The Mid-year conference...

...was surprisingly enjoyable. Kasuga picked me up bright and early and we left just after 8 on thursday morning, making it to Shiojiri right around 9:30 when the doors opened. turned out that the event didn't start until 10:30 though, so we just kinda pattered around for an hour to pass the time. The place we were having this conference at though was fantastic. Not only was it really pretty, but it was set up on the side of the mountain with a beautiful view of the valley below. I still just can't get used to how cool it is to see for nearly twenty miles and see everything in between. The events we had for the day were a mixture of enjoyable and not so. The keynote speaker was engaging in the fact that he talked about some of the problems we face as ALT's and how we can try to be creative in our ways to address the innate probelms of the educational system we're a part of. The two afternoon sessions we had weren't fantastic though. One included 'how to team-teach' which was annoying to me, and I've only been here for four months. I just know it was terrible for the people who are in their 2nd or 3rd years, because it is so counter-productive to show demo lessons for 10 minutes as a presentation when 1) lessons are actually 50 minutes and 2) we've all been team-teaching already. If anything, it just showed me that some of the other ALT's are really rude and inconsiderate people, a vibe I could get in just watching them lead a demo lesson for 10 minutes. Yikes.

Afterwards we made our way up to the hotel for the evening. The SHS and JHS ALT's all went to different places, and we had been given a warning not to be too hectic and get too inebriated as apparently had been the issue in the past. Kasuga was one of just 2 or so JTE (Japanese teacher's of english) who was spending the night up at the place, since we are being reimbursed for the cost (and at 90$ a head, I'm very glad of that!) So we followed one fo the buses that was taking students up to the hotel. Kasuga was laughing pretty hard at the nickname Jesse and Matt had given the bus (prison buses) because of the fact we were taken even further up into the mountains with no way to go out and get away and had no access to shopping etc.

The place was pretty nice and we had a fantastic dinner served in the traditional style. Before dinner though, I had kasuga take myself and one of my roommate on what I guess could only be called a 'beer run'. We had no luck finding the Lawson's conbini we were given directions to and dropped into some random guys little liquer shop and stocked up for ourselves and others. I felt deliciously delinquient.

So there was a very nice general mood of revelry at the hotel, as is per the norm whenever a large group of us ALT's get together.

After dinner and lots of chatting with friends I made my way to the onsen. FINALLY I made it to an onsen. It's pretty despicable that I hadn't hit up a japanese public bath yet, but that's fine. It was extremely relaxing to shower off and head into the very hot water. I opten to head outside (considering it was about, oh, 35 degrees) and relax in the water. Also surprising is how quickly your western worries of modesty drop away (also aided by the alcohol, no doubt) and you just enjoy it for what it is.

Afterwards, it was only 9:30 and I felt like I could just call it a night, but I went with one of my roommates to a room that was having a little party of sorts. I spent the next couple hours there, and by the time I left it was getting pretty out of hand but was still just a blast altogether. I ran into Kasuga a couple of times, completely blitzed, and I guess he was pretty popular because he kept running into people out and about in his imparied state. When I saw him, he was in the process of trying to find his coat, but to no avail. (When I asked him about it this morning, he had no recollection. a shame.) This mornings breakfast was a traditional japanese breakfast, which was about the worst thing ever on a morning after stomache. Lol.

The sessions this afternoon were both good and bleh. The sessions on dealing with JTE-ALT communication issues was great because I think we really got to drive home to point to the JTE's how important it is for us to get feedback and talk to us if there are any issues. There was also one on how to internationalize the classroom and I was able to come up with some good ideas for that while I was doing my 'secretary' work for that presentation (aka writing up a 1 page report on it so people could re-create the lesson if need be. :P)

The one on recontracting with JET was little more than an interrogation with veiled threats that we should re-contract, which was lame as hell.

There was also an interesting one to end the day going over information gleaned from a survey given to JTE's and ALT's. One of the most interesting things we discussed was the results of "Should ALT's be expected to use the exact same accent as the speakers in the textbooks?" 25% of JTE's said yes, and 0% of ALT's said no, which was really interesting.

We wrapped it up and then made our way home. Tomorrow at 7am the bus leaves with the teachers for Nagoya. We're going to a meiji-era village, beer factory, and a shopping center. I'm hoping to get a USB video game controller adn green food coloring (so I can make x-mas wreaths for one of my classes! :-D)

Next up: pictures!

I spent two weeks growing a beard for no-shave november, but I had to bail on it due to the fact public servants in japan are discouraged from having a beard.

the room we stayed in last night view from the window this morning, the rain coming down was washing away the snow we got last night.

in one of the presentations today.the view on the way out after we were all done; note kasuga's determined stride/look in the bottom left.

heck of a view! really beautiful the first afternoon, the clouds were just thick enough so you couldn't tell where the clouds ended and the mountains began.