September sun

I've been sporting a beauty of a tan line this week, right across the middle of my forehead where my bandanna usually rests. That's what comes of spending a full day out in the sun playing and refereeing touch footy, but I'm happy to say that it was well worth it. The weather was great, and the ad hoc Shikoku University team that I joined for the day did far better than any of us expected, going home 7th of 16 teams. I followed that up with a quick shower, dinner and karaoke with the Tensui-ren gang, and a fantastic onsen over at Ebisu no Yu. Hard to beat that for a top Sunday and a great end to a three day weekend.

The Japanese calendar has patches where public holidays come so thick and fast as to seem more frequent than actual work days. Golden Week is an example of this, four national holidays in the space of two weeks - in a good year, you can get 10 consecutive days off work for the low price of two days of actual paid leave. And here we are at the end of September coming into another such time - two consecutive long weekends that have just come and gone, another one coming up the weekend after this (which coincides with the newly introduced autumn school break), and two more national holidays in November to complete the season. Hard to believe, but even harder to complain about it!

As good as last weekend was, this next one should be a cracker, too. Saturday will see me out near the Iya Valley getting in some end-of-season rafting - it's just turned a bit chilly this week, so a day on the river could be a bit cold, but that's nothing a good onsen can't fix. Said onsen will be my favourite haunt, Hikyonoyu in Iya, after which I'll drive a little further up the valley to the yearly Jazz Festa in East Iya. There's a very competent vibraphonist (yes, folks, you read that correctly) who makes the trek to Iya and puts on a performance with an accompanying jazz crew at about this time every year. It's hosted in a fully restored traditional house and comes complete with a nice meal and, of course, plenty of friendly local company. It's always a good night. Hopefully I'll be able to claim some tatami at the local JETs' house - there is a local JET now, after a year's break since Katy left the east end of the valley - and on Sunday I'll try to swing by my old teaching colleague Fujimoto-sensei's place in Miyoshi, catch some dancing at the Highway Oasis, and finally head back to the city for a meeting that evening. Busy, busy, busy! But that's how a birthday weekend should be, right? :)

Yes, today's my 27th birthday, and as usual it provokes a bit of reflection on the year just past and on the possibilities of year number twenty-eight. Not too much reflection, however, because this week's cold snap has left me with a bit of a sniffle. I struggled through a few elementary school classes this morning, got home and had a snooze this afternoon, and am taking it pretty easy writing up this mail tonight. I might head out for some drinks and karaoke with the local JETs later on, but I don't expect it'll be a huge one. I'll make up for it this weekend.

As I may have mentioned in missives past, I share my birthday with one of my former students in Iya, Hidemi, whose little brother and older sister were also my students. Now they all live in Kochi, but I'm glad that our shared birthday gives me an excuse to send a little note to Hidemi and wish her and all the Asakura kids well. This is one of many little ways that I am reminded of my lasting link to Nishiiya. In some ways, the past year has been tough, because I never really had the time to say a proper farewell to Iya, but these little blessings have made it a little easier to deal with and, certainly, life here in the city and with AJET kept me busy and growing all the while. I guess I'd sum it up by saying that year number twenty-seven was a big learning curve. I'm looking forward to reaping a few rewards from all those learning experiences in 2006.

Speaking of learning, on a more literal level, I'm stuck somewhere between having too much study and not doing enough. First, my TEFL course, which winds up at the end of October. Then, my Japanese study, with the big test in December - pretty important if I'm serious about working in Japan beyond being an ALT. And also, a course of study for people interested in teaching Japanese - which I think is really interesting, but makes for a bit more study than I really want to be doing right now. This last one is also free of charge (for me), so it tends to take lowest priority.

Getting in the way of study is AWA CONNECTION. It's a long story, but one of the major local international associations hasn't been doing a good job of supporting Tokushima's foreign community since about April, so a few people have gotten together to set up something better. That's the idea, anyway, but these things are much more easily said than done. They're a very dedicated group of people, however, so this coming weekend will see the first general meeting of AWA CONNECTION. The group needs a link to the local JET community and as much help from people who speak more than just one language as possible. In the absence of the JETs who were originally involved, I've been asked to "help out", so now I'm on the committee. Go figure, but hey, it should be an experience. :)

I recently heard from an old mate who has applied for a swing dancing job at Osaka's Universal Studios theme park. I also have another mate, from this year's AJET team, who has just started working as a currency dealer in Tokyo - high risk but high potential gains, and in any case, the potential for him to make a lot of money. And I might also have a chat to the Aussie guy who runs the rafting company we're hitting the river with this weekend, to see what a season of being a rafting guide is like. Add these to the thoughts I've had about working at the embassy in Tokyo, finding a job with Tokushima-based pharmaceutical giant Otsuka, joining a federal government graduate program back home in Australia, or just finishing my time on JET and having some time off to travel and spend with family... well, who knows where you'll find me on September 29, 2006? I'm sure I'll still be writing, though, so you'll be sure to find out. Come on number 28!

Love,

Dave