of the protest until he gets picked up or falls asleep.
Because of my contract I'm not flying out of Japan until August 1st. Vyda has seen her family once in the past five years (a year and a half ago), so obviously she's really looking forward to this opportunity. The rarer something is, the more the value seems to go up. So we definitely don't take visiting family for granted. We've lived in Asia for the past four years so we get a healthy dose of reverse culture shock when we re-enter the "states" (clutching my ears in agonizing pain).
August 21st we'll venture out to Hawaii since my grad school starts on August 24th. Recently, Arielle has been saying, "I have to go to schooled" ("I have to go to school" in standard pronunciation) to remind us that everyday she has kindergarten. So, in honor of Arielle, lately I've taken to proclaiming at random times throughout the day, "I have to go to schooled," while wishing my school was only $240 a month --including a school provided lunch on M/W/F--instead of easily ten times that!
Vyda is in charge of pictures and word on the street is that she should be fulfilling her part of the division of labor any day now, meaning it could easily be another couple weeks.
I just did a public guilt trip so maybe the pictures really will be posted any day.
I still want to make a few more posts about our life in Japan.
That's all for now.
Vyda will arrive in America on July 15th. Tickets out of Japan go up quite drastically after the 15th. So poor Vyda will be on airplanes literally all day with a four year old and five month old. The good news: Four year old Arielle is an amazing travel companion. She flew from the U.S. to Korea when she was three months old and hasn't ceased to be anything short of amazing since that time. The not so good news: five month old Ryosei is a far cry, so to speak, from his older sister. When he's not having an unabashed tantrum/meltdown he's really a cute, friendly baby. But when he uncorks it he gradually ratchets up the intensity of the protest until he gets picked up or falls asleep.
Because of my contract I'm not flying out of Japan until August 1st. Vyda has seen her family once in the past five years (a year and a half ago), so obviously she's really looking forward to this opportunity. The rarer something is, the more the value seems to go up. So we definitely don't take visiting family for granted. We've lived in Asia for the past four years so we get a healthy dose of reverse culture shock when we re-enter the "states" (clutching my ears in agonizing pain).
August 21st we'll venture out to Hawaii since my grad school starts on August 24th. Recently, Arielle has been saying, "I have to go to schooled" ("I have to go to school" in standard pronunciation) to remind us that everyday she has kindergarten. So, in honor of Arielle, lately I've taken to proclaiming at random times throughout the day, "I have to go to schooled," while wishing my school was only $240 a month --including a school provided lunch on M/W/F--instead of easily ten times that!
Vyda is in charge of pictures and word on the street is that she should be fulfilling her part of the division of labor any day now, meaning it could easily be another couple weeks.
I just did a public guilt trip so maybe the pictures really will be posted any day.
I still want to make a few more posts about our life in Japan.
That's all for now.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Feast or Famine
Right now we're obviously in the feast cycle of our blog. A blog binge, if you will.
Here's the last component of tonight's blog extravaganza: a short article I wrote for a local publication in Toyama, Japan. Maybe the title could be: Stereotypes Swept Away By a Flood of Data.
At the university I attended in Provo, UT Koreans made up the largest percentage of overseas students. Many of the Korean students I saw on campus wore glasses and seemed extremely driven to succeed academically. During my four years at Brigham Young University I probably interacted with less than 50 Korean students, yet that was enough for me to envision Korea as country full of similar looking people that wear glasses and that are consumed with studying and success, at the expense of their social lives and appearances.
After graduating, my wife and I ended up going to Korea to teach English and study Korean. The first thing that jumped out at me was the diversity in Koreans I hadn’t imagined. There were plenty of Koreans who didn’t wear glasses, dressed stylishly, and seemed to enjoy socializing just as much—if not more—than studying. There was far more diversity in facial features and structure than I’d realized (some faces seemed similar to Mongolian, some Japanese, some Chinese, and some I could tell at one glance were Korean). Before coming to Korea I didn’t remember seeing a handsome Korean guy or attractive Korean women. After setting foot in Korea amongst some 40 million plus Koreans, I quickly encountered plenty of both. I had made grossly innacurate sweeping generalizations based on a very small population sample. My sophomoric stereotypes quickly collapsed when more data came flooding in.
One of my favorite college professors said humans have a tendency to create categories in their mind, probably because it’s easier for the brain to process information that way. The brain has to work a lot harder to group every one you meet into an individual category, rather than lumping large numbers of people into a broadly defined category. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is another example of the easy way not being the right way.
It’s also tempting to bundle people from a certain culture into a one-size-fits all category since most of us by-products of our culture in many ways.
We have to be careful about the conclusions we draw. A family/marriage counselor I really like said, “Our beliefs become the filters through which we perceive our surroundings. Once a belief is in place, humans tend to search for evidence that supports their belief and dismiss or ignore evidence contrary to the belief.” For example, if I have the belief that Japanese people are inflexible, Americans are rude, or Koreans are hot-headed, I will hone in on inflexible Japanese people, rude Americans, and hot-headed Koreans. At the same time, even though I meet a few (or more than a few) flexible Japanese, courteous Americans, or calm Koreans, my brain will dismiss these as exceptions, rather than questioning whether my original belief is accurate in the first place.
The more people we meet from a culture or country, the more exceptions to our pre-conceived notions we’ll find. The better our language skills are and understanding of societal forces at work in a certain country, the more the communication channels with a variety of people from that country will open up, thus enlarging and diversifying our view of that culture and its people.
Here's the last component of tonight's blog extravaganza: a short article I wrote for a local publication in Toyama, Japan. Maybe the title could be: Stereotypes Swept Away By a Flood of Data.
At the university I attended in Provo, UT Koreans made up the largest percentage of overseas students. Many of the Korean students I saw on campus wore glasses and seemed extremely driven to succeed academically. During my four years at Brigham Young University I probably interacted with less than 50 Korean students, yet that was enough for me to envision Korea as country full of similar looking people that wear glasses and that are consumed with studying and success, at the expense of their social lives and appearances.
After graduating, my wife and I ended up going to Korea to teach English and study Korean. The first thing that jumped out at me was the diversity in Koreans I hadn’t imagined. There were plenty of Koreans who didn’t wear glasses, dressed stylishly, and seemed to enjoy socializing just as much—if not more—than studying. There was far more diversity in facial features and structure than I’d realized (some faces seemed similar to Mongolian, some Japanese, some Chinese, and some I could tell at one glance were Korean). Before coming to Korea I didn’t remember seeing a handsome Korean guy or attractive Korean women. After setting foot in Korea amongst some 40 million plus Koreans, I quickly encountered plenty of both. I had made grossly innacurate sweeping generalizations based on a very small population sample. My sophomoric stereotypes quickly collapsed when more data came flooding in.
One of my favorite college professors said humans have a tendency to create categories in their mind, probably because it’s easier for the brain to process information that way. The brain has to work a lot harder to group every one you meet into an individual category, rather than lumping large numbers of people into a broadly defined category. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is another example of the easy way not being the right way.
It’s also tempting to bundle people from a certain culture into a one-size-fits all category since most of us by-products of our culture in many ways.
We have to be careful about the conclusions we draw. A family/marriage counselor I really like said, “Our beliefs become the filters through which we perceive our surroundings. Once a belief is in place, humans tend to search for evidence that supports their belief and dismiss or ignore evidence contrary to the belief.” For example, if I have the belief that Japanese people are inflexible, Americans are rude, or Koreans are hot-headed, I will hone in on inflexible Japanese people, rude Americans, and hot-headed Koreans. At the same time, even though I meet a few (or more than a few) flexible Japanese, courteous Americans, or calm Koreans, my brain will dismiss these as exceptions, rather than questioning whether my original belief is accurate in the first place.
The more people we meet from a culture or country, the more exceptions to our pre-conceived notions we’ll find. The better our language skills are and understanding of societal forces at work in a certain country, the more the communication channels with a variety of people from that country will open up, thus enlarging and diversifying our view of that culture and its people.
Portrait of our life in Japan (one shot at a time)
A good friend recently requested a snapshot portrait of our lives in Japan. Little by little I hope to respond to the request.
One thing that is charming to me about Asia is the "Ma and Pa" shops. I'd much rather spend a little more money to support a little neighborhood bakery staffed only by a hard-working couple in their fifties or sixties than buy bread at a conventional grocery store. My heart goes out to these people that work all day at these little stores on the first floor of their home and seemingly barely make enough to stay afloat. It seems like they're just breaking even. My wife tells me I have a good heart but that I need to earn more money before I make this stand. When Vyda or I walk Arielle to her kindergarten in the morning we pass a strip of little Ma and Pa shops down the streets preparing to open for another day. Whether I ride my bike down this street in the morning, afternoon, or night I don't have much success playing the "I spy a customer game." In both Japan and Korea, especially Korea, age 65 doesn't seem to have a special meaning for most people. My wife and I always feel bad for old grandmas and grandpas sitting in a lonely, little shop, or on the streets, hoping to sell a little fruit, or for grandpas that drive a taxi all day for a meager wage.
When I was in Korea, sometimes people would illegally get on the subway and peddle dollar products with all the enthusiasm and conviction they could muster. I always admired them trying to make money probably one of the few, if only, ways they could and didn't mind paying a dollar or two from to time for the low-quality products they were selling just so they didn't feel like they were selling their dignity in vain.
One thing that is charming to me about Asia is the "Ma and Pa" shops. I'd much rather spend a little more money to support a little neighborhood bakery staffed only by a hard-working couple in their fifties or sixties than buy bread at a conventional grocery store. My heart goes out to these people that work all day at these little stores on the first floor of their home and seemingly barely make enough to stay afloat. It seems like they're just breaking even. My wife tells me I have a good heart but that I need to earn more money before I make this stand. When Vyda or I walk Arielle to her kindergarten in the morning we pass a strip of little Ma and Pa shops down the streets preparing to open for another day. Whether I ride my bike down this street in the morning, afternoon, or night I don't have much success playing the "I spy a customer game." In both Japan and Korea, especially Korea, age 65 doesn't seem to have a special meaning for most people. My wife and I always feel bad for old grandmas and grandpas sitting in a lonely, little shop, or on the streets, hoping to sell a little fruit, or for grandpas that drive a taxi all day for a meager wage.
When I was in Korea, sometimes people would illegally get on the subway and peddle dollar products with all the enthusiasm and conviction they could muster. I always admired them trying to make money probably one of the few, if only, ways they could and didn't mind paying a dollar or two from to time for the low-quality products they were selling just so they didn't feel like they were selling their dignity in vain.
Happy Dwarf
Apparently, recently Kobe Bryant's daughters have been calling him "grumpy dwarf" since he's been especially intense and irritable during this year's NBA playoffs. If Ryosei, our four and a half month old little guy, were to be assigned a seven dwarf nickname, I think "happy dwarf" would be the best fit. He does cry his head off some of the time but when he's calm and/or being held he's really smiley. Yesterday we took a day-trip--as in ALL DAY--to the U.S. consulate in Osaka, Japan to make his passport. We had to take passport pictures at a nearby photo shop. The photographer squeezed a little squeaky ball and Ryosei delivered a textbook response. He immediately looked in the direction of the ball and smiled. When he's nursing, except for unusual occasions when he's really hungry, he'll gladly detach and smile at anyone willing to engage him in conversation. Even when he's sleeping, he's been known to smile when you talk in a soothing voice to him. To him, his older sister Arielle is the greatest show on earth. Arielle is really the only one that makes him flat-out laugh. We like our happy little man.
Blog Drought
In my marriage relationship I’m the writer--as in I really like writing and my wife Vyda doesn't--so unless I step up our blog tends to stagnate. I know people visiting our blog have far better things to do that wait for an update from us; however, I feel bad when we're not rewarding friends for visiting our blog with new posts.
I thought I might start posting a few of my writings/musings. I actually plan on uploading a few tonight.
As for a family update, Arielle is now four. We've gone on a few fun bike rides lately. She looks really cute in her slightly oversized pink helmet. I’m still working with her on looking where she’s going, especially when she’s pedaling as fast as her little legs can carry her. Her observation powers have now progressed to the point where she can realize that we bought her bike fairly used and she sometimes benignly covets newer looking bikes as in, "why can't I have a bike like that?"
She also asks why everyone has a car but us (a very good question that my wife Vyda also raises from time to time, albeit with a little more force and impatience than Arielle). The answer to both the bike and car question is that I'm still in the process of trying to figure out how to "earn my family's bread by the sweat of my brow." We're hoping that my upcoming grad school/internship experience will equip me with the skills, experience, and connections I need to provide better “bread” than we’ve been scrounging on for the last four years.
More to come soon--as in later tonight.
I thought I might start posting a few of my writings/musings. I actually plan on uploading a few tonight.
As for a family update, Arielle is now four. We've gone on a few fun bike rides lately. She looks really cute in her slightly oversized pink helmet. I’m still working with her on looking where she’s going, especially when she’s pedaling as fast as her little legs can carry her. Her observation powers have now progressed to the point where she can realize that we bought her bike fairly used and she sometimes benignly covets newer looking bikes as in, "why can't I have a bike like that?"
She also asks why everyone has a car but us (a very good question that my wife Vyda also raises from time to time, albeit with a little more force and impatience than Arielle). The answer to both the bike and car question is that I'm still in the process of trying to figure out how to "earn my family's bread by the sweat of my brow." We're hoping that my upcoming grad school/internship experience will equip me with the skills, experience, and connections I need to provide better “bread” than we’ve been scrounging on for the last four years.
More to come soon--as in later tonight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)