私は春学期、CIPとして大原学院という小・中学校で英語を教えるボランティアをしています。毎週水曜日、日本語の授業が終わったらすぐ大原に行って、四時間ぐらい過ごしています。まず、二、三年生などの先生と生徒一緒に話しながら給食を食べています。ちっちゃい子供達は、すごく可愛くて、学校の中で一番内気ではなさそうだがら、この時間を楽しみにしています。そのあと、英語を教えていらっしゃる前田先生と打ち合わせをしてから、二つのクラスを教えることになっています。各学年が違う英語力を持っていて、しかも違う性格が見えるから、みんなと知り合うのは楽しいし、日本の学生生活を学ばせてもらういい機会でもあります。授業では、会話や発音の練習をしています。日本とアメリカの学校のあり方や教え方はかなり違っているから、毎週色々な面白いことに気づいて勉強になります。

Volunteering at the Bazaar Cafe has been a very rewarding experience for me. Even if this were not my CIP, I would enjoy going there to study or have coffee with friends. The atmosphere of the cafe, whether one is experiencing it as a customer, a volunteer, or both, is really what won me over. It is such a warm, friendly place that you cannot help but feel welcome. I’ve noticed a really strong sense of community, both among the staff, and with the customers as well. Week by week, I’ve come to recognize many regulars, some of whom even stop by Fridays or Saturdays as well. There appear to be genuine friendships between those customers and our barista/manager, who I always see sharing personal anecdotes and jokes. One regret of mine is not having put more effort into interacting with the customers, which is something I would highly recommend to future KCJS newcomers.

My conversations with the staff, on the other hand, have been both fun and a great learning opportunity. The staff are some of the nicest people that I’ve met in Japan, and so I never have to feel uneasy if I make mistakes on the job (embarrassed, yes). One thing that I’ve noticed is how some of the staff call the manager “Tsu-ki,” instead of a formal Tsukishita-san. That really shows, in my opinion, not only the warm and casual relationship among the staff, but the humility of the cafe’s owner.

The international character of the café is also a refreshing change of scenery. Although the staff on Thursdays when I work is mostly Japanese, those who work on Fridays and Saturdays hail from various parts of the world and the cuisine reflects that diversity. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet a number of interesting customers, including Doshisha students, professors, and tourists from various countries. Thursdays have become quite an interesting and unpredictable part of my weeks here in Kyoto.

This quarter I was an intern at HUB Kyoto.  HUB seemed like the perfect creative space for me to debut as a functioning member of Japanese society in a friendly, collaborative setting.  The HUB “Dojo” is a community center nestled not far from the Doshisha campus in a beautifully renovated Kyoto machiya-style building.  I was immediately smitten with its tatami rooms on the second floor and bamboo garden hidden away in the back.

My first move as an intern was attending “HUB Kitchen,” a monthly event that is open to all HUB members.  It is an informal buffet-style dinner and forum where people can bounce laughs and ideas off of each other.  While there, I was able to talk to a variety of Kyoto natives in Japanese and English, and it was amazing to hear stories of how people ended up in Kyoto or kept coming back.  I was able to meet the staff members of Kyoto Journal magazine.  After I expressed my interest in writing, we soon struck up a correspondence about how I could contribute to Kyoto Journal magazine as the focus of my HUB internship.

I started off preparing a summary of a Japanese documentary event that was held at HUB Kyoto.  My next project was to interview HUB Kyoto staff, and then translate the interview into whichever language it wasn’t conducted in.  I prepared my questions and looked forward to getting a personal glimpse of HUB Kyoto’s members and their unique interests. The logistics of this process proved to be quite a challenge.  The last few weeks have been an endless parade of me trying to track down people to interview.  HUB members are busy people!  I scheduled one interview two times, and on the third time when I was sure I would have success, my interviewee simply did not show up.  I really wanted to enjoy working for HUB, and if I were not juggling a schedule of KCJS courses and host family obligations, this would all seem less frustrating.

Though I am not satisfied with my output this quarter at HUB, I still think that it was a good experience for me.  While it has been a challenge coordinating with the individuals at HUB, these situations have provided me with the opportunity to sharpen my Japanese communication skills (phone calls, emails, one-on-one discussions) so that they are clear and effective.  I believe that this very basic correspondence practice will be valuable to me as I continue my Japanese studies.  I look forward to a change of pace next quarter and plan to pursue a traditional and perhaps more rewarding individual class, such as pottery or tea ceremony.

この秋学期に、私はバザールカフェという場所でボランティアをしています。同志社大学の近くにある目立たないカフェで、そこに毎週木曜日の午後に行って手伝っています。週三日しか開いていないですが、バザールカフェには大切な活動理念があります。その目的は「人々が安心して過ごせる、守られた場の提供をしています」と書いてあります。このような場所は、京都だけじゃなく、世界中でも少ないと思うから、本当に感心しました。日本人に限定しないですから、カフェで働いている人には外国人が多いです。アメリカ人だけじゃなく、いろいろな国の人々と話したり、時間を過ごしたりする機会は、新鮮で楽しい経験だと思います。雰囲気的にも、バザールカフェはとてもきれいで、新緑に囲まれているから、静かな隠れ家といった感じがします。食べるにしても勉強するにしても、いい所だと思います。

私は「HUB Kyoto: Dojo for Change」というセンターでインターンシップをしています。HUB Kyoto は生き生きとした、革新的な人々の集まりです。HUB は世界的なネットワークです。世界の中で、四十以上のHUBセンターがあります。それぞれHUBの目的は世界を変えたい人たちが集まることができる場所になることです。

インターンとして、私はHUB スタッフ とHUB メンバーといろいろな話す機会があります。デザインや文書に興味がありますので、私は「Kyoto Journal」という雑誌とコラボすることができます。私の責仕はHUBのエベントに行って、要約の記事を二つ書くことです。一つはKyoto Journalのために、英語で書きます。他に、HUBのフェイスブックページのため、書き込みます。それに、私はメンバーにインタビューをします。独創的な方法とHUBの掛かり合いについて質問を聞きます。この記事も両方（Kyoto Journal とHUB)で使用されています。

私とって、一番大きな問題はHUBのエベントで話される日本語を全部を理解することです。エベントはたいてい日本語だけで行われます。聞く時に頑張りますが、基調講演は私には分かりにくいです。しかし、これらのエベントはいい日本語で話す機会だと思います。

私は少なくとも週一回HUBに行きますが、よく、週二回くらい行きます。家で記事を書きます。対応と一人での仕事のバランスはちょうど良いと思います。時間のコミットメントは大きいですけど、やりがいがあります。私の日本語の能力は上がってきたから、満足できます。

HUBメンバーのプロジェクトについて話を聞くのはすごく面白くて、やる気を起こさせることです。HUBはキャンパスに近いので、是非、時間があったら、来てみてください。

For my CIP, I have been volunteering at a program called Nico Toma (which aptly stands for “smiling tomato”), a program which runs a playroom and other fun events for the children staying in the Children’s Ward at the Kyoto University hospital. Once a week since September I have been going to Nico Toma and mostly helping out with decorations or other craft and organizational tasks. On days that there are special events, like the spring and Christmas cafes and fundraising bazaar, I get to have more contact with the children as I am usually assigned a task where I get to help them pick out which basket of candies they want or help them put cookies on their plate. Increasingly as I have acquired more experience with the program I have noticed an increase in the responsibility of the tasks I am assigned, which is a relief because although I like doing arts and crafts always doing simplistic tasks is boring.

Something I have noticed as I have worked with the same volunteers is a gradual transformation of speaking styles when speaking with the other volunteers, not just the style of speaking becoming less formal, but also the content of the questions slowly becoming more personal and more complex. In the beginning, we spoke of mostly simplistic things such as likes and dislikes, basic facts of our lives, etc. Now we tackle much more complex topics, such as the differences between Americans and Japanese, politics, and other much more esoteric topics. I also find it interesting how in Japanese, much more clearly than in English, you can tell your closeness to a person by their use of particular language. Perhaps this clear language distinction reflects a Japanese preoccupation with distinctions between social gradients.

As I have spent a little more time this semester out in the Children’s Ward changing the decorations, I have also had more of an opportunity to witness the reactions of parents and the hospital staff to us as volunteers in the hospital. The reactions of the different types of people in the hospital to us are usually very different. Doctors and nurses usually seem pleased to see us, and really seem to appreciate the decorations. The children are always pleased and curious, although the younger ones can look a little intimidated. To the younger kids we are almost as interesting as the new decorations; they stare unabashedly at us the whole time we are working. It’s the parents who have the most diverse reactions. Some are very enthusiastic about seeing us there, others are ambivalent, and some people even seem annoyed or confused about why we are there. Because volunteering in hospitals is so uncommon in Japan, at least according to the other volunteers, perhaps it is just that these parents see communicating with a foreigner another added burden in an already stressful situation. Overall, I have enjoyed my time volunteering with Nico Toma and the opportunity to interact with so many different kinds of people that I would not have had contact with otherwise. Plus, the kids are always so adorable!

私のCIPは病院でのボランティアです。「にこトマ」というプログラムで私は病気の子供と遊んだりし、子供にあげるためにいろいろなカードと他の物を作ったりします。「にこトマ」の名前の意味はにこにこトマトということです。毎週、木曜日に私は病院に行っていろいろなことをします。「にこトマ」の誕生日は二月の終わりですから、先週に誕生日のために子供の病棟を飾りつけました。

先学期から「にこトマ」に参加している人は私とサムさんですが、今学期からはマリさんとジュリさんとジュミさんも参加しています。子供が遊ぶ部屋にはボランティアは二人しかいられないから、時々私は子供と遊べないので、他のボランティアをしている日本人とクラフトをします。だんだんボランティアをしている日本人と知り合いになってきましたから、今少しカジュアルな話し方をよく使っています。中高年者の女の人と友達になりましたから、毎週私は「にこトマ」に行くのを楽しみにしています。