thank you, stars

i am reminded today of how the japanese people treat their fellow countrymen and foreigners as well. in fukui, where i stay, i see on a daily basis how friendly and helpful many people are. the elderly, handicapable and the young are all supported and helped constantly.

every day on my way to school i am greeted by normal people who have taken it upon themselves to chaperone the elementary school children to and from school. it is quite a thing to see, when the community takes responsibility in bringing up the children and not only the parents. at the tram station i see the same blind man who is assisted to the platform but is able to catch the same tram every day unaided but supported by the people around him. in the buses, trains and trams the elderly are offered seats so that they don’t have to remain standing for their journey. it is touching.

what touches me more though, is the current rallying of support from all the citizens in japan to help those who have been affected by the current tragedy following the earthquake on march 11. school students gladly give up their afternoon to help collect and sort supplies that will be sent to those in need in the affected areas. i have never been involved in anything of this magnitude and i must shamefully admit, that before it ever happened to me, i never really got involved in helping others when the help was needed. i guess in south africa not many people jump to the challenge to help others in need and those that do are not lauded for their efforts. the situation in south africa is a tough one to describe but the gist of it as that people have stopped believing in their own kindness and the kindness of others. i am not there right now and i don’t know if the situation has changed in the last 6 months, but being in another country has made me think about me as i was when i lived in south africa.

i am changing my stance and helping where i can, and hopefully this will begin a chain reaction in me to become more humanitarian in my efforts and not be selfish.

to all the unsung heroes, to all the people who help and care daily, i say thank you for always being there.

light and love to you all.

(‘thank you, stars’ is performed by katie melua and is taken from the album ‘the katie melua collection’)

freak out

on march 11 2011, at (approximately) 14:46:23 (JST), a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of japan.

on march 11 2011, at (approximately) 14:46:23 (JST), i thought i was having a bout of vertigo as my apartment started to ‘sway’ mysteriously.

after that weird moment i continued to watch ‘enchanted’ blisfully unaware of what was happening over 400 km away from my couch. if it hadn’t been for louisa’s first sms to me i wouldn’t have realised what was going on. initially i thought louisa’s message about a tsunami hitting japan referred to a tsunami that hit earlier in the week. i told louisa that it was nothing serious and that she shouldn’t worry and then twitter exploded and the messages starting flooding in.

damage control.

first thing first i had to text my family back home that i was safe and unaffected by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami. i followed the news feeling a little unsettled and continued to placate my family and friends back home that i was alive and well and surviving perhaps one of the greatest earthquakes of our generation. needless to say that the unfolding events did not make for a pleasant start to the weekend. i am surprised at my apparent lack of panic in situations like these, and i can say that i pride myself on maintaining composure in front of a crisis.

i am over here, not over there

(this is a picture of my location in relation to the current devastation)

when surrounded by a group of my peers the following day the need to maintain composure grew progressively more as people around me were showing the strain from the worry and i don’t blame them, although i must admit to wanting to slap some calm back into them. i am just not sure physical violence would help them much even though it would offer a great release to me.

there is no need to panic, because panic will only lead to chaos. we are physically ok, although quite close to danger we are ok.

i think as south africans, who are brought up with the real threat of danger and fear, we learn that life must go on and that we must not become paralysed by fear. it is not the best of situations but we need to take a look at the scene before us, be thankful to still be alive and then react. right now, i have confirmed that friends are safe and the next step is to see what aid i can offer.

i will be donating to the red cross in japan towards aiding those affected by the earthquake and tsunami and then i will pray that the great education system in japan has prepared the engineers to control the situation at the fukushima power plant and remove the threat of a possible nuclear meltdown. this is all i can do for now and i think that for most people this is true.

it is now march 15 2011 and the situation is still quite precarious, the tsunami warnings have ceased and now the threat of a nuclear disaster still looms over our heads. at this point many people are feeling inclined to hightail it out of the country but i really don’t want to do that. i know that it would give my family great peace of mind but then i would be stranded back home in sa with no job, no money and no quantifiable desire to get back into engineering. i miss my family a lot but i don’t miss sa half as much, i am enjoying life here in japan and the opportunity to learn the language and culture has been great and a dream come true. i just don’t want this experience to be cut shorter than it has to.

so the point of this post is to put it out there to the universe that i am not ready to leave and that i think you should cut japan some slack and ease up on the disasters a little. and to the people who are panicking and running in the streets proclaiming the end of the world “shut the f*** up”. maybe it is a little arrogant for me to want the end of the world to hold off until i am ready, but surely it is ok to be a little selfish some of the time.

and if you are able to, please donate what you can to the relief efforts to help japan. any little bit helps. contact your local red cross on how to get your donations to the red cross in japan.

light and love to you all.

(‘freak out’ is performed by avril lavigne and is taken from the album ‘under my skin’) – i have used this song before but it is very apt for how i feel

girls’ day

today is march 3rd and in japan the day is called girls’ day or the doll festival (in japanese ‘hina matsuri‘). from what i have found out, japanese families with young girls usually celebrate this day by setting up elaborate stages with dolls to represent the high court of the japanese emperor. the families also take their daughters out to the shrines and temples to wish their daughters good health and prosperity in their lives.

google of course have contributed to the day with their doodle.

i will be experiencing the setting up of the dolls this weekend with my host family and so i will keep you posted on how that goes.

so, to all the little girls out there i wish you good health and prosperity in your lives.

light and love to you all…

love today

let me start off by wishing you all a happy valentine’s day or as i prefer happy single people awareness day.

the valentine's day google doodle

here in japan they refer to it as love day and it is celebrated a little bit differently. i learned that on valentine’s in japan it is up to the women to make chocolate treats and give them to the men they desire. it is pretty much a one sided affair though but, before you get riled up about the apparent chauvinism, the women get their chance too. on the 15th of march the japanese celebrate white day which is the counter to valentine’s day. on white day the men will have to reciprocate the love received on valentine’s day, apparently you show your affection by giving flowers to the girl you love (or who gave you chocolate). i guess i should have figured this all out before i ate the chocolate cake given to me yesterday! :-/

it is an interesting holiday but it seriously reeks of commercialism in having two money making scams holidays instead of just one! looks like i have to look for a florist or something and figure out how much this is going to hurt my wallet.

light and love to you all…

(‘love today’ is performed by mika and is taken off his debut album ‘life in cartoon motion’)

happy days

this past month has brought some interesting changes. the work situation has become, dare i even say it, great! my colleague has now adopted an attitude of actually wanting to work with me which makes the situation and the experience so much better. i don’t want to jinx it, but i am happy now and so i need to share it.

apart from that, i have now exited ‘club 29′ and i can no longer call myself 20-something! i am officially 30 years old and feeling fabulous. really. i gave up on freaking out about getting older and i find that i am enjoying every year more than the last. honestly i don’t feel like i have aged past 24 though, and the best part is that i could actually pass off as a 24 year old. i am still a big kid at heart and this would reflect in my birthday presents! hehe. my lovely friends here all chipped in to get me a ps3 and then i bought myself a stack of comic books to read. i am content.

anyway, this is just a short birthday update for you. i have survived turning 30. that is all.

light and love to you all…

(‘happy days’ is sung by the babystars and is a single from the hit series ‘one piece’)

(‘happy days’ comes on at 3:57, the song before that is ‘hikari e’ and is also performed by the babystars)