On Remembering Before You Forget

Documentation 

I use many mediums to capture this year.  I have this blog, two calendar books, my blazer, and my smash book.  All of these have become important, special in their own ways.

My blazer is already heavy with memories and trinkets.  Everywhere I go, every small thing I am gifted, and every stray item that reminds me of someone or something gets pinned to it.  If it won’t get pinned, it will be sewn on or strapped on in some way.  Some of the pins remind me of home, some of my other friends abroad, and of course some of them remind me of what I have done so far here in Japan.

It’s become precious to me, it will only continue to get heavier.  Each gram, each pound, all it represents in a physical way what I am doing.  It’s heavy, many who have held it give me a surprised look.  I don’t honestly blame them.  I don’t have an exact weight but I’d say the whole thing weights the same as my favorite orange car back home.  Yeah, those of you who know me personally, I have the weight of Simba dangling from my shoulders when I wear my blazer.

I have been given handmade pins, old pins, ones that really aren’t pins, and some I’ve just found.  I love them all.  I show them off proudly, telling a story for each, telling the story of the person or event that gave me it.

Now, not all are gifts.  Some I have bought on my own because of various reasons.  I went on a school trip and bought a pin that represented it to me.  Each of my pins have a story, even the bought ones.  That’s what makes it so cool.  I like talking to other Rotarians about their blazers.  Almost all have a story to tell, a person they remember, a home they lived in once, and many other memories connected to the pins on the fabric.

Ask a past exchange student about their blazer, have them tell you a story.  I’m sure it will interesting!

My calendars are very important to me as well.  I write down daily activities, memos, and future dates in them.  I can tell you exactly what I did on any number of days.  Some days I didn’t write anything down, I regret that.  Others I have the whole day told out, who I met with, what I did, where I went, and the rest.  The whole spiel.

They also help me plan accordingly.  Reminding me that I need a speech by this day, I have a party to attend that day, and I’m changing families that week.  The two I have help keep my life straight when I feel like I’m in freefall.

One fits in my purse and backpack, perfect for travel.  My larger one is the almost diary one, it’s too bulky and big to bring most places so it stays home while its twin comes with me.  I like the twin, it’s small and cute, and it has the cat bus on the front of it!

I will be able to look back on them, flip through the old pages and read my history.  Time makes things fade, I’ve already forgotten major details from when I first arrived.  Good thing I wrote them down huh?

They help keep everything orderly, clean, and keep me up to date on what I need to do according to my ever-changing schedule.

This blog is very obvious in how it’s become a major part of this exchange.  It’s how I communicate my news, my information, my emotions, and my observations on what is going on to you all.  I hope it is being used as a some-what guide for those of you who are looking for information about Rotary.  My aim is to help and document, and this blog is perfect.

It’s a way to keep in contact with my family, give them updates on how I am doing apart from other social media mediums.  I also believe it is used by my Rotary club back home to see how I am doing and what I am up to.

Overall it’s a connection and a way to write down my emotions on a certain aspect.  It helps me work out what I really think about something.  It gives me an appropriate medium to express how these changes have changed me as a person, how they have molded me further, and how they are changing my views.

Finally, my smash book.  For those of you who don’t know what a smash book is, think about scrap booking.  Seems kind of old fashioned, but take scrapbooking and throw glue, pictures, notes, and scraps of paper all together between the bindings of a book, and there you go.  It’s a lazy scrapbook, but mine has gotten to be pretty intricate.

I’ve always been artsy.  I love working with my hands, making things ‘pretty’, and documenting.

I put pictures in it, pictures of the people I have spent time with and mean something to me.  I put receipts for my favorite purchases or just cool things in general.  I place tickets and pamphlets from attractions and cultural events I’ve done to.  I write notes next to each, who that person was to me, what the interesting thing was, where I went, and what I saw.

I place letters I have received in it.  I buy postcards of sights I want to remember and paste them in.  I glue my memories, preserving them in a way that can be enjoying long after I am gone from Japan and back in America.

When I go back I can show my family and friends what I did, what cool thing I saw, and what boring or interesting place I went to.  I can show them the faces of my friends and families, I can show them the sights in person that I viewed.  I can show them my life in a way that to me means more than what a computer screen can show them.

Yes I like Facebook and Skype.  I use them both to call home, to tell my Mom what I’m doing and just to bug her sometimes (AM I INVADING YOUR SPACE YET?!  Sorry inside joke here), to tell everyone I’m doing just fine and enjoying myself, and I use it to call home when I’m sad.  I like the internet, but there is something more to a physical picture you can hold and touch.  You can feel the wear on it, the emotions in it seem a little livelier when they aren’t backlighted by a screen.

I can use it to remember when I get sad about being back.  I can use it to feel what I felt with those people, at that place, or in that festival.  I can use it to place myself back in this year.  I always hear about students who go back and feel homesick for their host country.  I can almost guarantee you that will be me.

Between all these mediums I have managed to capture a lot of my experience.  I have managed to find a way to remember before I am able to forget their names and why they were important to me, the dates and what happened on them, and the places I have been to.

 I found a way to remind myself that although this is temporary it if also for the rest of my life.

So a word from me to you.  If you are an outgoing student this year, find a way to remember before you forget.  You may regret it if you don’t. 

See You Soon

Mata chikaiuchini

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