October 17th, 2009 – A JETNet Adventure in Asuka

On October 17, the Nara JETNet held an “orienteering” (aka sightseeing) event in the historic Asuka region of central Nara. The event, as with all other JETNet event, was centered on grassroots internationalization, with groups made up of 2/3 Japanese residents of Nara Prefecture, and 1/3 JET ALTs (English teachers from Elementary ~ High School).

The plan was to walk from landmark to landmark, answering questions whose answers are found at the actual historical sites (for example, “How many stone lanterns are at this emperor’s gravesite?”). The first half of the day was made up of sites that were mandatory to visit, but the later sites were set as optional, so groups who were getting tired could pace themselves, and even stop if necessary.

When we started for the day, we noticed that the weather was looking gray, but we went on ahead, despite a small sprinkling of rain. It continued to lightly rain off and on all throughout the morning, but never really got bad enough to need an umbrella. After reaching the area where we were told to eat our lunch, we joined the other groups under the trees and happily chatted while enjoying our packed lunches. Near the end of our lunchtime, the skies suddenly opened up and the rain began pouring, so everyone grabbed their bags and tarps, and headed for the one covered picnic area.

The team and I pose for a photo at the end of the day.

After some deliberation, due to the unstable weather (the rain continued to alternately start and stop, harder and harder each time) it was unfortunately decided that we would have to cancel the rest of the event. As soon as we said this, as if to mock us, the sun came out and shined brightly over the park, but we stuck with our decision. That turned out to be for the best, however, since in another 20 minutes, the rain was back again, harder than ever, with thunder to boot!

Even though the day ended earlier than expected, everyone I saw and spoke with was definitely having a great time, Japanese and JETs alike. More time would have been better, but I believe that things like this are sometimes beyond your control, and you just have to make the most of the time that we have during these events. I wish we could do them more often, but it’s just as well to learn to appreciate every hour of these 4 days per year when we have real opportunities to have fun and meaningful exchanges with the Japanese citizens of Nara.

１０月１７日に奈良県JET青年連絡協議会による第２８回のイベント、「JET青年と明日香アドベンチャー」を開催しました。JET青年と参加者をチームに分けて、明日香村を１０時頃に出発しました。いろいろ歴史的な場所を目指して、話しながら、楽しいハイキングをしました。また、参加者は遺跡を訪れる度に、あらかじめ用意されたクイズの質問をJET青年と協力して答えなければいけませんでした。残念だったのは、その日は朝から雨が降りそうな天気で、お昼ご飯の時にはひどく降ってきて、中止となってしまいました。短い間だけでしたけど、楽しくて、とってもいい交流になったと思いました。次のイベントを楽しみに待っています！

posted:2009年11月25日

June 28th, 2009: International Arts Festival

On Sunday, June 28th, I attended the Nara JETNet Arts Festival in Kawanishi Culture Hall, down near Yuuzaki Station. The Arts Festival is a yearly event thrown by Nara JETNet, which showcases various art and culture from around the world and is presented by the same JET ALTs and CIRs who work in the schools and international offices around Nara Prefecture.

The festival is divided into two parts: the first allows visitors to walk around the Hall and visit country booths, which introduce cultures of a certain country or specific region from all over the world, as well as enjoy a wide vinteractive activities. These activities, which included rugby, magic, capoeira, and tea ceremony, allow for a more hands on approach to learning about foreign culture.

The second half of the festival is reserved for performances, and this is where I participated. I appeared in a rendition of a Shakespeare play called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as the fairy king Oberon, and together there was quite the exciting variety of acts, including Taiko, world music, dancing, martial arts, acrobatics, and other exciting performances. In all, there was about 2 hours of performances, finishing with a spectacular magic show.

In addition to appearing in a show, I also helped organize all the performances into one show, with the help of the wonderful staff at the Cosmos Hall, as well as the cooperation of the performers. I even had a stage manager to help coordinate with all the performers! In the end, it was a very exciting day, and we all had lots of fun and the guests were very entertained. I hope you can come next year when we do it again!

６月２８日（日）、川西文化会館で奈良JET青年連絡協議会第２７回イベント、インタナショナルアートフェスティバルが行われ、参加してきました。このイベントは毎年お行われ、様々な国からのJET青年が国の文化や美術やパフォーマンスを紹介します。文化会館内の国紹介ブースや体験コーナーで２時間、そうして、ホールのステージで２時間半のパフォーマンスを行うなど、多様なイベントとなりました。今年のイベントで紹介したのは、カポエイラ、ラグビー、マジック、いろいろなダンスや音楽、演劇、そのほかたくさんの楽しいショーを約４００人の観客に見ていただきました。私はステージの担当者だったにもかかわらず、演劇にも出て、忙しかったけど、本当に満足のいく時間を過ごしました。また来年のイベントを見に来てください！

posted:2009年07月10日

JETNet Event 2009/05/07

Last month, I joined about 40 JET Program participants (mostly English language teachers) in the Nara JETNet spring event – Adventure at the Old Fujiwara Capital, down near Yagi and Kashihara cities. After breaking into teams and doing some ice breaker games with our groups, we were ready to set out on our trek. We departed from the meeting area near Yagi Nishi-guchi station, and walked over to the old styled village of Imai-cho. It was quite refreshing to take in the old Japanese architecture and small town feel that is so rare in Japan these days. Just from the look of the buildings and the lack of vehicles, the area made me feel like I went several decades into the past!

We stopped at a shrine to get a picture before we moved out of the area and headed for the Kashihara palace site. We had to take a bit of a detour on our way, but we all eventually made it to the palace site, and found a cool, shady spot to have lunch. By this time, it was already past noon, and we were all ready for food and a rest.

After we finished eating, we continued walking around and took at restroom break near Unebigoryoumae station while we made our way to Kashihara Shrine. After what seemed like no time, we arrived at the shrine; it was nearly 3pm by this point, so we took a well deserved break on the stairs of the main hall. After that, we all walked down to Kashihara-jingu-mae station, and finished our hike around 4pm. It was quite a journey, and everyone was happy and exhausted by the end!

４月１８日、奈良JET青年連絡協議会の「外国青年と藤原宮跡を歩こう」というイベントに参加しました。八木西口駅から橿原神宮前駅まで歩いて、喋りながら、いろいろおもしろいところや景色を見ました。古い町並みの今井町や、橿原宮跡、橿原神宮などを廻って、とても楽しいウォーキングツーアでした。

posted:2009年05月07日

Welcome to CIR Corner　　2009/04/10

Hello everyone!
Welcome to the CIR Corner of the NIFS website! Here, I’m hoping to bring you periodic updates on the many different events I am involved with as a part of NIFS, as well as the Nara JET community.

While things have been busy in the office with new arrivals, desk migration, etc., there haven’t been any major events this month yet. However, next Saturday, April 18th, the Nara JET community is holding their 26th event, “A JETNet Adventure at the Old Fujiwara Capital”. For more information about this and other JETNet events, please visit the Nara JETNet website.

Anyway, do come back again to see my report of that event in the week that follows it. I hope you look forward to this, and all my future updates.
~Abel

国際交流員コーナーへようこそ！
このページでは私が参加したイベントレポートを掲載していきますので、見に来てください。
次のイベントは4月18日のJETNetのハイキングなので、楽しみにしてください！

～アベル

posted:2009年04月10日