Sunflower 2 ~ Mom

This story continues from Sunflower.

Sunflower is my favourite flower, if not, favourite item.

When someone asks me 

"What is your favourite food?"  I would say, 

"Anything that is tasty. Ummm, probably sanma (horse mackerel)." 

When someone askes me 

"What is your favourite colour?" I would say, 

"Ummm, probably a rainbow colour, because my favourite colour changes depends on how I feel that time."

double rainbow in Chilliwack

When someone askes me 

"What is your favourite things to do?"  I would say 

"Anything that makes me happy." 

True happiness is the one you can find
in front of you now, even it is small.

Anything makes me happy is my favourite thing. 

But if I have to pick one thing that I can say it is my favourite, is Sunflower.

I'm not a collector of anything, so my house isn't filled with sunflower items,

but when I see a sunflower, it really lifts my heart .

Perhaps, I have been attracted to sunflower since my childhood. 

When I was younger, my family lived in a house up on a steep hill in Nagasaki, and there

was a small flower bed.  We used to have cucumbers and egg plants in summer time,

and I remember cucumber grew really well while egg plants didn't grow well.

 We called the ginormous cucumber that was forgotten to be picked because it was  hidden behind leaves as "monster cucumber" .

I asked my mother,

"Why don't you plant flower seeds instead of vegetable seeds?"

She answered,

"Because we can't eat flower, right?"

Well, that was a realistic answer from her as she was a cooking teacher.

One day, I found a beautiful rape blossoms on the steep cliff.

 I climbed up the super steep cliff to pick the blossoms so then my mom 

could enjoy the flowers in a vase.

When I gave a bumch of blossoms, she said,

"Oh !  They look yummy!"  instead of "They look beautiful !" and they were on

our dinner table that night.

Yes, that's my mom. 

Anyways, let's get back to the story of the sunflower.

Because I asked her why didn't she plant flower seeds, my mom decided to

plant sunflower seeds instead of the cucumber seeds before the next summer.

There were very tall sunflowers and short sunflowers grew side by side, and

I was so happy to see them growing together.

I remember one conversation I had with my mom clearly on one summer day when we came home from shopping and looked at the flower bed.

"You are like a sunflower, mama. They are always smiling, strong and looks like a sun. This big one is mama, this little one beside it is Mai-chan(me)."

（Everyone used to call me Mai-chan, so I did not know that I suppose to call myself as

"me", so I used to call myself "Mai-chan" .）

The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring 

to people, for example -san, as in Amano-san. These honorifics are gender-neutral 

(can be used for males and females), though some are more used for men or women 

(-kun is primarily used for males, while -chan is primarily used for women) and can be 

attached to first names as well as surnames, for example, Peter-san, Jessica-san, Smith-san. 

from Wikipedia

She did not express any joy from her daughter's comment, but simply said

「Oh,, I'm like a sunflower to you... okkay....」

If I look back, probably it was surprising to her that her little girl looked at her as a smiley sunshine while she had to hide her sadness after her husband passed away and had to

raise three girls by herself.

Anyway, that was the only summer that she planted sunflowers and the cucumbers came back the next summer. She liked foods from the garden instead of flowers.

As you can see, I was attracted to sunflower ever since I was a little girl, for some reason.

Without knowing that sunflower would be the one brought me this beautiful family. 

I will write one more story about the sunflower how it brought me this happiness now,

please look forward to reading the next story :)

Sunflower

There is one beautiful sunflower in my back deck.  Actually, it WAS beautiful, now it is becoming dry.

I could have put it in a vase and enjoyed on my kitchen table, but I wanted to have

seeds from this particular flower, so I decided to keep it in a soil until it will produce some seeds.

　One year ago, I have been given this sunflower seeds from Emily's family at her celebration of life service. 

Emily is a very special person whom I'm fortunate to know even for a short time. If you would like to know about Emily, please visit "Blink for Yes" .

　

 There were about 10 seeds in one bag. I decided to plant 7 seeds in small planters, but only one survived.  Some were eaten by the snails, some didn't even come out.  There was one other plant that did really well but couldn't have a flower.

　

 One windy day, I did not realize that the wind knocked the plants down. Accidentally, I stepped on one plant when I was hanging laundries.  The plant didn't look well after I stepped on it, and I thought it wouldn't make it.

 However, it was one of only two that survived, and I really wanted to save its life !  I tried Reiki on the plant, I put lots of soil to cover the 'injured' part, and it started to do well !

　

It looked like 

"I almost didn't make it, but I found the way! I am going towards the light !"

 I wished I put more support so then this little plant will grow stronger and would have had a flower. But one windy day, it snapped... (tears,,,) 

So, the last hope is this beautiful sunflower.

My kids named this flower "Emily".

When the leaves are wilting, they would say

"Mommy ! Emily is thirsty !" as if she is part of our family or pet. 

When the seeds were given to us, there was a message on the bag

”Growing Hope”

Its not what you gather but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.

I would love to grow Emily's message bigger.  I am so looking forward to having lots of seeds coming from Emily's sunflower for next summer! 

Sunflower is my favourite thing, and I have few good life stories around sunflowers.

I will share with you, next time :) 

　

It's been a while

It has been over 4 months since I update my blog.

My life became so busy and updating my blog has been in the bottom of the priority

lately.

I thought I was the only one enjoying writing and did not think people were waiting

for my update. But I met my friend who I haven't seen for a while and she told me

"Mari-san !  Your blog has been stopped for a long time :) Everytime when I check

your blog, it is always showing the same story ! LOL " 

I am so grateful that someone is looking forward to read my blog, thank you, thank you !

I do have many stories that I want to write.

Story of Leanne, story of my tooth, story of Amanda Jayne, story of my dog, story of sunflower, story of mystery, etc etc.

I will slowly be back on track of writing my blog, so please visit again soon !!! :) 

Jikiden Reiki class in Japanese !

It has been already 5 years, since I have started to teach Jikiden Reiki, my vocation.

I am Japanese, and my first language is Japanese, but most of my Reiki classes

are in English. Because I live in a small town far away from Vancouver, and population

of Japanese itself is small.

But this weekend class was in Japanese! It has been two years since I taught

Jikiden Reiki class in Japanese last time! 

In the 5 years, this class was only the 4th time for me to offer in Japanese.  

I did not realize how much I was excited, nervous and joyful, to be able to share my vocation in my own language until I started the past weekend !

"Nervousness"

Reiki started from Japan, I am from Japan, my first language is Japanese, and 

all the participants are Japanese, so I thought the class would be easier than

the ones in English.  However, I was more nervous than the English class! 

Probably, I am already used to teach the Reiki class in English.  

I noticed that I could not come up with a suitable Japanese word.

"What do I say this word in Japanese?" 

In addition, I am used to type on the computer and the computer picks

the characters for me, so I realized that I am forgetting to write Japanese!

I couldn't write the ordinary characters like "治療" on the whiteboard...

Also, I wasn't reading well, especially, the old style Japanese.

"Joy"

Reiki was born in Japan. 

Before the WW2, there were over 1 million Reiki practitioners and many of them 

had a signboard like "REIKI HOUSE" upfront for their own livelihood. 

Just like a massage therapist have the sign board out. 

However, after Japan lost the WW2, the alternative therapies received strict regulations and they disappeared very quickly, include Reiki treatments.

While Reiki was disappearing in Japan, it has been kept spreading to the West. Many

Reiki practitioners and teachers have been active in North America, Europe and many other countries. 

Despite the fact that Reiki started in Japan, many Japanese people do not know reiki, 

and do not take it seriously, or less people accept it. I am not sure why. Maybe they misunderstand reiki and the modern weird religious group. 

That is why I was filled with JOY this time for the fact there were 5 Japanese

ladies came to learn Jikiden Reiki !!! 

Anothe JOY is, the food!  Masako always caters lunch and desserts for our Reiki class!

My Reiki class in Chilliwack can not be completed without her food.

We had a request for a Vegan food from one of the participant. 

Here is the Masako's creation.

Sushi ball with smoke salmon and pea.

Delicious !!!

It was like a new years special menu !

Originally, Japanese diet was fish-vegetarian. Eating the meat and 

drinking milk were introduced to Japan from the western culture. Especially drinking 

milk was introduced by the American soldiers after WW2. They taught us to drink milk, so then Japanese people will be taller, like American.  That is why there are many Japanese people whocan not digest milk, because genetically, Japanese body are not used to 

digest milk.

In the conversation over the weekend, I learned that Macrobiotics diet are originally 

from Japan. It started from Japan as "Genmai Saishoku(brown rice vegetarian)" and 

went out to the Western culture, and named as Macrobiotics. 

I learned a new thing again!

"Excitement"

Excitement, as usual. 

Reiki is such a simple and easy to learn technique. Complete beginner can start doing reiki

right after the first class. 

There was a lady who had a belly ache during the first day, and her pain was

starting to unbearable towards the end of the class.

When it was the time to do a group practice at the end of the class, 

she humblyasked

"...Can I be the receiver of the practice? My belly ache is becoming unbearable..."

Well, well, she is in a right place!　

"Even though this is a practice time, it should make you feel better after good 25minutes

treatment from those two ladies."

But, those two ladies just learned reiki and they have another day to learn. 

All of them are a bit doubtful, "Really, would it work even we are the beginners...?"

25minutes passed...

"How are you doing? It has been 25minutes now."

"Ummm, really? I just don't understand. I feel no pain now. My pain was almost 

unbearable just 25 minutes ago, but I don't feel any pain.  How did that work? 

How did you do that? " 

The two new practitioners were as surprised as her. 

"Oh really! It really worked!" I, who taught them how,  was as surprised as them. 

This is the moment of my excitement !!!

Reiki is such a simple, and everyone can do it, also effective treatment technique. 

I just want many people to know about it, and use it, then the world will be

such a gentle place, I think. 

No matter how old the child is, if a mother or someone can lie down with them and 

place her hand on a child's belly, head, back when a child gets sick or injured. .

How wonderful for them to feel the warmth of their mother's hand and fall asleep. 

How much better than taking Tylenol and lie down by themselves...

It does not have to be mother's hands.  It's the human's touch. 

Human's touch touches heart. 

　

Mission as a translator 3

Continues from Mission as a translator 2. 




Translator.

Finally after 3rd time of doing this work, I realized that a translator might be a 

physically demanding job. 

First time in 2008, I was more excited to learn the Shihan teacher course,

and also was excited to be able to stay in a hotel for 4 nights! It was like 

a vacation for me!

End of the Shihan course. First time to do the translation.

However, I developed a very high fever, 40.2c (105F) and ended up in a ER. Probably,

my brain was in shock by being used too much.

The second time in 2009, I was still excited from the past seminar and my adrenalin 

was going strong!  I even organized the entire seminar, did the translation, and we even

did a small talk show for people. 

I was just fine during the seminar and event.

A small talk show in Vancouver.

Although, every time when we finished seminar, I felt like I burnt out, and 

could not do anything for 2~3days.  I was a useless mom.

Did not do laundries, and a delivery pizza for dinner... 

2010 Vancouver seminar. 

In 2010, I travelled to Seattle, just to do translation. Other people were organizing

the seminar, so I could only focus on my duty as a translator. It seemed a lot 

easier for me, but again, I  ran down after the seminar ...

I thought,

"Translation is only 'talking'. I must be aging, because I get tired by only

talking !" 

By the way, the style of translation is not a simultaneous interpreting,

but consecutive interpreting.

 A person talk for one sentence, and interpreter translate the sentence. It takes a lot 

longer than simultaneous interpreting which translation happens while a person

is talking.  But consecutive interpreting can pass the information more correctly.

  

In Jikiden Reiki seminar, there are seminar participants who speaks English only, Japanese only, and also people who understand both English and Japanese. 

That means, during the lecture, Mr.Yamaguchi speaks in Japanese, and I translate in English.

English speakers ask some question, and I translate in Japanese for Mr.Yamaguchi.

Mr.Yamaguchi answers the question in Japanese, and I translate in English.

Japanese only speaker ask question in Japanese, and I translate in English

for other English speaking people.

Yamaguchi-sensei answer the question in Japanese, and I translate in English.

In my head, there are 4 times conversation going around, and I hardly have

time to grab water, because I do not want to miss any words, and constantly

thinking what is the best way to translate into English....

In addition, Japanese often have deep meaning in just one word.

For example,

"Itadakimasu" 

This is one single word we say before we eat meal. Nice and short.

But it translates 

”Thank you for the nature, Thank you for the farmer, thank you for the cook, 

thank you for the life in the food that gives us the life." 

Turns into a long sentence by explaining a deep meaning behind it.

There are so many Japanese word which can be done only one single word, but often

it turns into 3~4 sentences by translating into English and also explaining the cultural back ground of the word.  

My brain works in full speed !!!

I have never taken a proper "interpreter's course", so I have no idea what other

interpreters are experiencing.  Probably, they are all experiencing the similar situation.

Despite the physically demanding work, I still love doing this work!  It is such

a fulfilling duty !!!  Please do not stop asking question during the class !!! 

 Anyways, we had a Vancouver seminar in 2011, and that time, I leaned a lesson.

In a hard way. 

Usually, the semnar can be done in 4 days. But we started to offer teacher's course.

So entire seminar became 6 days, instead of 4 days.

In addition, there were many people who were wishing to learn Jikiden Reiki in

2011, so we did  2 sets of the seminar.

8~10hours/day for 6 days, one day break, and 8~10hours/day for 3 more days. 

2011 seminar. 

Well, I just about fainted.

Probably, my brain was over worked for 9 days.  I lost my ability to think,

I could not understand conversations, I have to really focus to stay in 

the conversation, and I couldn't even order pizza, because I could not

make any decision !!!

Eventually, I recovered from it, but I thought I should not do such a long seminar.

I learned a lesson.

In the following fall, I travelled to Halifax, just to do the translation part. It should be

easy for me, and I was feeling just fine during the 6 days seminar. 

However, on the way back from Halifax, I started to have a massive headache,

and I threw up in the airplane...

Why is this happening all the time for me? 

I blamed myself, and thought,

"Translation is talking. Am I too weak to do a translation? 

Don't I even have a stamina just for talking? Am I really aging?" 

　

But at the same time,

"Wait a minute.  Let me research about other translators job. How are they

doing at their job? "

I was curious to know about other translator's work and researched about them.

In Wikipedia 

　　”Simultaneous interpreter is a physically demanding job. It usually offered by 2~3 interpreters

         in shifts, as short as 15 minutes. " 

"What ? 2~3 people in shifts, as short as 15 minutes each???" 　

OK,OK. I am normal to get so tired. If there was a private question from participants

to Yamaguchi-sensei in a break time, lunch time, I am there to translate

the conversation.  That means, break time is not a break time. We continue to talk

for 8~10 hours a day. 

In my case, I am not doing the simultaneous interpreting, and it is not an international

governers meeting. But I found out that usual consecutive interpreting also offered in shifts by few translators. 

I felt relieved !  It's not me who is being too weak and whimpy! I am normal !

From the lesson that I learned, I made a small changes for the 2012 seminar.

Lesson 1 "Ask for help."

For me, it is usually hard thing to ask for help. But once I received helps, 

I felt so much gratitude from the help that were given to me. 

This is how people feel when I help others !  

Thank you so much for my friends who helped me at the seminar !!! 

Lesson 2 " Sit down when I need to." 

I felt impolite and rude by sitting beside my teacher who was standing and 

giving a lecture. 

But I had to keep my pace to be able to stay strong !!! 

Lesson 3 "Have a break, in a break time." 

Break time is for everyone, include me. 

Lesson 4 " After the seminar, take full 4 days rest and do nothing." 

I stick with my lessons and was able to solve the problem !!!

I did not faint, I did not lose my ability to think, I was able to get back to

the normal life after 4 days of resting. 

I was so happy !!! 

This duty is only once or twice a year, and I love, love, love to be able to

be a bridge between Japan and Canada.

Maybe I should take a proper translator training course.

Enough about a translation???