Normally when I am sitting at my desk during the day, a number of fliers, newsletters, pamphlets, announcements (all in Japanese) are placed upon my desk. And normally I put them aside and throw out the accumulation at the end of the day as I am leaving. However, today an interesting piece of paper was put on my desk by the Vice Principal himself, so I was inclined to check it out. Again it was in Japanese, but I could make out dates and times, so I thought it had something to do with a schedule for a school event. At my next opportunity, I leaned over to the English teacher who sits next to me and I asked him what the paper was all about. He turned the paper over and showed me a kind of map on the back. Then he asked if I had noticed how right across the street from school people had been digging for many weeks. Of course I had noticed and when Gabby was here, she even asked me about it. At that time, and up until today, I thought they were rice farmers across the street doing some overhaul on their rice field. However, he told me that the paper said that it was an archaeological dig site and that most of the artifacts were from the 9th century.
After speaking with this teacher, I talked to a history teacher at the school. I was a bit surprised when she balked at 9th century artifacts. "I don't know why they are wasting their time over there, it is just the 9th century. That's not so old." I guess when you have a history as long and rich as the Japanese, it can be easier to balk at the past. Being from America, and our history being so young; ancient artifacts are just freakin' cool!!! I hope to be able to find out more about what they are doing in the coming weeks.
This whole archeology dig got me thinking a bit about my own history and the idea of a time capsule. Cheesy? Of course! But I think a time capsule would be a really cool thing for me to begin now. I am a pretty sentimental person, and I really like the idea of being able to pass along some tangible stories or history or something along to my children and grandchildren some day. So far my life has been really exciting and I have had the good fortune to experience a lot in my young life. I want my kids to feel encouraged by that - they should know that they too can do anything with enough motivation and perseverance to succeed. I really like wallowing in nostalgia too, and I want to make a pseudo time capsule for me too. It is so easy for each of us to forget how cool our lives have been when the going-gets-tough. I never want to forget the good times and the grand adventures because I refuse to let the hard times push out my good memories!
3 comments:
Hello, friend! I enjoy reading about your adventures, though I fell behind the past few weeks, what with the holidays and all. I think a time capsule is a great idea, and I think I may do something like that too. It also reminded me of something I found a little while ago - a photo time capsule! http://photojojo.com/timecapsule/ I haven't done it, but it does seem pretty cool. :)
I think that is where a daily log or journal with pictures is a great way to document a young adventurous life. Lol. I also think if you pick some things from each stage in your life (pictures, writings, stories etc.) and find a protective way of saving them a time capsule is a great idea. I just found a paper I wrote on my wedding day over 27 years ago. I also found some writings about when I had my first child. They are something I plan to pass on in some significant way to those who come behind me.
I always tossed around the thought of doing a time capsule, but I kept second-guessing myself about what to put in it. Every time I chose something to put in, I always found a reason to keep it with me instead. I guess I don't like the idea of burying something and not having access to it for a long period of time. I guess that's why mom always preaches the concept of delayed gratification to me. Anyways, you should tell that history teacher that the 9th century is still cool. I did some research, and the 9th century gave us important things as the crank and the printed book and viking stuff! The 9th century is old, man; anything coming from only a triple digit year is automatically old to me.
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