I learned (part of) my JET placement:

Shizuoka-Ken

It’s half way between Tokyo and Osaka, it contains Mt. Fuji, it borders Kanagawa (Dice’s prefecture), it borders Nagano (snow!).

I don’t know the school or city/town/village yet. Such is the trickle of info from the Consulate.

Tomorrow I’m off to Picton and beyond.

I’m in still in CHCH, and much more relaxed.

The last week has been much slower to the previous month - which was full of buses, trains, planes, and dancing. The first night here (and for each of the next 3) I slept over 12 hours! That much cabin time can be exhausting.

But I haven’t been idle. I did my newly realized tradition straight away: the garden and museum tour. I learned that Norwegians were the first at the geographic south pole! And I marvelled at the bonsai collection in the gardens. Christchurch has a more noticable Japanese and Korean influence (more so than in Auckland, Wellington, or Melbourne). There are many language schools, noticeboards everywhere with heaps of ads for tutors and classes. Even more restaurants, and a good share of gaming and computer clubs. I like it a lot, and would probably live here if I had to pick a city in NZ to live.

I’ve also been clocking in hours in front of books. The off season is truly off - very little travellers (the hostel is about 1/3 full). Each place is quiet and calm. So I made my over to the library and finally finished Memoirs of a Geisha. Today, I read Straightjacket Society - an insight into the groupism and bullying of the Japanese workplace.

Near the airport is the International Antarctic Centre, which is both a civilian and scientific hub. It has a large interactive museum with a simulated blizzard in Antarctica and other near-virtual-reality exhibits. The Centre also has a large complex of buildings that serve as the offices and mechanic shops for the NZ, USA, and ITL Antarctic programs. The scientists and workers come here for training and briefing; the cargo planes depart from here loaded with supplies. It was fascinating and I’m still motivated to find work overthere and become an “overwinter” - the term used for people that spend the winter in “The Ice”.

I sampled the swing dancing here, and the scene is quite nice. The teachers are American (as so many are abroad), and there’s a dance each week in a local pub. Many Colorado follows have dropped by over the past few months, and everyone here was asking about the Mercury Cafe! Surprisingly enough, I didn’t know any of the people that visited (but then I wasn’t really that social at the Merc).

Thursday, I leave for a circuit around the South Island. Picton, Abel Tasman Nat’l Park, the West Coast, the Glaciers, Queenstown, and the Deep South. Good ol’ Stray.

AH!

After three nights in a row of sleeping (or trying to sleep) on airplanes, a night in a hostel bed is magical. So good!

IT’S OVER!

My layover in Perth rocked!

A swing friend from Hullabaloo picked me up from the airport (after a rather curt greeting from customs officials: they didn’t like that I had only one day in Australia, and the airport sniffer dogs thought I needed a shower, so they searched my luggage for drugs).

But, I was wisked away eventually, and taken to a shower. Very nice. Then, off to Cottesloe beach for hours in the sun and breeze. Afterward, a nice focaccia lunch followed by a few hours at Little Creatures Brewery (drank the Pale Ale, and ordered the olives and feta). As if that weren’t enough, I was taken to the Sail and Anchor and given a chilli beer - very spicy. Goes in like beer, goes down like hot sauce. At long last, a dinner party with other Perthies and finally to the airport for my connection to Melbourne.

A few hours in Melbourne, and then off to Christchurch.

Travelling with bags is nice, but tiring. 7 months is getting to be a long time. Packing and repacking, washing, carrying. It will be nice to be in one spot when I get to Japan.

Hong Kong is nuts! Built in a jungle in the mountains.

I spent most of my 18 hour layover in the city, walking around and looking at things. I went to the botanical gardens, which had heaps of tropical plants and flowers; the Hong Kong Garden, which had a cool Tai Chi courtyard with bonsai trees and a walk-in aviary with over 800 species of birds; I walked to the Man Mo temple; I took the tram up to the top of the peak and looked at the city - the city is so close to the mountain that you can’t see the bottom of the buildings. They look like they’re coming straight out of the earth. (Have you ever seen Dark City? From up there, Hong Kong makes noise, but doesn’t move.) I ate noodles at a cool little hole in the wall; I took the bullet train between the airport and the city - it goes under 2 rivers and you can feel the pressure change.

It would be fun to live and work here for a year. Tops.

Paris is like a non-stop Lindy Exchange.

I tried the Slow Club tonight (rue de Rivoli - down the street from the Louvre). It swung: enter at ground level, take a two-story spiral staircase down into the ground. The place is a cavern - all rock walls, low arched ceilings, great floor. Tho, it took me a while to find a French follow - Kansas, Arizona, Florida, Sweeden. Eventually, I found a French guy named Patrick. He was good.

www.danse-a-2.com

137 events scheduled in May! 4 different dances each night, means you couldn’t even get all of the regular dances in a month.

Ah! That was why the owner was so worked up. His French was so fast we couldn’t make out what he was saying. He was certianly concerned about something, but we thot it was just Chinese hospitality. Damn clueless Americans.

Paris - city of extravagance. The French leave little room for subtlety, attacking your eyes with exceeding spectalces of architecture and design. Bombardment of such sustained magnitude has left we longing for the simplicity of New Zealand. I walked around the forest of Fontainebleau, very green, very Robin Hood. Short, rocky hills, thick green trees, quiet and peaceful. If you thot it was a nightmare to drive in Manhattan, think about Paris. No grid, more peds, motorbikes and scooters, parking a nightmare. I’m glad to use the metro and trains.

I saw the Bastille neighborhood the other day. Just a tall column in a round-about for a memorial - the prison was destroyed in the Revolution. I also went to the modern art gallery - Pompidou - and saw lots of cool ideas. Some Andy Warhol, Dali, and others. Some weird, stuff, too. Like a urinal on its side, but a new perspective on it. The building reminds of the ITLL building - color-coded pipes, exposed building materials (they used concrete to join the trusses), and very technological looking. The escalators were on the exterior of the building, inside these hamster-tube like passages.

This morning, they tested the air raid sirens, which sound like weary banchees. Very eerie and slightly disturbing.

Tomorrow, I begin my travel back to New Zealand, a 65 hour journey of flying and waiting. This will be intense, but I may get to mess around the city of Hong Kong, as I have 14 hours there in the day.

My position in Japan is all but secured. My brother will be receiving a packet of information about the school I’ve been matched with. Once I get that, my place is absolutely certain. I can’t wait and I hope I’m not too far out froma big city. At least train access. If/When I get placed, I’ll have to change my return ticket to put my in the US (the big C) before July 9th. I’ll have two weeks to put things in order, and then I’ll leave for my school!

I like France, tho. The people are more friendly than I was expecting, and the old stone buildings with dormers are endearing. EVerywhere you walk, you feel the age and weight of this significant city. Old men walk around with their hands folded behind their back; at 5 o’clock, everyone is carrying at least one bagette; cheese and bread for breakfast is nice and fast.

If I return, I’ll prolly spend more time dancing - it is, after all, part of the history of the Lindy Hop. It’s where Lindbergh landed when he hopped over the Atlantic in 1927. I’m going to try dancing tonight, but as there are more than 4 dances every night, I certianly won’t get any proper feel for the dancing and jazz here.