KEEP IT NATURAL pt. 2

by Yukito Yoneyama / 米山ゆきと


The orientation was going really well, and it was flying by.
They say that when you are having a good time, time flies.
Actually, even geniuses like Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking have mentioned about the flow of time being subjective.
If the time flows slower for the astronauts floating in space, I must have been really close to the Earth's core. I guess I penetrated the center of the Earth and ended up here without my knowledge.


I met some interesting people during the orientation.
The 26 of us from Japan became one big family, while going through this extraordinary experience together. At College of Notre Dam, they were also hosting other exchange student programs from all over the world. It was almost like Hogwarts, except we didn't have magical powers, just massive cultural confusions that turned supermarkets into amusement parks and newly-launched, soon-to-be cultural phenomena Starbucks into a romantic getaway (many of the participants became instant lovers, what happens in... you know the line.)


There were these two students from Thailand, Champ (I think it was his nickname, but you never know with us foreigners) and the other, I can't remember his name. I will call him Drama-shots.
They were inseparable like brothers.
Champ was kinda a fat kid, with a good, kind, and mischievous nature. He reminded me of the character "Chunk" from "The Goonies".

Drama-shots was styling mint from head-to-toe, and every time we hung out, he asked me to take pictures of him with disposal cameras he had in stock.
He posed so seriously and dramatic, I was a little uncomfortable while being his disposal photographer.

All of us Japanese students simply smiled, with their hands making "peace"signs whenever we were taking pictures of each other.  It can be a little strange (awfully strange to others) when everyone without exception is doing this in unison. Now I think about it, I wonder what Drama-shots was thinking.. "These weird Japanese people.. my shots are so much hotter.".. maybe. Because I took them.

The "peace sign in photographs" is definitely one of the strangest things about our culture. Everyone without fail, and I mean everyone, old, young, male, female, human and dogs (I lied, I hope) do this in social occasions (I bet 99% of the time, unless both of his/her hands are broken or something),
as if it is the most inhumane and evil deed to do the otherwise.
If you don't believe me, go ahead and google "Japanese peace sign in pictures".
(The verb "google", did it make it to the Webster dictionary yet?)
What I enjoy most is seeing some foreigners going happily along with it. Talk about international peer pressure.

The counter part of this in the US would be the drunken "YEAHH!!! HOOO!!!" screaming in unison in MTV Spring Break. I had to turn my TV off until music videos came back. Also, TV shots of NYC Bars during any big holidays. What I enjoyed most was that I went along with them when I found myself in these situations, and I felt great.

There is a saying in Japan, "Correct your conduct by observing that of others."

In Irish and English saying, "Learn wisdom by follies of others."


 
Drama-shots would pose under a street light on Notre Dam campus at night, looking away in melancholy.
After one of our shooting sessions, (about the 5th time),
I had to ask him, "what is up with your posing?" He said to me, "they are for my girlfriend waiting for me back in Thailand for the year to come."
Ok. I get it. Long distance relationship.. out of sight, out of mind.
I myself was in the midst of a possible long distance relationship, since I myself hooked up with one of the girls from our program. This whole thing really smelled like teen spirit. So I helped him without feeling uncomfortable for the rest of the orientation.
I even went out of my way to get really good shots of him so that his girlfriend wouldn't stray off while he is gone. (really none of my business, nosy me)
He was actually quite intelligent, and I enjoyed having conversations with him over our broken English, which was our only common language.

Champ became something of a teddy bear amongst us Japanese students. Well, 24 of us were girls so go figure. I can't remember too much about him except the time when the whole Hogwarts took a trip to Yosemite National Park toward the end of the 3-week-long orientation. But I will talk about that later I suppose.


As I am writing this blog, most of my memories are coming back in detail. It has been 15 years, and I never wrote about it, or reminisced. Feels like traveling through time and space.. Blogger is my spaceship. Cheese.

Towards the end of our orientation, one of the program advisers called me to see her.
During the orientation, many of the participants were yet to be assigned their destinations. It was a little nerve-wrecking not knowing where they might send you off for a year. The fear of unknown, the arch nemesis of human kind.

I felt like a pound puppy waiting for a nice family to rescue me out of this Cage of Notre Dam. Well, I really loved it there and was not thrilled with the idea of my one year being in some red-neck central or whatever elsewhere. (don't get me wrong now I like red-necks, they are honest, straight forward, and they like to drink).

Student by student, day by day, they would call one of us up as soon as a volunteer host family had selected a participant. They would then give her/him an address of destination.

So it was now my turn. My heart raced and my hair stood up (I had spiked hair pasted with half-tube of hair gel that had the texture of thick glue).
As I walked into the adviser's office, I was handed a piece of paper.
It read,

"xxx Colorado Ave
Caldwell, ID xxxxx"

She said to me "good luck!" and kicked me out of her office.
So I called my parents in Japan to share this exciting news.
I told my mother, who answered the phone, "They gave me the address!"
She said to me, "that's great! where are you going to spend the year?"

Y:  "I'm going to Colorado!"
M: "Awesome, where is Colorado?"
Y:  "Somewhere in the USA!"
M: "Well, congratulations, and good luck on your journey!"
Y:  "Thanks!" click.

Next morning, while eating breakfast at one of the cafeterias on campus, I shared my news with the others. One of them said, "Colorado is a nice place. you will like it there."
I was starting to get excited.
Later on that day, my adviser caught me off guard, popping out like that sneaky guy from
"Mr. Deeds" saying, "I heard what you have been telling your friends, but you are not going to Colorado, you must have misread the address." with a smirk on her face. I asked her, "where am I going then? the address said Colorado."

A:  "You are going to Idaho."
Y:  "Idaho? where is Idaho?"
A:  "It's where they grow lots of potatoes, and they have cowboys there."
Y:  "Potatoes.. so I am not going to Colorado."
A:  "No."

So I called my parents again to correct the misinformation I had provided the night before. I thought to myself, "they might already be celebrating on my behalf, everyone in the family and all my friends wishing me luck to get to Colorado in safety."
My mother answered the phone again.
I went straight to the point.

Y:   "I am not going to Colorado."
M:  "? Oh, where are you going then?"
Y:   "Idaho."
M:  "Where is Idaho? (she had no clue on geography of this country.)
Y:   "It's where they grow lots of potatoes and cowboys."
M:  "That's great! good luck on your journey!"
Y:   "Thanks!" click.


... to be continued.


Thanks for reading.
In case you came back, you might wanna check with your doctor.
Your cerebellum had just turned into goo.


Love,

Y