UPDATED - Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (4-ｈ): 日本語学習そして米国東海岸の旅

ニクソン大統領の中国電撃訪問以降、中国語学習は人気に。一方、日本語は・・・・

Who says education is expensive! If you want the knowledge, and not the degree, it can be very close to free. In those days, the popular language was Chinese, as President Nixon just opened diplomatic relations with China. The Chinese classes were packed while the Japanese classes couldn’t gather 10 students. Even though I was not even enrolled in the school, the teachers allowed me to sit in the class as I mentioned, do the drills in class and use the language lab anytime I liked! They were very kind to me. It was all free, was a very productive time in my life and gave me what was to be one of the most powerful skills I have used throughout my career, speaking and using Japanese every day. When I hit Japan, I was off and running.

One month before coming to Japan, I decided to stop studying Japanese and to travel the East Coast of the US, starting in Boston where my aunt lived. Boston is an extremely historic city, and I very much enjoyed seeing the city. Unfortunately, that was in February, so I felt cold temperatures that I had never experienced before. From Boston, I went by bus all the way to Miami where another aunt lived. Those two aunts I had only seen once or twice my whole life with the distance between California and the East Coast. Days after I returned to San Francisco I sold my car, gave my golf clubs away and took off for Japan.

この続き（いよいよ日本上陸）は、来年！！

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜新しい仕事が始まり、ストレスたっぷり状態！気分転換に漫画『武蔵野』を読んだ。阿部公房の小説『砂の女』『燃え尽きた地図』の読後感のような不思議な気分。大人の漫画だ＞

UPDATED - Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (4-g): 突然レイオフされてしまうが・・・・・

Ron-sanが日本の映画を見に行っていたNIHON MACHI。

我々駐在員はジャパンタウンと呼び日本領事館を尋ねていくこともありました。

懐かしい。日本料理店や都ホテルもありましたね。

さて、そのRon-san、レイオフされていまいますが。・・・・・・・



Then, one day the boss came to me and said I was laid off! I know the company was not that healthy, and the competition was far superior in just about every way. It was simply living on old customers that the original company founder, Mr. Goss had built up over the years before he died.

So, I was out of a job and started living on unemployment insurance (which was only for six months) and the money I received from the Army Reserves.

For my Army Reserve duties, I had to report to one of their facilities on a weekend (Saturday and Sunday) once a month. Also, every summer, I had to report to a large military base for additional training. In order to visit my mother in Sacramento more regularly, I changed Army Reserve units in San Jose to one in Sacramento. Then, I would go to Sacramento once a month to attend the weekend meetings. On one occasion my mother introduced me to a man who just came back from Japan. He was on a 1-year English teaching assignment and was looking for a replacement, but the job would not be available for six months. That was perfect, as my 6-year term in Army Reserves was to end about at that time. So, there was my chance to get to Japan. I took the assignment and decided to devote all of my time to study Japanese while I was receiving unemployment insurance money.

Being laid off was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I got full unemployment insurance and studied full time. As I was learning for personal growth only, I decided to go to the nearest university with a Japanese class and simply sit in the class. I paid nothing to sit in the class as the school administration didn’t know I existed, and the teachers didn’t care if I sat in the classes.

Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。



＜新しい仕事が始まり、ストレスたっぷり状態！気分転換に漫画『武蔵野』を読んだ。阿部公房の小説『砂の女』『燃え尽きた地図』の読後感のような不思議な気分。大人の漫画だ＞

UPDATED - Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (4-f): サンフランシスコとジャパン・タウン

I enjoyed working in that factory, as my mind was free to study right on the job while I produced the products in the factory. I also loved living in San Francisco. It is such a beautiful city. To go to work every day, I decided to stop driving and start taking the bus. It took far longer and made many stops before getting to my destination, but just going through the city, up and down the hills in the city was always enjoyable to me. At the top of many of those hills you could see both the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, as well much of the San Francisco Bay.

Years later, I took my jogging group to San Francisco, and we walked around in the city. Not too many people know this, but the movie “Towering Inferno” with Paul Newman was filmed in San Francisco. The scenes of the opening ceremonies and going into the building was in front of the Bank of America building where my father worked. Also, the elevators in the Hyatt Regency Hotel are the design of the ones used in the movies.

After work, Olin and I would often go to a restaurant owned by a Greek couple (above) who had only been living in the United States for five years or so. We had wonderful talks over dinner.

Life at that time was doing my factory work, studying Japanese in the evenings, going to Japanese movies in Nihon Machi at least once a week and going to my Army Reserve meetings.



Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。

UPDATED - Ron McFarlandの Personal Journey (4-e): 恨み言を言ってもしょうがない！！

As I was only getting income from that part-time work and the Army Reserves, my bank account was shrinking, and I needed more income, so I took a factory job over in San Francisco working in a putty and caulking compound manufacturer, called Goss & Goss (below). There were only four employees, an 80-year-old lady who owned the company who did the accounting, a general manager and two factory workers, of which I was one factory worker.



The other factory worker, Olin Cossairt, was in his early 60s and about to retire. We were together during the workday, and he was like a father figure to me. I’d been in contact with him ever since that time, and he even attended my wedding in Sacramento many years latter.

Olin and I would always have lunch together, and he said something to me that changed my thinking about life. In those days, I was not particularly happy with the way my life was going, and I was always complaining about my father leaving us when I was a very, very young child. Olin said to me that him leaving might have been the best thing that ever happened to me. My father being at home might have been much worse. The more I thought about that, the more I think he was right, as I probably wouldn’t be that much more happy living with my father.

Also, after further thought about it, the more I realized that my father was not all that bad. He never shamed us, beat us or was abusive to us. Other children had gone through far worse situations than I did. Therefore, I stopped complaining and started appreciating the health, opportunities and good fortune that I did have. That concept really helped me when I started giving sales seminars, as sales people are often complaining about one thing or another. This prevents them seeing the good fortune and opportunities that they do have.





Ronさんのセミナーいかがですか。苦労の多かったRon-sanの青春時代やキャリア形成の話、特に何故日本に来る決断をしたのか、などを聴いてみたいですね。それとRonさんが楽しみにしている出席者と皆さんとのノミニケーション。年末にはできそうですね。

皆さんがおやりになっている勉強会などに出張し講演させていただきます。

ただし、Ronさんが住んでいる東京都大田区から日帰りできるところとさせてください。

もっとも台湾でも日帰りは可能ですが。