America is but the upper triangle of an hour glass

As I have mentioned in my previous entries, I try to find projects to keep myself occupied. Studying for the JLPT, driving test, pen pal letter, etc. Now it's studying for the GREs...hardcore until July 29th. Get a good score, write my essays, ask for letters of recs, get the application in; after that, get into a good grad school and get reacquainted with American life. Step by step and it all begins with this silly test. But I shall spare you drudgery of the GRE and instead share with you a school related project.

Ever since 6th grade I have had fervor for social studies. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Revicky, he was a very eccentric man. Always had this evil looking smile and loved to make fun of his students. In hindsight, I really liked him...he really cared about his students. He was a very real person and his passion for history rubbed off on me. I remember the very first lesson we had...he told us to draw a map of the world. I struggled mightily to get all the important landmasses on my paper only to have my teacher chuckle and shake his head. After I was done, I had a pathetic recreation of the world. Once we were done, Mr. Revicky went to the blackboard to draw us his world. He proceeded to make two triangles to make an hour glass for N. and S. America, a triangle and rectangle for Europe and Asia, another triangle for India, a square for Australia, a rectangle for Africa, and a very skinny and long rectangle on the bottom for Antarctica. This, he explained, was the world. I don't know why that particular memory made such a big impression on me but it did. At that moment I knew I loved social studies and that I wanted to travel to 100 countries. Mr. Revicky showed me that the world isn't that complicated, that it really isn't that small...we live on the upper hour glass and we can just as easily travel to or live on another geometric shape. Even that long, thin rectangle.

I suppose that's the true gratification behind teaching, your ability to make an ever lasting impact on your students' lives. You're not just the provider of information but the spark that helps ignite their passion for life. We've all had that teacher. And so, my social studies teacher at my school in Ikata gave me an opportunity to share with my students my passion. Ever since last year, Mr. Fujimura has let me come to his classroom to observe his lessons. He always included me in the discussions as he asked me for my viewpoints on the atomic bomb, American politics during WWII, the American geography and climate, and various other topics. It's an amazing experience...I can share an American perspective while the students can enlighten me with their Japanese perspective on history. No book can do that. One day, it just so happened, Mr. Fujimura asked me if I wanted to make a presentation on the Pilgrims, Revolutionary War and Civil War! I jumped at the opportunity. And so I went and worked my tail to get the material ready for the big lesson. I searched the web and summarized the Mayflower, the harsh winter, Squanto's visit and the first Thanksgiving dinner. Looked up the Tea Act, the Boston Tea Party, and Washington's Delaware crossing. And then it was the Civil War: explaining to the kids the cruelty of slavery, Lincoln’s presidency, and the gruesome battle that ensued. In the end, I brought everything back by explaining to the students the true significance of having Barack Obama as our president- after years of inhumanity and discrimination, an African American man is finally the single most powerful individual in our country. With that said, I told them that racism is still prevalent and that it’s their generation’s responsibility to learn from history’s mistakes and make a better world. A few days later, my social studies teacher gave me a stack of evaluation papers covered in Japanese characters. Every line, maybe 30-40, was covered with text. I was able to read some of it and some of it I had to gloss over but it was meant so much to me that my students got that much from my lesson. Someday I will be able to read everything…maybe after my GREs I will start studying Japanese again.
Before I end this blog, I wanted to share with you one last thing. I began writing this blog last month (procrastination is one devilish habit) and my mom just told me another reason for my voracious appetite for countries. Apparently when I was 5 years old I couldn’t stop talking to my mom about the suffering of the poor Bosnian people. To this day I don’t anything about Bosnia but according to my mom, I was absolutely ardent about my sentiments, I really cared about making some point at age 5. Oh Peter Jennings, you will be missed. After that, my next obsession was with the country of Somalia and I addressed a solution to their draught crisis. At the same time, there was a horrible flood along the Mississippi River. Eureka, I have an idea! As a matter of fact, at age 6, after enough encouragement from a family friend, I decided to take a pencil and write to the President himself to explain to him my brilliant plan. It ran something like this, “Dear Mr. President. Mississippi River. You can send water to Somalia. You can freeze a metal box and send it there. Don’t worry, it will melt there. Sincerely, Tenshing John Honda”. While President Clinton probably had more important things to worry about, I wanted to assure him that my plan was full proof. About a month later I got a letter back in the mail with a signed photograph of my boy Bill. He told me he appreciated my comments and that I should try to help my local community. Sure thing Mr. President. After that episode, my mom decided to give get me a world globe. We went over all the countries of the world and talked about all the issues that they had to deal with. I guess that’s why I want to travel to 100 countries. Another theory is my hero Robert Ripley from “Ripley’s believe it or not” inspired me but that’s a story best left for another day.