The Mid-Year Conference (Nov. 1-2) is not exactly halfway through the year, but it’s an orientation-type conference designed to help ALTs and JTEs with issues that have come up. I’m very happy to say that it was much, much more worthwhile than any of the orientations or conferences so far. Yuko took me to the conference the first day and Shimizu sensei joined us for that first day, too. The bulk of the day was a three hour lecture that was both interesting and informative. The rest of the day wasn’t so interesting, but that evening was great. Most JETs stayed in a Japanese style hotel and that evening we were served a very wonderful traditional Japanese dinner. Yuko managed to beg her way in since a few JETs were absent. The dinner was a wonderful sampling of many dishes that kept the palate interested (and also allowed one to eat much more than one should have). We even had some traditional Japanese dancing for entertainment. I forgot to mention that before dinner a bunch of us in my room played a card game for an hour or so, which was great fun. I miss gaming with family!
After dinner we played more games then set up for the dancing party. I found it strangely ironic how people kept peeking in to ask if this was the place where the dance party was going to be only to find a quiet group playing a nerdy card game. Indeed, at 9:30 we put the futons in the closets and the table on the balcony and played host to about 25 dancers throughout the course of the evening. Once again this treat was brought to us by Mike Wilcox, the talented NYC chef who is in Fujiyoshida. Most of the evening we had five couples in the room at a time, and a few of us danced the whole time. Namely, Mike, Kasia, Leslie and I. BTW, the room we shared was with five great girls: Leslie, Kasia, Kim (another Fujiyoshida chef), Aja, (momentarily forgotten the name) and me. Anyway, I think we went to bed around 1am and Kasia and I got up early to use the onsen (bath) in the morning.
The second day of the conference (Nov. 2nd) also had some valuable lectures. It was good to be reminded of my hopes and plans that I had at the start and to get new ideas from other JETs. It was also great to see everyone again. After the conference Kasia and I went to Fujiyoshida with Mike and after hanging out with friends at a local place for dinner Kasia went to be more social and Mike and I went to watch a movie but soon turned it off in favor of bed.
Nov. 3rd (Thursday) was Culture Day so we didn’t have school (and hence we could go to Fujiyoshida). I ran with Mike a little in the morning but pushed myself too hard and had to turn back early. Kasia and I had a nice breakfast, then after Mike returned (he’s been running 20k every morning in preparation for a marathon) we sat down and discussed our Thailand trip. It was good to be in the same room and we were able to get further that way than we had been able to by email. That took most of the morning and a bit of the afternoon. We made a great lunch and enjoyed each other’s company until Mike had to go to a Japanese lesson and Kasia and I had to head back home. Just as we arrived at the bus station the bus to Kofu drove off and I knew they only came every hour or so, so in a rash move I blurted out that maybe we could catch it if we drove to the next stop. Mike was already late for his Japanese lesson so I shouldn’t have said this, but in the heat of things we all piled back into the car and he took us to a place a few stops down. We caught the bus within a few minutes and Mike got to his Japanese lesson in time because his teacher was also late. That was certainly a blessing! I was able to put my head on straight in the evening before going to bed, which is always nice.
Friday, Nov. 4th we had Thursday classes instead of Friday classes. It didn’t matter much since I’d designed a lesson that didn’t need me much since I’d be gone for so much of the week. I had to miss my third class today also because I was helping Naito sensei judge a Junior High School speech contest. As soon as I arrived I felt very ill equipped for the task. I was painfully aware of how little I knew about kids giving speeches in another language and that these kids had worked so hard for so long and were in the hands of someone who knew nothing but how to speak English. Happily there were three other judges so it wasn’t all my fault. It certainly kept me engaged during the 14 or 15 times I heard each speech. It was certainly a learning experience and the ALTs in the audience rooting for their kids didn’t seem too unhappy, so I’m happy to say the experience is not haunting me still.
After Naito sensei dropped me off I had 1½ hours to eat and pack for the adventure filled weekend. I’d planned much earlier to go to Nikko (popular tourist destination north of Tokyo) with Mike and friends from rice cutting. Too bad I had the speech contest or I would have liked to take the day off and stay in Fujiyoshida!
It’s past my bedtime, so the weekend story will have to wait. I’ll just excuse my lack up updates by saying that I got back from the trip at 11pm on Sunday night and kept the same full schedule on Monday. Tuesday I jealously kept the time for myself and crashed with a book. Wednesday was the same so today I’m finally writing something up. My apartment is beginning to show signs of disorder as well . . .
