Am I becoming Japanese?

Today as I was reflecting , I realised that I have acclamatised myself to Okinawa. Here are 10 areas of progress:

1. The cars that I originally thought were small are now "normal size" in my eyes

2. The Cherry Blossom that was lighting up the place with its pink flowers, shade those flowers and I didnt notice until today!( May be I could be typically Ugandan on this:)

3. The Family Mart store seemed like miles away but now feels like a walk next door.

4. Sleep now comes naturally..no more begging.

1. I can now walk around without my famous green jacket, neckscarf and gloves!

6. I can confidently say "Ohayo Gozaimasu" ( Good morning) without fearing that I will accidently replace it with " Okinawa gozaimasu"

7. I can comfortably use chopsticks when I eat.

8. I no longer badly need a glass of water after I have climbed the over 87 staircase to my dormitory.

9. I slip some Japanese words such as abunai ( dangerous), yasai ( vegetables), takai ( expensive) into my vocabulary

10. And lastly, I can with EASE write my first name in Japanese!! Hooray

Kids will be Kids

A little boy dressed in blue jeans and a cream tshirt kept staring at me. I guess he had been doing so for a long time but I hadnt seen him.

When I noticed him, he started pretending that he wasnt peeking! Whenever I would look his way, he would fix his eyes to another spot and pretend to be concentrating. However, his little black pupils kept betraying him as they darted back to me every two seconds! He looked so cute.. I kept smiling. And this was a cue enough for him to abandon his pretence and hide his little head in his father's lap:)

All this little drama happened when my group together with two of our instructors were on an observation tour to one of the neighbouring cities called Nanjo. After we had visited the Health Promotion Section in the Department of Welfare. And learnt of the health promotion activities that the city has. The city administration is battling with controlling "lifestyle diseases" such as diabetes. And is using a kind of a Village Health Team scenerio to mobilize their communities.

So my shy little fella was among the kids whose parents were mobilised to bring him for the regular dental check up session. It was a big room that was divided into various sections. Closr to the entrance, were children were being weighed and their heights taken, next to them was a dentist checking teeth, then there was a corner where nurses were instructing parents on how to clean the children's teeth. In another corner, parents were receiving nutritional education. In the centre of the room, parents and children were playing with toys and reading books..so there was alot of activity going on. It was such a very conducive environment for kids.

There were kids drawings on the walls. I got to learn that in Japan children are oriented from a tender age to prevent " germ boy" and "germ girl". The drawings of the two "germ siblings" are standard and have been passed on from generation to generation.

Another thing that interested me was the size of stomachs of each age group! There was this glass shelf that contained the stomach sizes of children aged 0 to 15 years. The stomach sizes were at the top of the glasss shelf. Inside the self, where the corresponding foods that are suitable for that age group and what amounts and calories. It was really a cool thing. The foods were made of plastic imitations so that the Nutrition section doesnt have to buy fresh foods each time. I also thought that was a good idea.

On the whole, it was an interesting tour. And at the end of the day, I realised that kids will be kids! because there are those who almost brought the house down with their screams because they thought that they were going to be injected.

Video shooting experience

Its been an interesting few days. From Poster creations now to video shooting and editing! I am happy to relive my university days especially the broadcasting class sessions! Things have changed since then. Nowadays, technology is making everything so simple. Video editing is not as hard as it used to be. I am really happy about this and sure hope that I will master my editing steps and be able to do justice to all the unedited videos lying around...Yes you read right, I am getting a skill and I am going to use it! So if you have any videos you wanna edit, please bring them to me with cash:)

There was some excitement as each of us was handed a grey metalic case that contained a video camera. But I guess the excitement was limited in comparision to the one we had when we received the still cameras for the first time. This time, all participants had the Dr. Dre air of " Been there, done that" And in away, video shooting borrows so much from photography. Its like an evolved version of photography!

When I was given my case, I has to borrow May my coursemate's famous expression "Yamani!". The metalic thing was heavythere must have been 10 kgs in it!! I guess it would have been heavier if I werent working out ( yeah, there I go again about the gym..:)

Today, the weather is behaving like a good gal! It is all sunny and warm. A total opposite from last week when it was rainy and cold. I think if anyone askekd me to describe Okinawa weather, I would say "unpredictable"! One has to carry a sweater just in case! Tuli kubukenke when it comes to weather!

Ok, I guess that sums up the few days.

A Black History Experience

Its just another Maniac Monday...wish it was Friday...thats my fun day!! Ok, I have xeroxed another song..so what? Sue me:-)

My weekend was interesting. I had a chance to visit one of the American bases in Okinawa called Kadena to attend a fashion show in honour of the Black History Month.

Prior to the trip, I was excited and expected to a enter inside the base and even get a glimpse of several US Army guys dressed in their uniforms. Unfortunately, the only people in saw clad in uniform were a guy and lady who inspected our taxi as we entered the base.

After that, it was ride to the Banyan club where the event was being held. At 6.30pm on the dot, the fashion show begun. Attire from Ethopia,Ghania, Tanzania, Nigeria. Kitengi and Lesu were the main items displayed. May be it because I had expected alot out of this show, I was kinda disappointed. The items showcast in my opinion were not a fair representation of what Africa has to offer fashionwise. But judging from thr wooos and aahhs that I heard from the crowd, I guess the Black American community was totally impressed.

Three things however impressed me at the show. There was a Japanese group called Amina that performed two African dances. I guess they were dances from West African tribes. It was impressive seeing Japanese drumming and dancing to African rhythms.

The second was some of the paintings hunged on the wall belonged to an Ugandan artist called Kiwanuka. I was proud of that.

And Lastly, I met a gal who is half Japanese, half African..."Afro-Japanese". She is about seven/eight years. She didnt understand any other language apart from Japanese. She looked so good with her big black hair and small eyes!!

After the day out on Saturday. I stayed in on Sunday, doing laundry and cheered myself up with a bit of Karaoke:)

Exciting school visits

I have had such a wonderful experience today. I visited two schools as part of the cultural exchange programme. The first school was for the mentally challenged students. It was a wonderful experience. When we got to the school, the first thing that struck me was our being asked to remove our shoes. They were replaced with green rubber like sandals. One thing that never ceases to amuse me is how Japanese sandals are made. They are manfactured in a way that the left side looks like the right side. But when you wear them, each foot fits perfectly in whatever sandal! I have never understood this.

I later learnt when I visited the second school that it is the norm to remove one's shoes and take on rubber same side looking sandals. In the second school, they were blue.
In both schools, the pupils were expecting us and had our faces on placcards and on their walls. It was really cute and touching. They knew our names and were SO excited! I cant describe the look on their small faces as we came into the rooms! It was priceless!
We were treated to the Okinawa dance in both schools and I had a chance to tell them more about Ouganda karakimashita( where I come from). And dont worry my Ugandans, I didnt disappoint you.:)

Oh theres lots to write but will let the photos do the talking. I better head out to bed. Its past 11pm! Catch ya later!

Busiest Week in OIC

Wow, its been quite a while since I last updated my blog. Now where can I start! The last couple of days have been hectic! After the photography class, we went straight to photo editing! It was like jumping from the pan into the fire! The amount of work just seemed to pile by a micro of a second! It was under such circumstances that last weekend took the crown for the busiest end of week ever! You should have seen us in class on a Friday night trying to work on our assignments at 7pm!! Since the rooms are inaccessible over the weekend, each one of us was working hard to ensure that they made headway before the class was closed. So that there would be less work to do come Monday!

Unfortunately, we all didnt get that far. So we had to accept that we would finish the assignments in the coming week. The weekend was good though, we had time to unwind and I again took time off to visit the next city of Naha and do some more window shopping:) My new found hobby:)

FEb. 14, Valentines day..there was certainly nothing to write home about. Unlike the crazy Kampalans who dress up in Red and Black, here it at the centre, it was a "normal" day. However, a walk through the malls showed a different story. There were ballons and decorations proclaiming the day! I hope the shops did go business.
In japan, I was reliably informed, it is the ladies who buy things for the men on valentines. That was a pleasant surprise. At least for once, men should also be pampered:). Though I know some women who would shoot me if they read that statement. I will just list down their names, just in case you never read from me again:)

Today, there is no usual chatter in the class. Everyone is acting Japanese- time conscious and swift. We have all managed to finish the first assignment- and must I add before the deadline on Thursday. So one down, one more to go. However, cant tackle the second one just yet because we were informed that we were going to visit two (2) school tomorrow. So I have had to work on collecting some images from the internet for my presentation to the school kids tomorrow. I really dont know what to expect. I am told that each one of us is going to be in put in a group with a sizeable number of students. So I am trying as much as possible to put alot of stuff about my Country. I am sure M7 would be so proud of me and how Iam planning to keep the " Uganda: Gifted By Nature" dream alive.

I am however having a problem. Since I am representing a relatively "new country", I cant access resource materials and traditional costumes from JICA's archives. I have had to create my own postcard versions ( as seen in the photos above) Countries like Kenya, Tz that have been sending participants for training courses here in OIC are having all the luck. The Kenyans are the most lucky. They have been able to access costumes, brochures, masai stuff that were left behind by past participants are souvenoirs. I also hope that I will pave the way for more Ugandan crafts and information to be displayed. So that in future, Uganda also has cultural souvenoirs in JICA's archive chest! Speaking like a true nationalist:)
I guess thats it for today.
Ja mata ( see you )

Ikebana

Today, I attended a Japanese flower arrangement class. Wow, there is alot of stuff to learn. Personally didnt know that there were strict rules to follow and that one could know just from the arrangement of the flowers the century the style came from.

I am not really a flower arrangement fan but I got a thing or two that I will use the next time an incompetent florist crosses my path at a wedding..and no, I dont have beef with any florist:).
Here are some exhibits from the kurasu ( class).
Enjoy.

A Star Performance for Rotary International

It is half past the hour of 9 and I have just come from the celeberating 50 years of Rotary International in Naha, a neighbouring city to Urascoe where I reside.
We left Okinawa International Centre(OIC) at 5:45pm because we had to go through a traffic jam and arrived in Naha some twenty minutes later.

The event was being held in an exclusive multi star hotel called Loisir. We were informed that the majority of the people invited were Okinawa's who is who! So today, I have had the chance of wining and dining with some of the creme de la creme in Okinawa.

Though I dont understand Japanese, it was a successful event. The highlight of the evening was us the OIC group getting to perform. I must admit, there were some jitters and doubt as to whether we would pull it off. But it has turned out beautiful! So beautiful that one of the Rotary Governors said this group's perfomance has been the best of all the OIC participants presentations made in the past! Personlally, I think it was a great performance because I pulled out the best Bakisimba dance that I could! And trust me, on such a polished floor, it wasnt easy:)

The group was so serious and the chereography so perfect. May be it had something to do with seeing our national flags hanging proudly on the flag poles. I felt so nationalistic and decided not to ashame the 27 million Ugandans living on this earth:))

Apart from the dance, the food was also good. It was served in Chinese style. I enjoyed it very much. The food was being brought in in small portions at intervals and I actually thought that the main dish was coming on at the end. So I ate little waiting..like a true African..only to be served with dessert! I was like WHAT!! DID I MISS SOMETTHING HERE! Well, I guess I obviously missed! Had I known, I would have attacked my raw pork without mercy:)

Just as well, in true spirit of Rotary, atleast each one of us went away with a gift. Some got colourful towels and art pieces and I got a carton of coffee:)) Whatever am I going to do with 30 tins of the same coffee drink!:)) I was at least relieved that it turned out to be Kohii (coffee)because when I first looked at the cans, you should have seen how my face fell because I thought it was Biru ( beer)!
Well, I guess that is the end of my story today. Tomorrow is a public holiday and I am wondering what I am going to do tonight! Well, just leave it to me.

Kimono and photography

Its official..Monday is the worst day on my calendar!! I dont know what it is about the day, but it always turns out dull:)) When the alarm went off at 7:30am, I just couldnt believe it!! It felt like I had been sleeping for 30 minutes!! I still dont know why I havent yet fully adjusted to this time zone! I was atleast glad that I forced my eyes shut at 11pm yesterday! And I didnt give the television a chance to play the Samson and Delilah game with me.

I think the television is one of the reasons why I cant sleep! There are so many good commercials..( can you imagine I am watching TV for the commercials?) ...well, yes I am. Like I was saying, the commercials or rather the Public service Announcements are so good. I like the brains that go into making them. They give you something to think about. One of my favourite is on Tobacco smoking. Now instead of throwing the famous smokers body that we Ugandans like using, the Americans have created an ad that starts by showing Good looking people smiling. In the ad, 6 people are shown upclose one after another. In the beginning, the viewer is taken up by their good looks until after the 3 person, you realise that all their teeth are yellowed / black. Then the ad ends with a good tagline which I cant remember right now!! But these adverts really give you something to think about.

Today's schedule was abit hectic. We continued with photography. Learnt something about composing a perfect shot. This saw me huff and puff in the late afternoon looking for practical subjects to shoot! It wasnt easy! I am glad that tomorrow, I will have more time to shoot more subjects.

The highlight of the day was attending the traditional Japanese tea making ceremony. Two ladies clad in Kimonos, took us through the exercise. It is a cermony that requires alot of skill and precision. The kind where everything is done for a reason! There are 3 sets of sentences that are spoken before one picks the traditional cake, takes the tea and after drinking the tea. The tea is not the usual brown stuff that I am used it. It is green tea. The Japanese are one people that I have seen who love to live healthy. I mean the green tea is picked from the shrub and not mixed with any chemicals. It is no wonder that the life expectancy for men is 78 and women 85 years. So the green tea powder was crushed and mixed with precision and with Japanese words mentioned at every stage. It is a really detailed tradition and I wonder how long it will take me to learn all that. After the tea had been made. Traditional cakes were served followed by the tea. The cakes looked yummy on the outside. But when I bit into it, my palette kinda disagreed! So I didnt finish it. But I finished my green tea. And I am glad I did because there was a mention of longer life.

After the one hour tea ceremony, It was time to meet up with the dance team and rehearse for our presentation tomorrow. Though 8 out of the 10 guys turned up, we still managed to pull it off. I think it went well.
Oh, I am sorry gotta go. The computer room is being closed. Talk to you tomorrow.

Dance Rehearsal

My Saturday started off like any other saturday- Lazily!! As usual, I skipped breakfast and opted to finish all the sleep that I had forfitted during the week. I would have kept my lazy self in bed had it not been a phone call alerting me that I was scheduled to participate in a creative art piece.
It turns out that all those first days excitements of signing up for each and every activity are still catching up with me. In the first days when I arrived here. I signed up to attend a party. At the time, I didnt know the details but sometime last week, my course coordinator mentioned it again.

It turns out that I had signed up for a party being hosted by the local Rotarians in Okinawa. They had sent out an invitation for 10 OIC participants. Yesterday, I came to learn that the Rotarians want us (OIC participants) to prepare something cultural..since the majority of the people who signed up are Africans, an African beat was automatically chosen.
The ten participants are from Samoa , Tz, Kenya, Uganda, Macedonia, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Belize and El Savador.

So in the meeting we had yesterday, we agreed to make a short dance. It was drama coming up with the right beat! At the end of the day, we settled for a mid tempo south African song. The rehearsal went ok, we are trying as much as possible to incorporate all the traditional dances from each participant's country. Rehearsal continues tomorrow.

After rehearsal, it was internet, dining, internet and sleeping in that order:)

Creative teaching methods

Today is a saturday. Its good to finally slow down! this week has been rather busy. There were two days of problem solving,following by two days of photography. Then yesterday, there was a rather interesting lecture from a Dr. Hyoi from Tokyo. I have met a few people like him..people who know their stuff so well that they have managed to make it exciting for others..as a way of attracting them to learning it!

His session community approaches was so simple and yet so nice! I was really grateful that I got to meet him and listen to what he had to teach.

All the class exercises he used were basic but if one applied some thought to them, they were very useful understanding the topic! I surely had alot of fun in this class!

Thank you Dr. Hyoi!

First photography practical

I have just come back from a photo shooting practice. It was great!! I am now having a 15 minutes break before the session resumes. The instructor is going to comment on our products. I will just have to wait and see. It was so exciting. The sun is high up in blue the sky! the flowers are pink and blooming so well! I think all is good.

And yes, it was good. The instructor said we all did a commendable job!!

It is fun getting the basics of photography. I feel happy being an "amateur professional" as Nishimura San, my photography teacher calls us!

Of kids and Sleep

So today has also finally ended. The first day of photography class. I am now in possesion of an SLR camera. I am supposed to bond with it so that I am comfortable and familiar with its functions! For the next 3 days, it will be my baby!! I learnt alot of things that I forgotten about photography! I mean I couldnt even remember the advantages and disadvantages of each type of lens! So it is no wonder that I got 50% in the pretest earlier on today! I really need to sharpen my photography skills. Taking and editing photographs is one of the things I have been looking forward to ever since I got confirmation that I had been accepted for the course! So i am going to exercise all my grey matter and make sure that I capture and perfect my skills concerning everything taught. Oh yes I can!!

There was alot of excitement as each of us downloaded and viewed some of the shots our colleagues took of us. I guess that is the beauty about photography..when the image you have taken is perfect and conforms to most of the rules. You get a moment when you feel like you are on a podium, a moment when your heart swells with pride! I guess that is what photography does for me.

I was so caught up in previewing and reviewing the photographs taken all my colleagues that I missed the aerobics class today. . There is a lady instructor with a toned body who comes in every wednesday to lead this session. She is so fit. I always marvel at this. In the beginning, I was always getting lost in the simple steps but now I am picking up. But my challenge still remaining is how to lift these fat legs in the air when I am lying on my back! Whenever we get to that level, thats when I realise that my legs alone must be contributing to 3/8th of my body weight!!

Well, as I wind up to hit the sack, I have remembered that today the Jareds went to school for the first time. Daffodils Kindergarten might have opened its doors for business as usual today but for me, they created a wonderful memory. My two little children attended kindergarten for the first time! I cant imagine how it felt for Ann! It must have been an exciting moment to see her 3 year olds dressed in school uniform and back packs heading to school! The tit bits I have received show that Jared was not too thrilled about going to school. Knowing him, he must have let his displeasure show via sound!! He will not be the first nor the last to vent out his frustration like this. If I recall correctly, one of his uncles even went to an extent of sitting in the middle of the road just to escape going to kindergarten:)) Well, I hope that there was a camera to capture this moment!

Ok, now I seriously have to go. I am still having trouble getting enough sleep! In fact, I seriously beginning to think that Japanese nights are shorter than day times! How else can i explain what is happening to me? It always seems like I have slept for 5 minutes before I hear the alarm at 7:15am!
Now, I really have to go.
Catch ya later

February 4, 2009

Today like each day in Okinawa is exciting for me! i have been waiting along time for the the topic that we started today!! Today we started the Photography class. Though the schedule looks a bit tight, I am confident that I will be able to learn and dust up my photography skills!! When I was given my black bag containing the camera, accessories and tripod stand, I couldnt wait to flip it open.

And when I did, I remembered all the great memories I had back in University when I together with Mathias, Martha and Sylvia go out to find coursework stories. I remember this one time when we went to the old taxi park in an effort to photograph some street kids! What had started as a relatively easy assignment soon ended up being us being chased by street kids all over the old taxi park!! When I look back, it was a beautiful disaster:)

Well, back to the photography class. The morning session was a bit technical, but since I am familiar with some of the basic photography, It wasnt that tough. The session made me realise that I had forgotten much of photography!

February 3, 2009 - My tight schedule

It is 9.47pm. It is 47 minutes since I came out of one of the activities that I do every Tuesday- attending the Speak Japanese class. Tuesday is quite a hectic day for me. I always have to balance my extra curricula activities so well so that they dont clash. As soon as class ends at 5pm, it is straight to the gym because I carry all my gym attire with me in the morning when I leave my room. This has proven to save me alot of time ( it is not easy climbing a fleet of 87 stairs) just to get my gym gear. I figure that though it helps me burn more carolies, if I continue that way, I will be drier than a stick in no time....
Oh where was I? oh yes! Why Tuesday is so busy for me.
After gym it is always a flight up the famous 87 staircase, a marathon shower, 87 stairs back to the dinning hall, rush through have dinner and by 7:00pm, I am in Seminar room 201 ready to start my Japanese class.

Today was no exception. It is always fun attending the Japanese class because I get to learn alot of things. For example, today, I learnt how to ask for a dish and how to ask for the ingredients of a dish. Take for instance since I dont understand the Japanese symbols, I can ask the waiter;
kore wa nan desu ka meaning "what is this?". And if I want to know the ingredients, I probe further by asking " nan no ryori desu ka" meaning " what type of ingredients are in this dish".
I am so eager to learn. So next time I am out of the Training centre, I will surely try this out on the waiter. I just hope that I will understand what he/ she answers!

Today, I also learnt that the Japanese have alot of words that they borrow from the English language. They sound like a bad imitation of an English word. Take for instance the word " telephone card" in Japanese or "Nihongo" it is written as " terehon kado". And the words are spoken the same way that they are written!
this reminds me of the lady who serves me breakfast each morning. Whenever I put my tray over the counter, she asks me whether I want "hot milk". But the way she pronounces it was at first wierd for me. Later on, I told myself that it was the Japanese accent that was influencing her pronounciation. And besides since the majority of the dinning hall staff only speak Nihongo, I told myself that I was lucky she could speak English. It turns out that all this time, the Lady has been speaking Nihongo to me. It is because the Japanese say "Hotto Miriku" to mean "Hot milk"!!
My Japanese class is very interesting. I think because it is solely comprised of only my course mates so we have grown so comfortable with each other. So, since we are adult learners, there are alot of gags and gaufs but we end up getting it! Understanding is not a problem, it is the remembering that may become one!
Well, I better log off. Need to work on an assignment that is needed tomorrow.

Welcome to my blog

Today, with the help of Nana my lovely instructor, I have created a blog address. It is not as hard as I had imagined! I am so excited and looking forward to more postings!! This is totally going to simplify my work. Dont get me wrong, i love all the wonderful emails that you have been sending but it also helps me not to repeat myself. I will try to post in as much detail as I can so that I leave very little room for questions..I am a lovely teacher aint I?