Events as of late: Part 2

Events as of Late: Part 2

Exploring Goto and the Nagasaki Mid Year conference

The most recent event for me was the Midyear conference for JETs in Nagasaki. Taking what I learned from the first conference, I concluded that this one would be just as boring and pointless. At least on the last trip I was able to go get my re-entry permit. This time around, there was no real reason other than just to be there and go to the workshops.

Don’t get me wrong, these things were helpful, two months ago. The workshops were about topics like “dealing with challenging students” “improving relationships with your teachers” and “making fun for everyone using English”. However, I think the baptism by fire proved to be more effective. When questions were asked, we were given the “every situation is different”, vague, somewhat in the ballpark answer. Sometimes I think it borderlines “I don’t know”, but they had a general guess. The speaker they brought in was pretty good. He talked about how JET isn’t working and if it did, it would disappear. No wonder half the JETs I talk to have a cynical view on how their job is. At least we’re not NOVA.

Ground that was preserved at the time of the bombing

The first day after conference, Joe, Jeff and I went around Nagasaki. I went to the epicenter, Bomb museum (although it was closed), and wandered around learning the tram system. I only had enough daylight to take pictures of the Peace Park. By the time I got to the epicenter (ground zero), it was already dark. Around 7pm I met up with Vicky and we ate dinner at a restaurant called Doma Doma. They serve small amounts of food at a time with the purpose of you to order lots of little things. The food was so good, I had about 5-6 plates of “stuff”. She then showed me her apartment and talked about her work with kindergarteners. After getting dressed we went to an American owned bar called “Albert’s Diablo”. The bartender was from California but has been living in Japan for 21 years. He has no hint of Japanese accent, but can switch it on and off. I envy him for that ability. An hour later, a couple American soldiers came by for a drink. We were talking about things back home, and comparing differences between cultures. That’s just a nice way of saying that we were bashing the Japanese in general. We played some darts and just had a good time. After the bar, I went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The second day of conference was when all the workshops took place. I’m not going into great detail about them because it that uninteresting. My JTE didn’t even go to this conference, even though it was offered for them to come. The conference ended at noon and my boat for the island left at 1. I could’ve stayed another day at Nagasaki, but I wanted to save money. I did shop around for a smaller suit case so I don’t have to carry that behemoth backpack with me everywhere I go. However, I find that even the small roller suitcases cost 3man, or about $280. Screw that, I think I’ll lug my behemoth around a little longer.

That’s where my pictures end. However, I did find some that I never wrote about. A couple weekends ago, the ALTs got together and decided to explore places on the island. This particular weekend we ended up looking at Yagatame, which is a small mountain that was used to repel naval attacks on the island. I took some fantastic pictures! Enjoy!

The hope of Kamigoto...

...doomed?

On the way to Yagatame

In retrospect, I should’ve been more attentive to the workshops, but I found myself already knowing the things they were lecturing about. My relations with the Japanese teachers are great. I’m involved with my students’ club activities. I’m part of the community with my English class on Wednesdays. I’m involved with all sorts of festivals on the island. People might complain that island living is bad; Heck, that’s what I did too. However, this place has changed me and I ended up enjoying it after all.

P.S. - I should just throw this in here while I still have memories fresh in my head and the pictures to prove them. After we all came back from the conference, we gathered that night at George's Bar and had dinner. He served this variety basket filled with good food. The main course was pizza topped with pepperoni, squid and shrimp. After knocking back a few drinks we went to her mom's karaoke establishment. One of our Japanese friends, Yambo, can sing very well. If there was a Japanese Idol, he'd win for sure.

Joe being Joe

Yambo, the next Japanese Idol
Andrea and Laura having a good time.

The following morning, Andrea and Joe performed at the community center in Aokata. This was a big event and had been going on since 10am that morning. However, they didn't perform until 1:30ish. They were the singers of a cover band. Their song that day was Country Roads. Meliza performed Moon River as a solo. They were all very good, but I couldn't take any pictures because I was video taping with Andrea's camcorder. The only shot of the whole day was the act before theirs.