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Over the hill

October 2001

Hello folks,

At the ripe old age of twenty-three years and ten days, is it fair for me to complain of being over the hill? :)

I guess not, but yesterday morning I was more literally over a hill with some fifty other local villagers, having lunch and playing bingo on the top of Kunimiyama, some 1409 metres above sea level. It's a nice view from up there, even on a cloudy day. Perhaps especially on a cloudy day, when you can watch the mist playing between the mountains of the Iya Valley. I found many trees just starting to turn yellow as we hiked up to the summit, where I think I was standing higher on solid ground than I have ever done before. The group hike was arranged for National Sports Day, for which yesterday was a holiday. What a great idea!

Feeling a little old by the time we made it back down, an onsen (hot spring bath) was the order of the day. Just a short walk away from my apartment is hikyonoyu, the onsen at our local hotel. As Nishiiya's very own JET, I get to go for free, any time I want, but I hadn't had the time to go until yesterday afternoon. An hour of washing, soaking, bubble-massaging and outdoor lounging later, I was very happy to have finally found out why hikyonoyu has a reputation as being the best onsen in Tokushima-ken. Right on my doorstep, for free. Yeah! :)

Of course, I've skipped a couple of weeks' news, so let me hop back to Friday September 28. I jumped a train into Tokushima city, about three hours away, to see in my birthday with a few other JETs. I was in the very capable hands of a British girl named Fiona, who made sure I had something nice to drink all night, and was also joined by Brits Adrian and Kim, Chinese Lee and Coco, Canadian Brennan, and local girl Kihoko. A very rowdy rendition of happy birthday came on at eleven o'clock (midnight AEST for my real birthday!), followed by a professional serenade at the next bar at midnight Japan time. It was a low key sort of night, but I had a great time.

Getting up the next morning was easier than I expected. A meeting of AJET, the social club for JETs in Tokushima, had been scheduled for lunch time. By meeting's end I had managed to get myself involved in the AJET musical. I'd hardly expected to be doing my first musical in Japan, but it's a project that we get stuck into every year in this part of Japan. The idea is to take a basic tale, use as many popular songs as possible, throw in some Japanese so the locals can laugh at us and understand what's going on, and otherwise keep the English as simple as possible to make sure everyone has a good time. This year it looks like we'll be basing the script on The Wizard of Oz, to perform around March. Tickets are free if you're in town, though getting here might be expensive. :)

I missed the AJET soccer game that afternoon to head back to Nishiiya in time for a baseball game with the local young people. It seems that everyone about my age who lives in Nishiiya is on the baseball team, so I want to make the effort to turn up and get to know them. The game was good, even though I wasn't. I'd have done anything to have a flat bat!

More physical activity the next day at a couple of undookais - the village-party-come-sports festivals. This time they were at the three small elementary schools, Nishioka, Zentoku and Awashi. That particular Sunday was rainy, but the schools are all small enough that the fun and games can be moved into the gym without trouble. So I turned up at Nishioka and Zentoku to run around a far-too-small track (those tight corners aren't made for sprinting six foot gaijin!), pull a rope in the tug-of-war, throw little balls into a basket, and take home more goodies just for joining in. Oh, and the kids at Nishioka have a little Precision Unicycling Team, weaving in and out of hats, doing origami as they cycle, racing each other... sensational! :)

Last week was finally a busy one in the classroom at school. Classes with every grade each day. Volleyball and English listening practice in the afternoons, too. And the superintendent of the Board of Education here in the village wants me to start an eikaiwa, or public class, in Nishiiya. I'm keen to do it, though my teaching credentials still need some work. Fortunately, I have a friend in Mikamo who has just started an eikaiwa herself. Emma gets lots of people turning up and welcomes a bit of help, so it's a chance for me to check it out and see how these things run before starting up my own. Unfortunately, Mikamo is an hour away. When you live in Nishiiya,, however, spending an hour to find good company is pretty standard. Thank God for the mini Pajero. :)

Not one to stay at home on the weekend, this past Friday saw me making the trip to Tokushima city again, this time by car all the way, a three hour trip on Route 192. There is an expressway, but it is expensive and my little 500cc engine races just to get to 80 clicks on the speedo, so it's the 192 for me. Ostensibly, I had business in the city on Sunday morning, an English speech contest for the best fifteen-year-olds from all over Tokushima-ken. So I made a weekend out of it. Coco put me up for two nights in her tiny city apartment - about the size of a standard college room at International House, but stuffed additionally with a kitchenette and bathroom, the ultimate in Japanese efficiency of space. Coco, however, is a fine host, so the limited space was no problem. The only problem was fitting all the food she cooked for me into my stomach!

Coco is a lovely girl, the same age as me, from China, now studying for a masters in economics and corporations law at Tokushima University. Her first degree was in Japanese and she has been living in the country for a year now, so she is fluent in both Japanese and her native Mandarin. Somehow, she also has exceptional English - well, what I call exceptional, since we can communicate simply about most things. Finally, Coco is possibly the most genki, crazy young woman I have met since being here. She lives a crazy schedule on very little sleep, but is always up and about. She can talk under wet cement, even though English is her third language. Quite amazing. Just the sort of fascinating individual I love meeting. And she's quite cute, too, but I'm sort of relieved that she lives three hours away. Two days shopping, eating and talking with her was about right.

In between time with Coco, there was a party in Kamiyama (where I stayed in August for a homestay) to welcome the artists-in-residence for their yearly international workshop. One of the said artists this year is Australian, a woman from Melbourne. I arrived fashionably late, just in time to miss the speeches but get some food. Not a bad night, and a thankful respite from the city streets. I was afraid of mountain roads when I first got here, but now I prefer them to Tokushima city. At least out here there is somewhere to park. :)

The speech contest was interesting. None of my students were there, but a couple of girls from the local education zone had made it through to this state final. I was mainly there to see how it goes, identify what judges are generally looking for in a second language speech, and get some ideas for my assault on next year's title. The winning girl was quite natural - coincidentally, her speech was titled "See you at the top". The top three go onto Tokyo for the national final. The girl from Mikamo came fourth. So close!

After a big weekend in Tokkers, it was nice to have Emma in the car for some company on the long drive back to the deep west. My car stereo and I aren't getting along very well at the moment - it is quite temperamental, so I will be replacing it this weekend. Thus, doubly thankful for someone to help while away the kilometres, we got to talking about our life dreams.

I thought, maybe one day I'll be able to put "Achieved world peace" on my CV. Or maybe it'll be, "Learnt how to say 'You are very pretty' in Japanese, married a cute village girl, taught a few hundred Japanese kids to say G'day, and even had a couple of my own." I think both are good dreams, both quite wonderful, if only I can make them mine.

I hope the kid who walked up to John Smith at the Siemens Science Experience this past January and said, "I want to drive fire trucks", makes a great fireman. I hope that Matt Rosinski will get that Nobel Prize one day, but even if he doesn't, I know he will make a great success of raising his newborn child along the way - my best wishes to you and Sam and mini-Rosinski, mate. :)

I asked my Japanese high school students what their dreams are. They variously wrote that they want to be professional baseball players, elementary school teachers, make-up artists, famous hip hoppers, nutritionists, massage therapists and cooks (or as one wrote, kouks :>). I'm not sure that the world needs more Japanese hip hoppers - I've seen a few, and they were really bad! On the other hand, I could certainly do with a massage. But I hope that they all realise their dreams, or whatever dreams they grow into in years to come.

And a little part of me hopes that they'll remember me, and that teaching English in the mountains of Nishiiya is a good start to whatever my dream will be. There are lots of people to meet out there, a world of problems to solve, many lives that need a little more joy, but that's all I can say about my dream just now. It's a big dream I've got, but even if it ends up being a small dream, that'll be okay. I'll keep you posted.

Lots of love,

Dave