Oh, so what does this title have to do with it all? Well, it could have something to do with the fact that at this most immediate and present moment I cannot access the photos on my camera. And why is that would you ask? Well, let the presentation begin. As I have undoubtedlypromised I am hoping to continue posting weekly. Weekly on the Mondays. And most people don’t like the Mondays. Maybe this will give them something to read- or it will give me something to have to remember doing. Blah. So !
I cannot at moment access camera photos because I am writing from a cabin. A cabin with internet you ask? Yes ! But as I have forgotten to bring my camera cable with me I cannot include stunning and happening photos from my inquest to Vancouver. -Geez. I almost typed Cancouver. Canucks, anyone? So as I am holed up like some desperate writer just hoping to gain inspiration, or just quiet -by visiting a cabin, still I post. On
to the good stuff.
I must update you that I this point I am working on two of a few more things:
First, I am thinking to purchase a nice-y camera. Some digital SLR thing that will take real uber-special cool photos. Maybe it’ll be a new hobby.
Secondly, as I figure it all out I am making a top ten list of stuff that I will be just dying to do in Japan -like spending a steamy weekend at some onsen/hotspring in mountainous Japan with someone special. That someone might be you !
So then, I have just moved on from some seminars in Vancouver. Anyone desperately familiar with the JET Programme -Canada and otherwise, might know about this fact. About this time, yearly, new JETs attend seminars that primp and prime them for life overseas. All of this happening right before you hit July. July being crash-bang month. The last month, or rather the month of your departure where all you have left to do is pack, franticize (yes, that might not be a real word, but I like it) and wonder whom else you should have said hello/goodbye to, or what more you should have done. But these days are not like days of old. It’s not like new participants to this program have to sigh, wave goodbye and get on a ship for weeks of sailing torrid oceans to some distant-like land. Nope. It’s instead all by plane.
For our seminar we sat in a downtown BCIT campus and heard, listened, pored over, and were instructed on the life of a JET. What classes in Japan are like. What you
may miss, and what you should take. Things that you should avoid doing -like yelling loudly without reason in your new workplace. . Or just some things you should do like smile, make the most of your experience. Sit back, wait back -listen. Be flexible and making the most of our new life in Japan. Wherever we are placed. (In my case of course it is north. And oh, so north it is).
Many that may know me may at last be breathing a sigh of relief knowing that I will at last be spending waking and un-waking hours in the country that I have been raving about for years. If I have talked your ear off about Japan -I won’t say sorry. Really, in fact, you have probably given me the right to blab and to thus excite my better passions. And so, I am probably where I am today -on the verge of departure to live in Japan- thanks to you ! Yes, you ! Haha.
Regarding the seminars it was two days worth. Stayed at a friends’ family’s spot and commuted into and out of Vancouver for those few days. It was nice to see something more material and practical about this program. To hear people that have taught there and lived there speak about what they thought, loved, and loathed. After so many months of information influx I have now been sparked post-seminar to think about the reality of it all. Yeah, that I have to pack my better goods into suitcases and ship them -and me with them- to anot
her country. Wow. It couldn’t be more exciting. Exciting !!!! !!! !! ! (pretty cool. Those exclamation marks are ordinal, eh?)
A neat fact from those few days is that on one occasion during our lunch break whilst we were all dressed in suit and tie and business formale (‘fohr-mahl’), I thought ramen (only THE best Japanese noodles) would be a good deal for a meal. We were in Vancouver after all. I ended up leading a pot full of people down the road over city blocks and to some tables where we slurped -some of us more heartily than others- ourselves full of noodles and oodles galore. Too fun. Finally, after all this college and training and ‘preparation-ing’ many of us are on the way towards our new and fun-tilled careers. Careers including lunch breaks and suit-wearing. And if that’s you, good luck with yours !
So anon, here I am days after sitting and note writing, another fancy that I have -paper, pen, writing and all- near water’s edge and cabin’s hedge. After a few days on a family holiday I am heading back to Kelowna to prepare and coordinate everything else that needs coordinating. I really wish that I could include more facts and acts about what every-thing I am doing in preparing for this program, but, no. It is all still to ‘unreal’. I am waiting. Taking it all day by day and asking myself, what are you doing? And the answer I tell myself is that, Dalton, you are doing exactly what you love -going to Japan.
Oh, and when I have the most speedy chance, I will include some photos, yes.
Moreover, good luck with yours -whatever you may be-
The Traveller's Typewriter 