Good morning/afternoon/evening everyone (it’s the morning here for me).
I hope this text finds you well.
Here things have been quiet, winter vacation has ended for me, but not for kids and students, so classes haven’t resumed yet.
Actually, not gonna lie, I’m not looking forward to seeing my students again, as the omicron wave has started to hit Japan.
We’ve been lucky here in my part of the country, not a single case in two months this Fall (I’m sure a lot of you will have trouble imagining this), but it’s over. The virus is back, and the number of cases has been raising everywhere in the country, even here.
It’s terrible timing, really. New Year’s is a time of the year when a lot of people travel and go visit their families. Seriously people, why are you traveling when you don’t have to? I just don’t get it. This is one of the reasons this thing is never-ending, if people stayed put, it wouldn’t spread so fast and so easily. I left Kagawa once in two years (because I had to). It’s not pleasant, but seriously, if I can do it, anyone can do it.
And on top of that, tomorrow is Coming of Age Day, when 20-year-olds become adults. Yes, in Japan, you’re an adult at 20 and if it legally happens on your birthday, culturally and symbolically, it happens tomorrow. So big ceremonies are held all over the country. The ceremony themselves are not the issue, people are serious here with wearing masks (people, yes, you, please wear a mask, even if vaccinated, seriously), it’s all the parties, when young adults meet with their high school friends, some they haven’t seen in a couple of years, and they get drunk together. Basically, tonight and tomorrow night will be a giant country-wide superspreader event.
And I will have them in my classroom as early as Wednesday first period. I’m getting ready to return to online teaching, but mentally, I’m not ready for this. After doing it for a year and a half, I’m over online teaching. It’s frustrating, draining, you don’t do a good job, you can’t tell who is learning, who needs help, who is interested, who is bored. I just hate it.
And we may return to it very very soon.
Ok, let’s change the subject. Some of you may not know it but yesterday was David Bowie’s birthday. He would be 75 years old. And tomorrow will be the 5th anniversary of his passing. I don’t think any artist has had a stronger impact on me and my life. So it’s difficult not to constantly think about him this weekend.
Actually, I even blogged about him a little. It’s a bit peculiar, as it’s a recreation of Space Oddity in Lego! (and the song just showed up on my playlist as I’m typing this, not kidding)
I made this a few years ago. I kinda forgot how it started. I think I wanted to recreate song(s) in Lego, and I chose this one. It used to only be pictures, but a couple of days ago, I turned it in some sort of video. Well, check it out, not sure if it’s for you, but it’ll make sense.
Tomorrow, I’ll republish what I wrote five years ago when he passed. I guess you’ll find the link in the next newsletter.
In other news, I posted a picture of the Sorbonne Astronomy Tower in Paris, as well as a New Year Postcard from a hundred years ago.
Also, I guess I’m in a Lego mood these days (I always mean to do something creative with them, but it actually takes way more time than simply writing, and not always with convincing results), so I tried to do a micro movie review in Lego. Not sure if it’s something I should explore further or not. You tell me.
Finally, in my last newsletter, I told you about writing fiction in French. Well, after debating with myself for a while, it’s not completely decided yet, but I think I may try to write in English!
It’s a difficult choice to make. For the past few years, I’ve been torn in between both languages. Of course, French is my native language, but nowadays, I don’t really use it much outside of the house, and it shows in my writing. It’s just not that good anymore. One big issue is that I also don’t read much French nowadays (and good writing pretty much always comes from good reading) not to mention being disconnected from everyday language quite a bit. For example, that’s it, I’ve reached the stage when I don’t understand young people’s slang anymore. Sure, it’s a part of aging, but it’s made worse by the fact that I don’t really have much contact with my culture on a daily basis anymore.
On the other hand, I read, write, speak, hear English every day, almost all day long, and nowadays, I’m finding myself to be more connected to the English language than French nowadays.
So, maybe I should try to write in English too.
I mean, fiction, not just blogging and rambling (I’ve been doing those in English for quite some time as you may be aware). Still, the fact that it’s not my native language remains a hurdle. Sure, I can write alright, but can I write well? For example, how can I write characters with different voices from each other? How can I intuitively know and feel the connotations of some terms and expressions that I don’t use on a regular basis, but may need to use here or there?
These are questions I’m trying to answer at the moment.
I started to write a few things. A good friend of mine who knows a thing or two about writing will “review” them, and we’ll see where we’ll go from there. I may publish a text or two in a blog to see what you think before fully committing to it.
We’ll see.
In the meantime, most importantly, stay safe and act in ways that will make us beat this crazy virus! Once you’ve done that, do not hesitate to share this text and of course to subscribe if you haven’t done so yet.
All the best, see you soon and listen to some David Bowie this weekend.
Cheers.