inqk.net

I realise this is a week late but there were important things happening last week. None immediately spring to mind but I’m certain that’s because they were so important. Anyway, last week. So, in spite of my initial bravado regarding the Cultural Exchange Checklist, exams were on last week and there wasn’t much to do but prepare for the home town fair. As you may recall Sakai City was going to organise a day where Sakai City residents would be invited to come down to the city office and interact with some of the ALTs. The ALTs would prepare information about their home towns and their time in Japan. I had originally wanted to deride the entire exercise because I felt it pandered to a Japanese fiction about other cultures and peoples being reducible to a few interesting bits of trivia on a fact sheet.

That didn’t happen. I don’t know why, exactly. I suppose it just seemed rather petty. The people who were going to attend this fair were people who went out of their way to try to connect with a person from another country; to use that opportunity to lecture them on how small-minded they were would have made me feel like a jerk. Not to mention hypocritical considering what Australian people think of Japan.

So in the end preparations were made and I did it in the way they wanted. A great deal of time and effort was expended designing a display about Sydney, preparing a quiz for attendees to complete and making a handout for them to take away from the event. I was lucky enough that Kussu-sensei had the time and the inclination to help translate everything I wrote – not an insignificant task, mind you, and certainly one for which I was incredibly grateful. I also went around to Tokyu Hands and other places spending the 10,000 yen we had been assigned as best I could to make the stall look professional.

I’m sorry to say that in spite of this, on the actual day, things didn’t start off well. After arriving at the city office I realised that the tablecloths I had purchased for my booth at considerably expense had been left back at home. Despite my best attempts to be prepared I had forgotten to put them into my suitcase before I left. Initially I tried to get Rui to come down with them but we reasoned that it was hardly going to be worth the time it would take her to come. It would have also ruined any chance she had of being productive. So I was without tablecloths. Not that big a problem but not the way one would like to begin things.

Things did improve, however. James, the ALT from Brisbane, and his partner Susie had a huge poster of the Sydney Opera House that he didn’t want and I used this to free up the Australian flag to act as a makeshift tablecloth. I then began to spread out the things I’d made around my stall to try to make it look inviting. I felt a little inadequate next to Katie, the ALT from Christchurch (… it might not be Christchurch, it’s somewhere in New Zealand). Katie had a huge amount of things, from an iPod filled with New Zealand music to beautiful glossy photographs she’d taken from a calendar. On top of this there seemed an endless supply of brochures and handouts about New Zealand, maps, kiwi fruit and even Marmite sandwiches (somewhat stealing the thunder of my vegemite sandwiches).

People started arriving at around 1 pm and my stall did a brisk trade. I made some mistakes in my materials. The quiz I’d prepared had far too many questions and I needed signs suggesting people take copies of certain things. I don’t know if State of Origin was quite the hit I had hoped it would be and I think the camembert cheese would have been more successful. Still, it went quite well. I spoke to a range of people and was impressed by the level of English they all displayed. One student who came was so fluent I assumed she must have finished school and travelled abroad. I was somewhat taken aback when she said she was still in senior high. While there was certainly a grey tinge to the event, there were also a large number of families that came as well as some foreigners living in Sakai.

All in all, I had a good time. Unfortunately neither Rui nor I could locate my camera on Saturday night so I have no pictures but if I can get some from the other ALTs that were there I’ll try to put them up somewhere.