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How things come and go

March 2003

Friday. Finish my lessons at elementary school, check in at the high school to tie up the week's business, pack my bags, jump in the car to drive to Tokushima city and stay at a friend's place for the night. I've got to turn up to musical rehearsal tomorrow - staying near the city means I don't have to back up to dance after a long drive. Glad to be working with good people, my principal lets me stay at his house. He's got a cute daughter my age, too. Pity I don't have any time to catch up with her.

Saturday. Rehearsal starts at noon but everyone is always late. I'll be late myself, one day. Once we get underway, go until maybe five o'clock. Need to work on those dances. Who's working on the set? Do we have enough money? We're making progress, though. Grab some dinner. Maybe a few drinks in the city or late night scrabble. Sleep.

Sunday. Get up. Not enough sleep. Rehearsal starts earlier, so that we can get home sooner, but people turn up even later thanks to a big Saturday night. I'll be really late myself, one day. Hard to motivate people to dance, but they'll pick up their act as the opening performance draws closer. Get away late afternoon, more dinner on the go, just want to relax but it's a long drive back to Iya. Try not to fall asleep at the wheel. Get home late, of course. Missed the onsen - it closed at nine. Still haven't planned for tomorrow's elementary school lessons. Looking forward to having a big weekend in, for once, when all this is done...

But even now that it is done and the cast and crew of Harry Potter and the Big Beckham Rescue have wandered into the wings for the last time, there's no staying home. Tonight is the end-of-school-year staff party - always a good time! No classes to teach tomorrow, so I can have a big one! I'm then lining up this coming weekend to go on a road trip to neighbouring Ehime and Kochi prefectures with some mates. Maybe some snowboarding on the way, too, if we're lucky. Spring holidays start here next week. I still have to turn up to work every morning, but that's fine, I've got stuff to do and it'll be a relatively relaxing fortnight. I hope that a friend or two might drop in on me in that time and give me an excuse to take time off.

I try not to complain about the musical schedule, though, because it has once again proven worthwhile. Our audiences were slightly up on last year, there was good atmosphere at all of our venues, and we performed well. We didn't blow the budget by too much, either - in the end, there was room to put money towards the cast party after our last performance, which was a memorable night. For all its success, however, the AJET Tokushima musical needs a bit of a rethink. Having just completed its ninth consecutive season, maybe it needs a shift in focus. There's a lot of money and effort put into the production. I guess it's up to the next committee to think it over. People ask me if I'll be involved next year, usually with a knowing glint in their eye that says, "Come on, Dave, you know you'll be there." Maybe. But next winter, they might have to talk to my snowboard before trying to convince me to turn up to rehearsals. :)

It's been one of those weeks where you find yourself looking around you and wondering where the past year went. The musical finished on Saturday. I started back at dance practice with my Awa Odori group last Thursday, thinking as I drove over to Miyoshi that it was a whole year ago that I first started learning. People are talking about cherry blossom parties again. And, of course, the end of the school year brings graduation ceremonies and goodbyes. Sixteen kids cleaned out their desks here at Nishiiya Junior High School last Friday, fully half the school. In April, when the new first graders show up, there will be but 22 students total. How things come and go so quickly!

It all adds up to being the time of year when I start thinking, "What am I doing here?" Even in Nishiiya you can't completely ignore the worries of the world. There's stuff to be done out there. While I'm here, I think I want to work on me and the people around me - work on my dancing and drumming, get fit with kendo, spend more time with the locals, and get stuck into JET projects here and there. There's lots to keep me busy. I just need to start keeping one eye on life after JET.

For now, though, I'll give both eyes a rest and have a snooze before tonight's enkai. Hope you're all keeping well! Take care!

Dave