Granny Dave

I did it. I didn't mean to, and I'm sorry. But I did it. And it was delicious.

Tensui-ren carving up the snow at Dynaland

In fact, it was possibly one of the best school lunches I've had in a long time. A nice soup, some bread to eat with it, the usual milk, and some delicious-looking lumps of fried stuff on the side. I was quite hungry, too, so no sooner had the lunch tray landed on my table then I had said "itadakimasu" and was tucking in. Fried stuff ended up being meat of some sort, quite good, and I didn't think past the likely scenario that it was chicken. Then a teacher later asked me, "Did you like the whale?"

I was gobsmacked. What do you say to that? One of my favourite students was standing right there at the time, too. I could hardly remark about how we in Australia think whale hunting (and eating) is wrong after having just scoffed it down and even taken seconds (it was that good!). It's not like I can blame anyone else - there is a school lunch menu schedule, but it ends up in the pile of Japanese stuff I don't read that just clutters my desk. It was the first time that I've seen it on my plate since I came to Tokushima city, and it slipped under my radar like a Stealth fighter. Oh well, at least the chances of it happening again are almost zero, since I'm leaving the city and saying goodbye to school lunches as of April. But I'll be conducting a culinary equivalent of the Spanish inquisition the next time something fried passes my lunch tray...

When I'm fully in control of the contents of my next meal, my usual habit has been to eat out quite regularly and cook maybe once every week, making enough food to last a couple more meals. Recently, however, I discovered the optimum time to hit the local supermarket to pick up discounted ready-to-go meals of sushi, pork cutlets and such things. Sometime between 5:30 and 6pm every day, a staff member comes out to put 100 yen or fifty percent discount stickers on the food that is only fresh for the day, so if you get in quick, you can score a full meal for less than five bucks. But every grandmother and her walking frame knows this, too, so it can be a bit of a fight for the good stuff. And just the other day, I got in a bit early to find the staff member in question just putting stickers on. He hadn't gotten around to the meals I wanted, so I tried to look indecisive at the sushi stand, browsed the fruit boxes, and checked out the bakery before coming back to see him half-price my target chicken and rice. I grabbed it and made a run for the checkout. I felt like such an obachan.

Speaking of feeling old, it took me a while to shake out the cramps after last weekend's snowboarding in Gifu, but it was worth it! A small crew from Tensui-ren got together for an overnight bus tour to Dynaland, leaving at 10pm Saturday night, arriving on the slopes for a 5am start, and getting back on the bus again in the afternoon to return to Tokushima by 10:30 Sunday evening. 13 hours in a bus for 6 hours of snow, but it was worth it!

Namaste! Sunrise snowboarding...

I told Tensui-ren's leader about my plans to move on at the end of March, and word had gotten around to a few of the group's regular members by the time we headed off to Gifu. Each conversation of explaining my plans brought me closer to the realisation that, of everything, leaving Tensui-ren is one of the hardest parts of saying goodbye to Tokushima city. Just last night, at the year's first big practice (we have a performance next week), renchou told everyone about my plans and gave this as a reason for my being allowed to dance point for the coming performance, since one of the regular top dancers can't make it. It's an honour and I was very moved. I hope I do it justice.

I am told, though, that I did justice to Robert Burns' masterpiece "Ode to a Haggis". At the Burns Supper on January 21, hosted by Miyoshi-cho's very own Scot and AJET rep Ellie, a trio of us - Scot and almost-Scots - got things underway for our annual celebration of things poetic with the traditional recitation of said poem. I tried on a Scottish accent, but I'm sure our success was more about passion than authenticity. And truly, the canned haggis that was served up deserved its ode, it was good stuff! A good night had by all - though I can only go by rumour, because I was in bed by eleven, about an hour before anyone else!

Eleven was also the time by which we had to back in the building each night during the week-long Japanese teaching course that I attended in Shiga in late January. Shiga is the prefecture surrounding Lake Biwa in central Japan, just next to Kyoto, and the training centre we stayed at for five days was right on the shores of the lake and not more than 20 minutes train ride from Japan's ancient capital. Great location and a great little place to conduct training seminars, too, except for that pesky curfew.

Fun times in Shiga for the Japanese teaching course

There were 60 JETs in attendance, from all over Japan and representing a whole range of countries. I was in a group with several Aussies, an American, a Russian, a South African, and a Brazilian, but there was also a substantial Chinese and Korean contingent, so the whole seminar was conducted in Japanese. This aspect of the week was a bit challenging, but it was a wonderful environment to be in and possibly the best working week I have ever had since I've been here. And it wasn't all work, of course! With Kyoto so close, we made a couple of trips there and enjoyed some great dining, a bit of sake tasting, and even a spot of karaoke. I got to celebrate Australia Day with the Aussie girls, too. Cheers to Jessie for showing us around in Kyoto! What a week!

With that week past and my new adventure as a rafting guide on the Yoshino River drawing closer, I can look back on my four-and-a-half years as a JET and feel pretty confident that I've made the most of it. Musicals, AJET, dancing, touch rugby, snowboarding, some very useful Japanese, a couple of courses of study under my belt, and piles of classroom teaching experience... and now it's time to move on. Thanks JET, you were great. :)

Love,

Dave

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