Pretty normal

Ah, holidays. As if living in Cairns is anything but. But really, a week off, sans laptop, minus any chess work, at home with Mum’s cooking and for Dad’s birthday, that’s a holiday. So here I am, typing on Dad’s computer, finally updating my blog after the longest break I’ve had since I started it.

I think the sense of urgency to update my adventures has dropped off because life in Cairns is, well, pretty normal. It’s constant in many ways. There’s not often much new to report and, even if there is, it’s not the exotic type of adventure that Japan typically presented. It’s pretty normal. So I wonder if anyone is interested in that sort of thing, if I should fill people’s inboxes with a reminder about something so average.

But then I caught up with an old school mate yesterday, Darren, who mentioned that he was glossing over my website just this week, noticing that I haven’t updated it in donkeys. Someone is interested! So this is for you someones, few though you may be, who are still interested, with love and thanks. :)

Speaking of long breaks, being physically with a family member for their birthday is a novelty. That hasn’t happened in about 7 years! I had my own first birthday back in Australia just this September, the first since I turned 22. It’s a small blessing, but little things like this bring you tiny steps closer to fully realising that you’re BACK and here to stay. At least for a little while. Saying which, I probably won’t be able to join Mum and Dad for Christmas this year, again a first in I can’t remember how long. But that’s also tied up in my growing new life in Cairns.

So back in June I was five months into life in the tropics with my new chess business, enjoying the beautiful tropical winter, but a little strapped for cash and wishing the rafting job would come through with a bit more work. Eventually I decided that sitting at home on standby, waiting for rafting work which probably wouldn’t eventuate, was not only not going to pay the bills but was also a complete waste of my time. I bought the local newspaper. I hit SEEK and CAREERONE online. I searched high and low, thinking along the lines of bus driving or some other sort of hospitality work locally, but checking everything out just in case. And in July, one of the ads that popped up in the Cairns Post was for part-time Quarantine Inspectors at Cairns Airport.

I remember when I applied for the JET Programme that I read the material, was initially a bit doubtful, but after a few days and a bit of encouragement from family, felt that the idea had really grown on me. This job was similar. I found it just as my brother was visiting me in Cairns. As always, he was full of good advice on careers and applying for jobs.

Anyway, I applied, and the process was in several steps – application, basic testing, group assessment, interview, selection. Popular job, too – 190 applicants for 8 positions. Cutting a long story short, I got the job, and I’ll be starting with AQIS at Cairns Airport in November.

Now for all of you who’ve been glued to the screen for each week’s episode of Border Security, remember the difference between quarantine and customs. Customs are the guys who deal with visas, criminals and drugs. Quarantine is all about biologicals – bananas, animals, pests, diseases. Yes, it was a quarantine mistake somewhere along the line that let Equine Influenza into the country. I don’t think there are going to be many horses coming through Cairns Airport, but that’s the idea. Keep the bugs and weeds out, keep Australia beautiful.

I even went along to an Army Reserve information session while I was searching for a new job, and it strikes me now that the idea of quarantine in the Far North is very similar to the role of the Army Reserve. It’s all about protecting Australia’s northern coastline. I’m sure you can imagine that it’s a massive challenge. I wasn’t able to go any further with the reserves, but it’s nice to think that I’ve ended up in a very closely related role.

In the meantime, of course, chess has been rolling along. What did we get up to in Term 3?

Oh yes, a couple of significant tournament events. We did a road trip down to Townsville to participate in an open tournament there. Our strong little team had a good showing. I somehow managed to grab equal second place, and so did our wonder-kid Robin. At 12 years old, he’s arguably the strongest under-18 chess player north of Rockhampton, and he’s now got the rating to prove it, coming in third in Queensland for his age. Nice to find some talent in Cairns! Unfortunately, no one else at Robin’s school is any good (yet!), so he didn’t have much of a chance to shine at the big inter-school tournament in late August. Still, teams that I have been coaching ended up champions of that tournament and went on to represent FNQ at the State Finals just this past weekend October 12-14. Where they were soundly beaten by the big city teams, but still put in a great performance. And we also had some more school holiday chess in September, which was again quite successful.

As for the chess coaching work which is the core of my business, I had a couple of new schools come on board in Term 3, but a couple from Term 2 also decided that one term was enough and faded out. So the workload carried on pretty smoothly. The real test for how well the idea of chess coaching has taken on will be at the start of the new school year in 2008, when schools can get something going right from the word go. With the commencement of my new position with AQIS in November, I’m taking a break from coaching in Term 4 to focus on preparing for next year - and to actually have a holiday while I can! We’ll have just two more big events this month – a one-day open tournament, and an end-of-year special event where Australia’s number one chess player, GM Ian Rogers, will perform a simultaneous exhibition with some of our students.

If there's something I've missed these past few months, it's been the Yoshino River and Awa Odori. I've been getting a little bit of work on the Barron River, but the release flow has been at dry season level for four or five months now. Once in a while you just want to be back on a river that is less about rocks and more about waves. And of course, dancing season came and went without me in August. I missed Obon for the first time since I went to Japan in August 2001. As of this month, it's been fully a year since I last pulled on the yukata and tabi to dance in Sydney. I do miss it...

But I caught up with my old rafting boss, Mark, not two weeks ago. He was visiting Cairns and he looks well. By all accounts, it's been a great season on the Yoshino, no disasters like last year, and that's great news.

I’m still living in the same townhouse that I found back in January. A couple of noisy neighbours have since vacated, so it’s now a pretty good situation. Nice and cool, tiled floors are great. Just recently bought a new desktop PC, so everything is well setup. The test is coming though, with the onset of summer. It’s already hot, next it’ll be humid, and then it’ll start raining. We’ll see if I can stick it out!

An activity that I’ve recently gotten back into which will be a challenge in the heat is kendo. In missives long past I’ve described it. I think my initial foray into kendo was covered in “Way of the Sword” in June 2003 – so long ago that it’s not on my website any more! I’ll see if I can fix that up... Anyway, kendo is the art of Japanese sword-fighting, practiced these days with body armor and a bamboo sword, and “played” if you like in much the same way that karate and judo and taekwondo can be played as competitive sports. There’s a lot of ritual and discipline. I started doing it just up the road when I was living in Iya, but I eventually got too busy with AJET stuff, so my kendo gear went to waste lying in a corner. Now that I’ve got it back from Japan, luckily there is a kendo club in Cairns. Great bunch of people, good fitness, really enjoying it. I think I’m more comfortable with the idea of smacking someone over the head with a stick these days, too. It’s all good. :)

The other thing I will note here - and when I think about it, it really is a significant development in my life, but I’ve learnt not to be too serious about these things – is that I’ve been living with a lovely Japanese girl this past couple of months. In the past I’ve written more about my girlfriends, but you know, there’s really not much to write. She’s great, and life in Cairns is good for her, and I think living together suits us both. It’s otherwise pretty normal. Suffice it to say, to you few someones who are still interested (and still reading!), that I’m happy and well.

Love and thanks,

Dave