Of momentum and meloncholy.

So, it seems that the HAJET mid-year conference has come and gone, informative and entertaining as it was.

It was nice to touch base with other ALTs and feel out how things have been going for people in Hokkaido. When one is the only person doing their particular job in their town, it can be quite easy for doubts to creep up as to the quality and purpose of their work. But it seems that such uncertainty is almost universal across the region. It was nice to talk to people feeling the same feelings as I.

With the meeting inevitably came shifts in my thinking, an occurrence that has become entirely routine as I attempt to perform my job to the best of my ability. I've been fine-tuning my methods as well as aspects of my personality continually since my arrival in Furubira. One day I might be really genki, the next a little more austere. I'm trying to find that sweet spot that allows for well balanced education and social interaction with my students. I want to be their friend but it doesnt help their language skills if I just joke around with them all class.

As with any HAJET outing, drunken escapades followed the main event. The author will be the first to admit, that he went a bit far in this particular arena, particularly during the main enkai on Sunday night. Things were said that I utterly regret in retrospect. It is because of this that I will be experimenting with staying sober at the next HAJET enkai. After all, Japan really is fun enough without the booze. That's the theory anyway. We will just have to see how it goes.

Otaru itself was idyllic as usual, in exception to the weather on Monday. I've become quite fond of the architecture there of late. If you focus on it, you can feel almost as if you've been transported into a Ghibli film. There's the streetcar shaped buses, the old, European style warehouses, and of course the famous canal. The esthetic really is unique to anywhere I've been in the world.

I picked up a new television on Monday. As with Canada, I've been gaming quite a bit in my free time. I'm sure the reader can imagine my distraught as I discovered when moving to Furubira that my prized console, my PS3, would not function for whatever reason on my original T.V. It's because of this that procuring a new television was high on my list of priorities. It seems I lucked out when I went to buy my television as well because Don Quixote in Otaru was having a sale. My television, a 32 inch Sharp, which normally costs 50000 yen, was marked down to 35000, and 30000 if you had a Don Quixote members card. I swiftly signed up for membership to this strange, strange store (It only cost 3000 yen, for a net profit of 2000). I left the store with a smile on my face and a huge box in my hands. Then I remembered I needed to take the bus home.
WINTER IS COMING. This is a mixed bag for me. It becomes a little colder every day but it also means that the chance to sample Hokkaido's fine ski hills grows nigh. On the former, I'll admit I'm a little worried. During the meeting about Hokkaido's winter during the Mid-Year conference, our social rep, Andy Suvoltos gave a description of winter as would be told by Lovecraft, Blackwood, or Poe. What he described was a land where life was  lived always shrouded in blankets and clothes. Where one's apartment was completely dark due to the methods used to insulate windows. A land where leaving one's home was not unlike an Arctic expedition. But he's from Australia, Canadians might be ok, who knows. I'm still super excited about skiing. My plan is to hit up Niseko as soon as possible, with Alpha Tomamu being second. Skiing is a real privilege for me because in Nova Scotia, the only decent ski hill was nigh inaccessible. Never the less, I've always loved to Ski. For the amount of times I've gone I consider myself to be fairly proficient at it as well, but my skills have probably faded in the past couple years.

In any case, I wish you all the best.