JET Pre-departure Orientation from the other side

As a member of one's local JET Alumni Association one is sometimes asked to help out with JET promotion events, JET orientation events and such like.

This past week I ran into the local JETAA president at the meeting of another Japan related organisation that we both belong to. Having established that orientation was this weekend and that eating might be occurring afterwards (eating!!!! I am always up for eating!), I asked him if they needed any extras for it. Well! As luck would have it another person had had to pull out at the last minute and would it be ok if I helped him with his section. No problem man!

It turned out to be a lot of fun, both the eating and the orientating. It was quite the trip down memory lane and a really fun day in the end. Of course, it culminated in Karaoke! I haven't sung like that in ages.

I am really excited for the new JETs beginning their journey. It feels like only yesterday that was me sitting where they were sitting asking questions etc. They all seem so excited.

I'm so glad that I was given the opportunity to help out.

Oh and for those that want to know where good Japanese food is in Auckland, try Don (丼) on High Street in the central city, the duty manager's name on the sign might be Korean but I swear to goodness that that place has authentic Japanese staff and food! Nom nom!

OK I'ma say it!!!

This has nothing to do with my travels, my studies or my travel plans but I am annoyed!

I am today studying in Starbucks. Getting some s*** done for my masters course work right?

The fact that I even got admitted into a masters course puts me on a level of intelligence that is not beyond most people but that appears to be recently.

In my time studying at a Starbucks in the suburb next to the suburb of Auckland that I grew up in I have made some observations. You know, as a good scientist with an interest in human behaviour and community policy does, observes the world around them. Good scientist, listen, eavesdrop, observe, pretend like I am working etc etc etc etc etc etc... blah blah blah.

Aaaanyway, yesterday there was a couple here, in their 40s on a date. A date during the day, most probably because both had children from another relationship. They were hiding the fact that they were on a date from their kids. They sounded like they wanted to do right by them. I didn't catch the full story of their split ups though.

Then! Today, there was a pair of women having coffee, both were about my age, both had babies ranging between 3 and 9 months old, BOTH were single!!!! One left her guy because everything changed once baby boy came along. Umm duh! If you didn't know that before you had unprotected sex then you probably do not want to know what I am thinking right now.

Since when has it been ok for couples to not raise the baby that they clearly had a lot of fun making together? Since when has it been ok for a woman to not let her imprisoned ex-boyfriend (?) find out about their child's milestones? Since when is it ok for a woman to cheat on her man, then go out for dinner with the other guy the day after they break up despite having a child? Since when did communities cease to care whether or not the next generation is raised with a moral compass?

SINCE WHEN?!

We hear all this stuff in the media lately about rich kids and their booze and their drugs at a prominent Auckland high school and kids dying etc. Is that because the parents have no time for them?

A community raises a child.

A community should give a damn about our kids.

Our kids are dying either at the hands of their parents, or at the hands of drugs, be they legal (ahem Kronic) or otherwise.

We need to set an example for them. We need to make things work. We need to show them how a good citizen is supposed to behave.

For goodness sake, if you want a kid make sure you pick a partner who wants you FOREVER first and foremost. Then make sure they wants you to have a baby with them. Not the other way around.

Make sure they are going to stay.

Make sure they are going to have a respectable job and not end up in the clink.

Make sure you are going to raise that kid TO-GETH-ER!

I am sick of the me me me BS that this world seems to think is ok.

It is not ok to want a human doll to play with and then to not stay with the other half of the fertilization process just because "everything changed when the baby was born". It is just not ok.

I don't know when society is going to wake up but watch out if I ever get put in charge of social development because I'ma come out guns blazing. None of this is ok!

Neither is me neglecting my study so off I go.

Rant over! (For now!)

Post script: My friend just pointed out that we shouldn't need to be having this conversation. Too true sister but it is a fact of life. Now, what to do about it without sounding like a condescending bitch face?

Hototiu, The Train Taniwha

Right, so, I am annoyed this morning. I have been hearing and seeing a lot of culturally insensitive people, some who aren't even Aucklanders jumping up and down about the Taniwha that is guardian over the creek that runs underneath Auckland's Queen Street.

Taniwha = mythical creature that protects its domain's Mauri.

Mauri = Life force/spirit. It can be added to or it can be subtracted from. Things that subtract from Mauri are things that disrupt the natural balance.

Kaitiaki = guardian. Maori are kaitiaki over their lands, people and gods. The land is kaitiaki over the Maori, animals and plants who live upon it. The gods are kaitiaki over everything.

The taniwha, to my understanding, is a lower level god.

The "T-bomb" was dropped at the Auckland Council this week. The "T-bomb" that could stop Auckland's rail link from going ahead. I don't mind, it won't get all the way out to where my parents live anyway so why waste my rates on it. But it does affect those who live closer in and may use it.

What I want to point out is that people are ridiculing someone else's belief system. One that was perfectly fine until us white fullas came along and ruined it because we thought that our ideas are better. The land was fine, it was productive, birds sang and there was plenty of food to go around. Possums didn't eat the native foliage and stoats didn't eat the Kiwis that ran around in the bushes in the cute way that they do.

This taniwha was NOT the government's idea. In fact, certain Maori MPs who are part of the government have been making jokes about it on Twitter all of the last 2 days. I don't think it's a government stalling tactic at all and would have said the same thing if I stood on the other side of the political "fence" (bahaha what fence?!).

I want to point out that this member of the Maori Board (or whatever it is it is being called, Auckland Council still confuses me, doing my local government policy assignment on the Waikato for that reason) is asking a valid question. Have you considered the spiritual protector of the land? Have you considered its Mauri? Have you thought about how you are going to minimise Environmental Impact? If you have not, you'd better do it again because like it or not it's in the Resource Management Act that all factors, especially those relating to the Treaty of Waitangi should be considered and a full environmental impact assessment undertaken. What he is getting at is that perhaps full consultation was not undertaken and whether or not that is legally ok is beside the point, is it morally unquestionable? I don't know.

Suffice to say that whilst I did initially laugh at the taniwha that lives in the Auckland CBD, I am not going to ridicule it because even though it's not my belief, it is someone else's and we live in a multicultural society where, at least I thought, it is part of our collective culture to respect other people's beliefs.

Condescension in the ranks!

So I've been plodding along thinking that music is just music buuuuuuut sometimes a friend will come along who points out that no no it is not just the music.

One must occasionally think carefully about the lyrics of the songs one listens to.

Usually they are innocuous but sometimes they can endorse things that might not be the best thing. Eminem is notorious for courting controversy in his lyrics and no one would want to be associated with some of the things that he is associated with.

No one would have suspected that New Zealand's beloved Brooke Fraser would be such an artist. I am not talking about the kinds of stuff that Eminem ends up in the media for. No sirs and madams I am talking about being on her high horse! My friend so kindly pointed out to me this weekend that if you listen to Brooke Fraser's song "Betty" and are a single/unmarried career woman you are listening to something that by rights should offend you.

My friend persuaded me that this song is about career women. When you look at the lyrics (below) we have reference to designer clothing, stiletto heels, a serious stare, a fool proof plan for a lonely life, not desiring to be a wife and expectations.

It could be seen in another way, that 'Betty' is hiding behind her ambition and that her personality doesn't come through because of that but it could also be seen as this: 'Betty' has too much ambition and should want to settle down.

Not everyone wants that, not everyone is ready for that, not everyone needs that, not everyone is destined for that. Just because Ms. Fraser has both does not mean that she needs to be so condescending to those who either don't want both or have not been able to achieve both.

I, for one, won't be buying anymore of her albums. I don't like the message that this song sends to girls who might want to be career women one day. I, also, like my Click Clack Shoes, thank you very much! Brooke upset me this time, sorry Ms Fraser!

Lyrics:

You got a quick snap-lock on your cold, cold heart
You got your YSL kicks and a red birthmark
In the shape of Canada
That you try to keep a secret

You got a quick clack walk and a cold hard stare
And if your eyes could talk they'd say they just don't care
Before they wander off
To hide inside their sockets

You've got your scars and you've got your birthmarks
You've got Toronto hiding on your hip, honey
You've got your secrets
You've got your regrets
Darling, we all do

You got a fool-proof plan for a lonely life
You won't be no one's daughter and no drunk man's wife
If a wife at all
It's a silly institution
Or so you keep insisting

You've got your scars and you've got your birthmarks

[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/betty-lyrics-brooke-fraser.html ]

You've got Toronto hiding on your hip, honey
You've got your secrets
You've got your regrets
Darling, we all do

You're cool coy, 'bout your strawberry hip
It's you that's hidden by the expectations
We want to see you, won't you show us where to start?
You're talking trash with your replica lips
It's you that tickle in the conversation
Sweet Betty, won't you show us who you are?

You've got your scars and you've got your birthmarks
You've got Toronto hiding on your hip, honey
You've got your secrets
You've got your regrets
Darling, we all do

You've got a quick snap-lock on your cold, cold heart

Eek! It's February!!

Soooo, last Thursday was 6 months since I finished my Assistant Language Teacher position in Takaoka, Toyama, Japan...

I still have no job! I have an unconfirmed job that currently has no start date (though I can take a rough guess) and no confirmed wage (though I can take a rough guess at that too) and know that this job is only for first semester of university this year. All that is fine. I don't mind being on vacation indefinitely but I do mind not being a productive citizen. So, I am enrolled at university this year with the aim of getting a qualification that will actually get me a job.

One problem with the university thing though is that the head of the program has gone on his vacation for that summer or is doing research overseas for the summer or something. So, my actual course of study for the year is still largely unconfirmed too. I know what half of what I am doing is: classes! The other half might be more classes but it might also be research, I have no idea.

Another maaaaajor problem that I am having at the moment is that there is static on my parents' phone line. BOTH lines running into our house have static on them. The line was switched the other day but still the same problem. It has taken 3 months for the company to even come out and have a look at it much less fix it, which they thought they had done but clearly have not. This problem causes us to be online then offline then online then offline in a way that my mother says she never even experienced living in a much less developed country.

Going from super fast fibre optic internet to the much slower internet in NZ that has data caps has been hard enough but to annoy other people because the line maintenance hasn't been done for years seemingly is not good.

Sorry if you see me popping up online then offline then online then offline then online then offline all day. It's not my fault. Sorry sorry.

Oops this has been a bit ranty. My apologies.

Anyway, I am freaking out that it's February already. How about you?

5 months back... do I regret it?

Happy New Year! Hello 2011!

A dear friend of mine asked me just now whether or not I am happy being home in New Zealand rather than still teaching in Japan on the JET Programme.

The straight answer is sometimes.

There are times when I miss my students. There are times when I miss employment. There are times when I miss my all time favorite restaurant in the world. But I know that I have made the best move I could have possibly made at the time.

Sure the economy is still at the bottom of the longest long drop toilet since the 1930s. Sure my mother and I do what mother and daughter do when adult daughter moves home sometimes. Sure I've gained a small amount of fat thanks to over indulgence in food that I missed while in Japan. Sure it's hard to get some of the Japanese foods that I sorely miss. BUT the future is in my hands and there have been a lot of awesome things about home that I am going to share now.

1. I am enrolled (I think) in my Masters of Environmental Management which will take me until the end of next year to finish. I took one class in the second semester of 2010. I learned a lot about myself and my country through that class and got some high praise from some people well worth knowing.

2. I might be unemployed but I am unemployed in the most beautiful country in the world that nothing can compare to. I am also unemployed in the lucky country where the government helps you out while you are unemployed.

3. I've put some tentative plans together for the future.

4. My sister is getting married in August and being a distance learning student I am guaranteed to be able to go.

5. English TV and English books.

6. Libraries full of English books!

7. Feta Cheese

8. Salad greens.

9. Mum's oven!

10. Space! My garden!

11. Family [please note this is in no particular order!]

12. My furry friends.

13. My human friends.

14. Clean beaches safe to swim at within walking distance.

15. Coffee!

Friends of my parents who are employers have looked at my CV and have told me that having lived overseas is good. I've had 4 job interviews in 4 months. I don't think that's bad in the current economy. I don't mind those rejections. I would mind if I did not have this awesome plan B that I am following through on.

For me this move has been tough but it has not been a bad move at all. The sooner I get my masters and work experience in my chosen field the better and coming home when I did helped to kick start that.

I'm a bit bored at the moment which is certainly not a good thing. I reminds me of why I don't want to just sit around being unemployed and I am excited about starting back to university proper in February. In the meantime the hunt for a part time job has begun.

So to sum up, I don't regret it, no.