Who would you invite to dinner?

I love the text that I use for my university English classes. This week, the students have to choose 12 people from the past or present who they would want to invite to a dinner party. Why these people? What kind of party would it be? What might happen there? Students inevitably ask me who I would want to invite, so I am going to brainstorm my answers right now.

If I could have a dinner party, I would invite:
1. Joseph Campbell - Anthropologist whose reflections and retelling of myths I adore!
2. Bono - Lead singer of U2 and die hard humanitarian
3. Cleopatra - To see if her beauty and charm still work today
4. Aimee Mann - Singer songwriter whose words make my soul dance!
5. Audrey Hepburn - To see if HER beauty and charm still work today
6. Kevin Spacey - I adore him on screen, but want to watch and listen to him up close
7. Jesus- To see if HIS beauty and charm still work today
8. Mohammed - HIM too
9. Buddha- HIM too
10. Confucious - HIM too
11. George Stephanopoulos - news magician - who could keep these people talking
12. My daughter and husband - So we can experience this party together!

The party would have to be a week long, however, because I would want ample time to talk to all of them, and to watch them interact with eachother. What do you think?

Kool Fids!

How do you know that a teacher really loves her job? When she is willing to dress up and act like a fool in front of all her students, their parent, and a handful of friends. I teach English to kids in my neighborhood at the local community center two evenings a week. This weekend was our 3rd annual Halloween Party, with 50 kids and their parents. Preparation exhausted me, but when it was all over, I couldn't help but feel that I am so blessed by the people that surround me! I taught my students the words "cute" and "scary" this month, pulling things like plastic lizards, frogs, Hello Kitty, and other odd toys from my daughter's toy box for them to judge as cute or scary. In this funky collage of fashion accessories, I got a generous half-and-half judgement when I asked all the kids, "So, do I look cute or scary today?" When parents are looming in the background, I am always doubly nervous teaching to a crowd. But this year, the kids' laughter and positive feedback from the parents gave me energy. Some moms let us roll them up with toilet paper to become Mummy Mommies, and this boy under the ghost sheet in my "Guess Who the Ghost Is Game" kept everyone laughing. THANK YOU kids and mummies! I am so lucky to get the chance to teach and play with you every week!
Later, a group of friends came to our house for a potluck dinner party. I enjoyed cooking for the first time in a long time! From the kitchen, I listened to the conversations of my friends becoming friends with other friends, and the laughter of our kids playing so well together. It was music to me ears, and I found myself again thinking about how lucky I am to be surrounded by so many good people. It reinforces what my friend T once told me, that the best way to find the right path to be walking is to surround yourself with positive, happy people. Its amazing how the positive energy reverberates when you do!

222

With the Hallowed Holiday on its way, I have been trying to think of any scary stories I know to tell. I can never retell ghost stories very well, nor jokes, but how about hearing my quirky fear of the number 222.

It started in my English Lit. 101 class at college. As a freshman, our hippy professor's choice of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was way over this young country girl from Anaconda, MT. I carried the book around and seriously tried to drag myself through it. The first day of discussion after a week of reading, I was lost when Mr. Hairy Philosophy Major started going on and on about, "the endless white wall that couldn't be reached but was omnipresent and drowning us." Whaaaat?? After this, I started having encounters with 222. I would look up from my Zen reading or other studying, or wake up in the middle of the night and the instant I looked at my digital clock, it would be 2:22. In the next two weeks, I had shopping totals come to exactly $2.22 or, and could not stop rolling anything but 2s on dice during a board game I was playing with friends. The last straw for me was when the English professor walked into class and his first words to us that day were, "Please turn to page 222." I remember gasping so loudly that half the class turned and looked at me. I really didn't know any of the other students, so I had to just duck my head and pray that the prof wouldn't ask me to explain. Even to this day, if I see that the clock in my car is 2:22, I hold my breath and pay extra attention to the road until it changes. I also can't set a heater or air conditioner to 22 degrees, and deliberately change it to 21 or 23. On the positive side, when or wherever I see 222, I flashback to these days of venturing. Mr. Hairy, but the way, ended up being a nice guy who gave me my first and last tennis lessons the following summer.

Country Gold

"This isn't Japan," claimed one of my Japanese friends. "But it's not America either," I told him. He was getting his first taste, peek, and earful of Country Gold, the country music show held here in Kumamoto every year. It's really a world all its own. Everywhere you look, people are dressed in full cowboy western gear, with authentic hats, boots, leather fringed pants or shirts...the whole get up! Every year, in the awesome outdoor venue where over 20,000 people can sprawl out on the grassy slope surrounded by mountains, Kumamoto is the host of the largest country music concert in Japan. If you just listen to the music, you could mistakedly feel like you were at the Saturday night concert of any U.S. summer county fair, but when you see the stagefront dance floor crowded with over 200 line-dancing fully costumed Japanese, hopping and kicking in sync, those thoughts soon disappear. I was shocked to see bus loads of tourists, mostly line-dancing groups from all over the country. At 8000yen ($90) a ticket, I wonder if its the dancing or the music that attracts so many people. I guess I have to ask myself, why are we there almost every year? I guess its just the atmosphere that is so entertaining and relaxing to me. We spend the day eating, drinking and lounging around on the grass...what can be better! Oh, the music isn't bad either. I usually only know the name of the final act, this year Mark Chestnut (last year Charlie Daniels!). This year the other groups were a family bluegrass group, a jeans and t-shirt "grungy" boys country group that threw in a Bon Jovi song in for fun, and a pop-country sexy blonde duo. Have to admit, we managed to get free tickets again this year, plus tickets for 11 more of our friends, so sharing the joy was also part of the fun. I can't really explain...y'all just better come and join us some year!

Hospital Phobia

I am so envious and inspired by people who choose to work in a hospital or regularly give blood. If I walk into a hospital, within 10 minutes, if there isn't a chair for me to sit down, my head starts spinning and sweating without end. It doesn't matter if I am going to visit a friend or going for some check-up, just being there makes me queasy.

I had my first mammogram yesterday. My family has a infamous history of breast cancer and other cancers, so I have been getting regular checks since I was 27. Until now, I had only gotten ultrasound examinations, which allowed me to avoid the painful smash and most importantly, let me lay down. This time, I had to stand for the mammography, and part way through, I felt my head start to sweat and head start to spin. The nurse let me sit down for a minute and throw my head between my legs to get some blood flowing back where it should. I tell you, though, all I could think of in the end was: what happens if I faint in the 3 seconds it takes to take the photo while my breast is clamped to the machine! I endured it and the results showed that I have happy, healthy breasts, but I spent the whole rest of the day half nauseous and dazed.

So, I give praise to my students who are now studying to become nurses or medical technicians. Honestly, the week I spend reading these young guys and girls' essays about why they want to work in the medical field is so uplifting. Their reasons range from personal medical tragedies or emergencies, heartbreaking or heartwarming stories of family struggles with illness, etc. They give me hope in the future when everywhere else we hear how young people are destroying our society and themselves. Choosing to spend their adult career in a hospital, half knowing what they are getting into, is so honorable and brave, I think.

Then I salute husband, who is a fanatic blood donater. He gives blood religiously once or twice a month, and brought home a 100th anniversary crystal cup last year from the clinic. He says that he has no righteous or charitable motivations that keep him going back...but that it has just become almost an addictive habit. Just hearing about the huge needles they use for his blood donations gets me half queasy!

Dis-Dis-Disney

We just returned from Disney On Ice. I can't help think that we paid a lot of money to endure a 2 hour marathon of movie previews. Character after character paraded around the ice, waiting for kids to enthusiastically scream out their names. And when your kid doesn't know one of the characters, like a G.I.Joe soldier from Toy Story(?) or the fairy who gave Pinnochio life (I was shamed to embarrassment when I first said that she was Tinkerbell...forgive me, Walt!), are we supposed to rush out and rent that video so our child does not grow up to be Disney-dumb too? Granted, I grew up loving Disney movies and was a weekly viewer of the Sunday evening Disney program that came on after The Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kindom, another favorite. But, when I tried to show my young daughter some of the movies...thinking Disney would be ok for my two year old as a welcome alternative to Tellatubbies...I realized how scary and sad many of the movies are. Above all, where have all the positive women gone. Ever realized how many hero's or heroine's mothers have died, turned evil, been tortured or simple are never mentioned...Cinderella, Nemo, Snow White, Dumbo, Belle, Aurora, Ariel. And why are so many of the bad guys gals? Maybe my daughter is a little more receptive than some kids, but I didn't know quite know what to say when my 2 year old asked me why Cinderella's mommy died, and when was I going to die. I can't even remember what I told her, but I do know that I have been much more conscious about videos we rent these days. These days, she prefers the archives of Lizzie McGuire or Sponge Bob! Sorry, I shouldn't complain too much since the tickets to DOI were a present, but I will encourage her grandparents to spend the 17,400yen (160dollars for three tickets!) on something more worthwhile next time.

Pieces of peace in the city?

I have a book of daily reflections that I read once in a while for contemplation. Yesterday's reading contended that it was impossible to find peace in a city, that the rush and noise are barriers too overbearing to block out. I beg to differ. So, let me brainstorm for you some of my sources of peace these days.
My daughter's laughter, heard from a distance or blurted out amidst her late-night dreams.. . .The escape of a good book.. . .Smiling nodding heads in a classroom.. . . Good news that reminds me that it isn't as bad as we like to assume.. . . Using gifts I have received or bought for myself and remembering the person attached to it or the special place I was when I got it.. . . Praise. . . .Spontaneous kisses.. . . Being asked for advice.. . .Overhearing someone taking positively about something I believe in, with a feeling that somehow my presence or thoughts are being felt by them.. . .Being with any part of my extended family.. . .Sleeping children.. . .Older couples holding hands.. . .Being at a party where everyone is having fun and suddenly realizing how much time has already past.. . .Introducing people I care about to eachother.. . .Finding a perfect gift or incredible bargain.. . .Seeing good people find success.

As my mother once told me when we had talked about what God looked like, if you want to see the face of God, or to see pure peace, you have to find the most beautiful part of every person, hold them close to your heart, and if you then put all of these beautiful pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle, you would see pure peace. I will keep looking!

Walkin' Talk

A couple of my friends have taken up walking as exercise and diet...and every time I see them they really look thinner. I am so jealous! I had high hopes of exercising and dieting during my month home in Montana so I could get off the plane in Japan and show off my new waistline to my husband. I arrived back with a new waistline, but not one to show off. Instead, I dyed my hair "Intense Auburn" and let the beautician cut it super short so I could at least give everyone a little surprise. Anyway, I started today walking for an hour before going off to work. I have promised myself an ipod to put some bounce in my step if I can keep it up until Christmas. I really miss my walking partner, Kim, who kept me in shape during my pregnancy...but maybe I can talk my friends into letting me join them on their walk once in a while. My husband, in his current job, walks an average of 12,000 steps just at work and can eat and drink anything he wants now and not gain an ounce of weight. Jealous again!

Dancing Queen and Chicken Napping

I still have boxes of stuff at my parents home in Montana. This past summer, I managed to salvage some crazy memories from the stock of old journals I have stashed in one box. This was my impetus to start this blog. Rereading through these old journals was an amazing retracing of my own footsteps along a winding but pleasuable path. One journal entry made me smirk in particular:
My freshman year at college, I was dating a cowboy who would take me out to the local country bar to teach me how to jitterbug. Since he was a senior, he could sweettalk the bouncer into letting me in without an id. This was half the thrill...and getting tossed around the dance floor, and then getting caught midair was the extra thrill. The cool thing was when we entered the jitterbug contest at the college's spring barn dance and got second prize! We beat out one other couple, clearly better dancers, simply because the girl knocked off her partner's sacred cowboy hat. (Yep, folks, they don't allow that!) Now, I had remembered that, and little else about Cowboy Charles, but what I hadn't remembers was getting dragged out of the dance later by one of my drunk friends to go and catch a chicken from the farm next door. Yes, I was an accomplice in bagging up a poor sleeping chicken and then letting it loose in the middle of the dance floor!
This would be one of those stories my mother would say, "What I didn't know couldn't hurt me." More of these memories to come!

TJIT, Tomorrow is Tuesday!

Even my 4-year old daughter knows what Tuesday means. For us, it is our ritual weekly night out. Unless one of us is deathly ill, my husband, daughter and I spend every Tuesday evening at our friend's yatai restaurant downtown Kumamoto. Never know who will show up, but doesn't much matter. I don't have to cook and don't have to think about housework or school work. Tuesdays started as a farewell party for a business English class I was teaching, and has become a laid-back come one, come all, eat, drink or just stop in and say boo gathering of friends and friends of those friends. I have come home a few times and actually apologized to my husband for dressing like such a bum... I forget that we are downtown because the place has become our second home and I feel like I am kicking back in my own living room. Far away from my family in Montana, the Tuesday "Kayokai" gang deserves credit for being my weekly stress release, sounding board and support group. Some people do AA meetings, I get therapy enough sharing a drink with my KK group.

HeyHEY DAIGAKUSEI!

I just want to say to my students out there...Let's do some clashing..crashing...stir things up!
There is nothing taboo in my class! Please, PLEASE, speak your mind!

I hate early mornings, but I love being on campus. I remember my university days and look for pieces of my gradually forgotten self in your faces and words. Whether they be direct questions to me or bits of conversations I overhear, your thoughts keep me in tune with what it means to be 20 today. What does it mean to be 20 today? Tell me! Show me! Let's journey together!

Here I go!

Just starting...half begun...half finished...relieved...anxious...settled.

At a crossroads today, I have decided...as always, the best way to move is forward!
I am excited about this new conversation ...with my own heart and anyone else who is ready to listen to us.
Hop, skip, jump...here I go!