The Rest of the Tour

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Family eating lunch in the pub.

Diana and I moved on from Weston to Maitland where we found 80 Church Street.  The house has been renovated.  Once it was all white, somewhat rundown but comfortable with many bedrooms and two staircases, one meant for the residents and one for the hired help.  I lived in the room with the hired help staircase.  Our rent was cheap then, 100 dollars a month which included everything but meat.  I remember Joyce making omelets under the grill which I had not seen before.  I remember making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for everyone in the house, including a recipe for corn bread, which took everyone by surprise because it wasn't sweet.  The house looks different now, it has been renovated, painted, new trees in the front.  But it is still near the train station and the old pub is still across the road.  I considered knocking on the front door to have a look but decided I preferred to remember it as I knew it in 1975.
  Diana suggested we eat lunch across the road in the pub where we ordered fish and chips.  Diana laughed at the grandmother, mother, teenager and baby eating lunch in the pub.  All the adults were drinking including the teen who appeared about 17 years old.  Diana laughed louder when I asked why the girl wasn't working or in school instead of drinking beer at lunch.  She remarked things hadn't changed much in Maitland since the 70's.  I had a beer with my lunch as well, seemed the thing to do.
  Next, we stopped at the Hanks family home, which was still on Main Street, set off by itself.  When Maitland wanted to improve roads in the area, the house became in danger of being bulldozed by progress in order to build a bypass.  The house had been built by Diana's husband's family in the early part of the century.  It was constructed with 2 front doors in the style of the time of houses on main roads in country towns.  The builders were expecting the main road to develop and the house would match the other buildings that would be built on either side.  Things didn't turn out that way however, and when the government wanted to destroy the home, Bruce turned to his friends in high places to have it saved as an historic building.  Saved it was.  Bruce's old aunties lived well into their nineties, living in the home until they died.  The home was purchased by someone who renovated it and it is still in use now as a private residence, sitting by itself, overlooking the bypass which came anyway but went around it.
 I couldn't resist going to the train station where Annette, Jenny and I were dropped on a Sunday afternoon, with no where to stay, no knowledge of anywhere to stay, with all the hotels closed on Sunday and knowing no one.  There we sat on the train station platform with our luggage.  Somehow we made it to the only motel in town and I no longer remember how we got there.  It is now a Best Western motel called The Endeavour and the owners at that time took us under his wing.  I don't remember their names anymore either, but I do remember that the owner managed to hook me up with a used car dealer who provided me with a car for the duration of my living in Maitland as well as a doctor who provided me free medical care while I lived in Australia.  What luck we had that day hooking up with that motel. 
  From the train station we found the flat that I originally lived in East Maitland as well as the Endevour Motel, taking pictures all the way.  It was very satisfying to see these places again, as if I needed to confirm for myself that those years really happened. The more I looked at places in the area and talked with Diana the more I remembered. 
  Diana and I spent the day in Maitland, looking and nonstop talking.  She fixed dinner for us that evening at home, a typical Aussie dinner of steak and vegetables which we ate while listening to the final dregs of the election for Prime Minister.  Seeing her again and spending time talking was like it was yesterday.  Those early connections never seem to die even after 36 years and 12,000 miles.
  I am going to try to insert some pictures that I took on this day.

Hank's home in Maitland.  Notice the two front doors.

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Family eating lunch in the pub.

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80 Church Stree, Maitland, NSW, Australia, 2010

East Maitland Train Station

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First Flat shared with American teachers

Karen Wester, Joyce Kouw, Linda Duncan,
August, 2010
Roommates at 80 Church Street, 1975-76

Diana and Max the day I left.

Going to Weston, aka Am I Crazy, Did I really do That?

I am writing this in retrospect, a week after I visited my old school in Weston, NSW, from 36 years ago.  I am still thinking about why it was so important to go there and why now.

I taught there for a little over a year, 36 years ago.  I remember it, sometimes well, sometimes not.  Sometimes I have wondered did I actually do that, go to a foreign country and teach school?  Well, yes, I did.  And I also remember it pretty accurately as confirmed by my four teaching mates, and roommates from Maitland, whom I found with surprising ease when I got to Sydney.

I drove from Sydney up to Gosford on Tuesday, August 17, to Diana's.  Diana, the second grade teacher who was smart, enthusiastic and interested innovative teaching and learning from America in 1975, much to the anxious concern of our wonderful Head Mistress, Rona Mailfert.  Mrs. Mailfert was 65 when I knew her and has since died. Diana and I drove to Weston on that Wednesday to take me on my magical mystery tour, beginning with the school.  We found it easily although Diana had not been there since the 70's like me.  My first look at it was familiar but not.  It was smaller than I remembered.  As we walked into the courtyard we spied a gentleman who appeared to be someone important, and indeed, he was the principal.  66 year old Allen has been the principal for 13 years and had received my emails although he had not answered them.  He greeted us like he was expecting us at that exact moment.  When Diana introduced us he turned to me with a broad smile and said he could hear my accent in my email.  He had tried to find out if anyone there still remembered me but did not find anyone.  Everyone who would remember had left or died.  But he welcomed us and was pleased to tour us around the renovated Weston school.  My classroom has been turned into the staff room but other than that the Infants school remains the same.  I met the kindergarten teacher who introduced me to her class.  When the children heard my accent, were told I had taught there many years ago and determined that I was from America, a little girl raised her had and said with a gleam in her eye, "My Nan had you!"  Which is very likely true as most of the people in that area don't leave and many of the parents and grandparents and great grandparents in that school went there.
  It was eerie being there, remembering how things were with Diana and the principal.  We talked about the things teachers talk about, how times have changed, how kids are harder to reach, how parents do this or that, or not, how central administration can make things hard or not, how much things cost, how nice it is to get an infusion of technology money. We also talked about how America has taken the "results approach" and that one of the candidates for Prime Minister, Julia Guillard liked this idea from America and wants it implemented in Australia.  The issue then is how do you measure results and are benchmarks fair if a child starts low but makes great progress?  But the principal reckoned that since America had gone down that path, Australia would soon follow.  There seems to be a general agreement that whatever America does, Australia does it about 10 years later.
 Weston has a nice lab which is certainly different.  Classes in kindergarten are not over 20, and there has been a large upgrading of the building with paint, a new courtyard, a new canteen (all kids eat lunch at school now which is different)  and a few renovations...but it is mostly the same--kids in their uniforms, quiet, small, happy place.  I asked Allen when he planned on retiring.  And he said he was enjoying his school too much to retire and that he expected he would know when it was time.  And what would he do if he retired?  He likes going to work.

My former classroom turned into staff room.

And so I got a little teary again.  I didn't want to leave.  I wanted to stay and volunteer in the kindergarten and just be there. It is away from my life at home, a sudden lack of pressure.  Perhaps my own retirement which signals a new part of life reminds me of that earlier time in my life which was also a signal of a new stage-- where you begin to see things differently, with a new perspective as an adult.  Certainly living in Maitland and experiencing a new culture gave me a new perspective on my life, my country,and the world that I have carried with me.  Maybe you just have to cry when one thing ends and another begins.  Maybe you have to cry when you find out that what you remember is really what you remember.  And maybe you have to cry when you spend time with people like Diana, Joyce, and Linda who were very important to me even if for a short while, so many, many years later.

Kindergarten Class, Weston, 2010

Diana's second grade classroom, still the same.

Staff room

Weston Infants School, Weston, NSW, Australia

Japanese Rules

1. One must remove one's shoes when entering a changing room in a department store to try on clothes. AND you must point them in the proper direction, pointing away from the dressing room and not on the carpet and to the left as you face the dressing room. The clerk will be very glad to make sure your shoes are in the proper place for trying on clothes.

2. When you are paying a bill in a commercial establishment, the clerk or server will put a little tray out for your money or your credit card. If you should inadvertently hand the clerk your credit card the clerk will take it, place it in the tray, pull it to him or her and then pick it up to run it.

3. Walk on the left. Stand on left on the escalator. Drive on the left. Except when the sign says to do it on the right. On the right never applies to driving but the walking thing can drive you nuts.

4. Do not pat a Japanese on the shoulder. Do not offer an affectionate hug. Do bow, a lot.

5. Do not wear shoes the right size. This may not be a real rule but judging from how many people do not wear shoes that fit it must be unwritten somewhere.

Driving

Driving on the left side of the road after 35 years was a challenge...but not. I only say not because I have gotten where I want to go without an accident or maiming myself or anyone else. I rented a car at Sydney airport and drove 20 miles out to north Ryde. The challenges were
1. Traffic was thick and fast. There are lots toll roads which I was instructed to drive through and then call a number to tell them my car is rented and give them my credit card number so they can just charge my card. There were several tunnels, long and dark. As in any big city there there were other drivers whondid not like my slow speed.
2. The gps spoke in Australian--accent and word choice. Hence I had to concentrate on what the voice meant when she said, "drive into the roundabout and take the third right for Telavera.". This meant do a u turn and go gback the other way. Ha!!
Or she would say "Turn left, turn left, turn left,then turn left" BEFORE I had actually gotten to the corner, so after I turned left I thought I was done turning left. But no, was supposed to turn left again immediately after turning left so I missed the hotel parking lot three times, driving around the same block.
3. I had to concentrate mightily to stay on the left and then stay in the lane as well. Right hand drivers tend to slide over the center line when twonlanes of traffic are going in the same direction. Making a right hand turn is also tricky. By the time I got to the hotel my muscles were shaking and stomach in knots. It is hard to concentrate on staying in the left, in the lane, listening to the gps and reading the street signs as well as making sure I was aware of other drivers. The lady who rented me the car kept saying, " Awww, (a very Australian thing to say) you'll be right" but I am not sure she believed it herself. Every Australian I have told that I drove up here has remarked on my bravery. Still have to drive to Newcastle and Gosford! Ye gods and little catfish as my grandmother used to say!

Second day in Sydney

Going to Sydney

I have already met two older Australians that remember the influx of Canadian and US 
teachers.  One of them had some when he was in high school.  It is nice to hear so much English. Makes it easier to know what I am doing.

The approach to Sydney from the air is indescribable.  I recognized the opera house, harbor bridge and other landmarks.  The ocean was calm and beautiful.  Words really do escape me.

Driving was scary.  And that is a mild description.  It took every bit of concentration that i had. Everyone I have told that I rented a car and drove here has remarked that I am certainly a brave person.
I gripped the steering wheel so hard for two hours that my arms ached.  A 45 minute trip took two hours.  Had to stop for directions at a convenience store and asked a man for help.  After he finished with the directions he said, "now, just stay in the left and don' t go over 30 km an hour.  It doesn't matter if you are going slow."  The road is a straight shot to Newscastle and not much traffic but I am not driving back to the airport.


Unbelievable! I found my three Aussie roommates from 30 years ago.  Joyce is just as I remember her.  We had dinner together last night.  Talked nonstop.  We compared memories about our joint trip across Asia and found we do indeed remember lots of incidences the same.  As expensive as Japan was I think Australia is more so.  No free wifi here either (except in McDonalds which is across the street).   
   Linda is coming up from Melbourne on Friday.  We have had parallel lives so far apart.
There are elections here for Prime Minister.  Accountability in education is a big issue.  One of the candidates is a very attractive woman.  Not  a candidate we have had in the US yet.  

I am staying in a Courtyard Marriott in Macquarie Park.  It is a much nicer one than I have seen anywhere.  Has a full dinner restaurant and very nice people.
This hotel has lots of Asian guests and now I am watching them figure out how to negotiate breakfast.  One woman couldn't figure out how to get the coffee out of the urn by pushing the button  I am not sure she even knew it was coffee.  My recent experiences needing helpbecause of language encouraged me to help her and I was rewarded with a big grin of thanks!
Another man made pancakes and then picked them up like a sandwich to eat them. Have heard no English from any of them.  Ashley is the name of the young man running the restaurant.  Alex is the bartender.  She and I had a talk about Facebook.  It is winter and 20 degrees Celsius out.  People are eating on the patio but they think it is very cold.   I think it is totally refreshing.  Last night Joyce told me to be sure to bring my jumper because it would be so cold out.  I took my light jacket and then was hot. 


Children...the same everywhere at the young ages.  A two year old boy is running around like wildfire.  Parents cannot get him to sit down even for pancakes and syrup.  An older woman sitting by herself is shaking her head at him and the parents who really don't know what to do.

Today, Sunday, I hope to take the train into Sydney to the Opera House and Circular Quay and take a ferry ride to Manly.  Not sure what I am doing on Monday.  

First Day in Sydney

The thing that I thought least likely to happen did. I located Linda Duncan and Joyce Kouw, my roomates from Maitland. Had dinner and drinks with Joyce tonight and Linda will come up from Melbourne to Sydney on Friday. Who would have thought after all this time I would have found all three. Found Robyn but haven't heard back from her yet. Plans now change I probably won' t go to Bribie Island but will spend time with old friends.

The Last Day

Today is the last day in Japan. I fly out in 7 hours, go to the airport in 1. I am eating lunch in the atrium before I go. I surely hate to leave. Haven't looked at school email since I left. Have heard little from home lately. I feel further away from home than when I first arrived here. Andi and I wandered the underground a bit this morning. She and Owen left for home at 12:30, so I am alone again. The next part of this trip is intended to be a true letting go of the life I just completed and a bridge to the next part. I will have lots of time to reflect and think and unwind and relax by myself.
Japan has given me many surprises and just got another--surprises to the last! The tomato soup came. Was expecting soup to be warm and it is stone cold. It is very good but still a surprise.
After the heat and humidity here that wears you to a nub, the 60 degree weather in Sydney will be a relief. So, onto my hamburger lunch and Australia.

Out of Tokyo

Today we went out of the city to Kamakura. It's about an hour out and required some detailed planning how to get there. The rail system in this country is truly outstanding. For very small cost we got a train out to the general area where we then purchased an all day pass for a few dollars on an electric train that wound us around a scenic area of temples, Buddhas and gardens. We saw the Big Buddha, lovelybtemple and garden and then ended in a Japanese beach town where the young of japan were swimming, listening to rock n roll and showing their remarkable bodies. I must say it is the first time I have seen so many young women wearing 3 inch spike heels with a bikini. It was miserably hot and we weren't dressed for the beach. It is amazing to see this clean city and never be able to find a trash can of any kind. We ended carrying our snack trash home in our backpacks. Tomorrow is our last day. We take a boat ride to Asakusa, a traditional marketplace and then go to formal tea ceremony in a local garden where shoguns disembarked when coming to Tokyo. Still haven' seen the trumpet playing robot so we' do that tomorrow as well. On Friday Andi and Owen take off for home in the morning and I fly to Sydney and begin looking for old friends. Inhave a couple of pretty good addresses and my old school is still in Weston. So perhaps I will be lucky and find someone. You never know.

Right and Left

In Japan one drives on the left side of the road. So people walk on the left side of the sidewalk. In the subways one enters the car on the left. Escalators however, are a different matter. Sometimes the down escalator is on the left and sometimes it is on the right. Sometimes the escalator takes people down while right beside that escalator people are walking up. Sometimes the escalator takes people up while the people going down have to walk. Sometimes you have to walk going in both directions but eve then sometimes you walk on the right and sometimes you walk up on the left.
Andi reminds me to stand to the left on the escalator so people can pass but not everyone follows that rule which seems strange in a land where following the rules is highly valued. The one thing you can be sure of in a subway is that you cannot be sure of which side to walk on.

Interesting Things I Have Learned or Remembered About Japan(ese)

This is a list in no particular order of importance.
1. The Japanese often run. Not for exercise or to catch a bus...they just run. Suddenly and for no reason except to get somewhere fast.
2. 40 percent of all Japanese smoke. Smoking is permitted in restaurants but discouraged. There are general designated smoking corners outside in commercial areas.
3. Japanese are rule followers. The rules are presented as "suggestions" but you darn well better follow them!
4. Japanese women wear black leggings even when it is over 100 degrees.
5. There are an extraordinary number of people in Tokyo.
6. Almost everyone on the subway falls asleep immediately upon boarding and sitting down. In fact, lots of Japanese take advantage of the opportunity to sleep every chance he or/she gets. We have seen someone sleeping standing up in a corner os the subway, someone sitting on a bike at an intersection waiting to cross the road, someone sitting in Starbucks with a cup of coffee in front of him before going to work, have managed to get a few pictures unobtrusively.
7. It is quiet in Japan even when there are lots of people around. 20 people were eating breakfast today and nary a peep.
8. Children in any culture tantrum the same.
9. This is a very clean place. People are constantly cleaning escalators. And everything else. I have never seen anyone cleaning an escalator in the U. S. although Andi sees it occasionally in NY.
10. Many Japanese like to practice their English on people who speak English.
11. Not all the roads in Tokyo are named. This makes getting around a challenge. Not even cab drivers know how to get places. This morning Andi and I went to a local fish market to watch the tuna auctions and got a cab at her hotel (more about that later). The concierge called the cab and gave the driver the directions and showed him on the map. Half way there the driver asked Andi for the map again. The fish market is not but a mile away and a tourist attraction, one would think he would know it. If a cab driver doesn't know where your destination is and you don't speak Japanese he won't let you in the cab.
12. Japanese like to help you. If you ask for directions on the street ask at least 3 people. You may get 3 different answers but if 2 people tell you the same thing it's probably correct. I know this from personal experience. Carry at least 3 maps at all times. There is no such thing as having too many maps. The subway is the easiest thing to get around in.
13. Bidets are wonderful.
More later....
10.

Grocery Shopping

It is Sunday, August 1.  Time is flying by.

Today we ventured out into the subway.  It is not nearly as scary as the NYC subway.  The trains are exactly on time, the signs are clear even to non Japanese speakers, the cars are modern, air conditioned and well kept.  Turned out to be quite fun.  We went grocery shopping since none of us want to spend a fortune here just on eating.  So we got supplies for our rooms.  The unusual thing about grocery shopping here is that it is not unusual.  It was like being in an American grocery store except for the amount of seafood and seaplants for sale.  We hunted down 4 different grocery stores, I walked 14,000 steps or 4.3 miles this morning. 

I am going to take a nap.

Dumb Americans part II

We aren't really so dumb.  After lunch yesterday and a good nap, Andi and I caught a train to Asukusa and found a delightful Japanese neighborhood whose shopping district is still in the style of Edo period in Japanese history.  Little stalls lined streets filled with all kinds of merchandise...all the plastic stuff for which Japan is famous, Japanese sweets, fake handbags, fans, kimonos, happy coats, shoes--you name it, it was there.  This area gave meaning to the phrase "made in Japan".  This is a big tourist area and there were many rickshaws (sp?) vying for business. We also walked around a number of shrines and temples including one called the "Five story pagoda".  Lots of people were purchasing fortunes to leave for good luck in the front of the main temple as well as lighting and leaving incense.  It was the first time we have seen such huge crowds in the streets. 

Despite the obvious cultural differences it strikes how our two cultures are also alike in this day and time.  People are just going to work, taking care of their families, looking for a place to eat lunch in peace, shopping...doing all the normal things of living in a big city.  More later.

The Dumb Americans

  Andi and I set out today confident that we could negoiate getting to where we wanted armed with 3 maps and good ole' common sense...little did we know.

We sat in a closeby Starbucks planning our route on an interesting self guided walking tour.  "How hard can this be?" we said to ourselves.    So off we went maps in hand, determined to find our way.  We were lost 100 yards out Starbucks.  We looked on the map by Oedo Station and then walked.  We looked at the map by Shimbashi Station.  And we walked. We walked and we walked and we walked, looking for something that looked liked something on the map.  Trying to find where the Ginza and Asakusa subway lines curved near each other.  One of the problems with finding your way in Tokyo is that most streets are not labeled, never mind that the ones that are are only labeled in japanese characters.  We walked up and down the same street 4 times.  We veered over the place with the bend in the road.  We walked away from Chuo Dori (the only road I know the name of and exactly where it is for sure)knowing it is in the Ginza neighborhood not Asakusa where we were going.  We asked a very nice gentleman where we were by pointing at the map.  He kept trying to put us on a subway which we did not want to do.   Finally we sat down 2.5 hours later, on the Ginza road (the wrong one) staring at the map.  We knew where we were, knew where we wanted to be but couldn't see to end up there no matter how hard we tried.  A kind japanese woman asked us in English if she could help (my daughter doesn't like to give in and ask for directions), thank goodess.  She told us we would need to take the train to Asakusa because it was at least an hour away by foot...which accounted for why none of the few labels we had matched anything we knew and why we kept walking in circles.  And why the other man kept trying to put us on the subway...the lesson to be learned here is .
1.  Don't wait too long to ask for help.
2.  Read the guidebook carefully.

We are now back at the hotel, it's 12 noon, and we are exhaused.  We will take a nap, eat a little something and go find a train.  Jeez.