Mid-Year Conference: "The Nash" Style

Monday, October 30th, 2006: Instead of getting up early, fumbling around in a half-daze, trying to make my way to the shower, and trotting off to another week at Shirane High School, I got up feeling refreshed after a nice, relaxing weekend and made my way (with the other Yamanashi ALTs) to the Misaka Educational Center for our Mid-Year Conference. While two days of listening to lectures and attending workshops is not always the most exciting event you could think of, it was really nice to see the other ALTs once again and to have a few days hiatus from teaching. Monday's conference began with a 3-hour presentation about "mining for your virtures." While certain concepts of this somewhat hippie-ish program were interesting, it was, needless to say, way too long and by 12:30pm, I was ready for a good, long lunch break. The afternoon sessions were a little better, but boredom had set in around 3pm and I was only too glad when the last questions were asked and we were dismissed to venture on over to the hotel where we would all be staying the night.

Our hotel, a more traditional Japanese hotel (ryoken style), was very quaint and comfortable. I shared a large tatami room with four other ALTs: Megan, Kat, Julia and Grace. When we first arrived, Megan and I headed over to Matt's room and played some cards with him and two of his roomies, Mike and Lee. By the time dinner was ready, we had a room full of people engaged in a heated game of rummy.

Dinner was, by far, the most amazing thing I have eaten in a long time! Entering a big tatami room, we encountered rows upon rows of small, individual tables with mountains of different bowls, plates and bottles arranged pristinely on wooden trays. Matt, Jason, and I joined the other vegetarian JETs at our designated seats and prepared to enjoy our delicious feast! We were served hot sake and even had a geisha entertain us for a short time. The servers kept bringing out more food and hot tea and soon I felt at the point of being uncomfortably full. So, when Matt and Jason took off to enjoy the rooftop onsen, Megan and I headed back to our room, where we laid down on the futons and digested a bit.


By 8 or 9pm, the majority of the JETs had already started what would prove to be a long night of drinking and lewd behavior. And me, being the kind of "prude" I am, decided to skip this part of the night and instead ventured out to the nearest conbini (convenience store) to buy some tea and snacks. Sitting in the hotel lobby with some other, less crazy ALTs, we could hear the commotion of the other ALTs loud and clear. I was starting to worry that I might never get any rest, but by 12:30am, when I settled down for the night, the nose was less obtrusive and I slept very well.

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006: Waking at 6:30am, Megan and I decided to head up to the onsen to wash and take a quick bath before breakfast. It was very nice to be able to leisurely wake up in the hot, stone bath and to have some time to talk with Megan. After dressing, I met Matt in the breakfast room, filled my tray with salad, fruit, bread, dumplings, veggies, and a hot cup of coffee, and sat down to eat. I was so full, still, from the night before that I could hardly finish my plate of food and had to finally abandon it to return to my room, collect my belongings, and to check out of the hotel.

Before heading off for the second day of conferences, Matt, Megan, Mark and I strolled around the little hotel garden and snapped a lot of pictures of the koi swimming in the little pond (Matt's most favorite Japanese "wildlife" to photograph). Then, making our way to the Misaka Educational Center once again, we began our second day of conferences (which went much better than the first and were, for the most part, interesting and informative).

I think sometimes, though, when I attend things like this where a large group of very unique individuals are gathered, I tend to become annoyed with some of the immature actions, behaviors and comments that are made during the lectures and workshops. I really do try to be open-minded with all these different people, but at times I feel flung back into my RA training days, when people were rude and disruptive and generally annoying. And while I didn't feel exactly like this during mid-year, I was certainly glad to walk through the apartment door with Matt and to have a moment of peace and quiet in my own home. I definitely think I enjoy seeing the other JETs in smaller groups rather than in one lump sum. But, overall, it was a nice change from our routine and staying in a hotel and being fed dinner and breakfast isn't half bad either.

(On a side note, even though I was in conferences during Halloween and didn't really get a chance to celebrate, we did get lots of fun Halloween goodies from family and friends and still found some time to enjoy the holiday!)