Wait. Guitar?
So... how was your weekend?
Putting on events to "promote internationalization and intercultural exchange" is just one part of the CIR ("Coordinator for International Relations") job description. In case you forgot, I'm a CIR on the JET Program. There are five CIRs in my general area, pictured below.
From left to right, that's Gon, Nathan, myself, Raka, and Toki. Gon and Raka are both from China, Toki is from Korea, and Nathan and I both hail from the great nation that is California.
Gon's predecessor founded a flea market-style event called the "Makizono Fureai Market". Loosely translated, that's "The Makizono town Communal Market". When Gon started his position in April, he ran into about the same thing I have: When your predecessor created an event that was well received, there is a certain expectation that you will continue their good work. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes you find yourself trying to fulfill an expectation while at the same time you don't know what that expectation is.
All five CIRs in my area are pretty close. We help each other out all the time. It makes things easier and more enjoyable all at the same time. When Gon asked for help, I didn't fully understand what he was looking for. I thought it would be the same thing as usual: Speech or Powerpoint presentation. Something like that. Of course I said "yes". I found out later he was looking for... music? Aw, hell. I don't play any musical instruments!
Or do I? I managed to learn a couple chords in about a week (with lots of tutelage from Nathan - he rocks on the music front), and then used that to provide a base and rythm for Nathan to improvise over. Andrew, in the middle, is a nearby ALT and friend who is chanting something we came up with. It sounded as if a twisted parody of a tribal chant was rear-ended by a runaway language track from a Chinese tutorial CD. ALl three of us wound up chanting with wild abandon; we were there just to do our five minutes and get through it. We sounded very strange; I think Yoko Ono would have been proud of our... uh... music.
Here's the strangest part -- the people at the market loved it. Afterward they asked several times about the title of the song, or about the style of music. Nathan and I did a pretty good job of explaining what we did, but I just don't think anyone really got it.
At least everyone had a good time.
Putting on events to "promote internationalization and intercultural exchange" is just one part of the CIR ("Coordinator for International Relations") job description. In case you forgot, I'm a CIR on the JET Program. There are five CIRs in my general area, pictured below.
From left to right, that's Gon, Nathan, myself, Raka, and Toki. Gon and Raka are both from China, Toki is from Korea, and Nathan and I both hail from the great nation that is California.
Gon's predecessor founded a flea market-style event called the "Makizono Fureai Market". Loosely translated, that's "The Makizono town Communal Market". When Gon started his position in April, he ran into about the same thing I have: When your predecessor created an event that was well received, there is a certain expectation that you will continue their good work. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes you find yourself trying to fulfill an expectation while at the same time you don't know what that expectation is.
All five CIRs in my area are pretty close. We help each other out all the time. It makes things easier and more enjoyable all at the same time. When Gon asked for help, I didn't fully understand what he was looking for. I thought it would be the same thing as usual: Speech or Powerpoint presentation. Something like that. Of course I said "yes". I found out later he was looking for... music? Aw, hell. I don't play any musical instruments!
Or do I? I managed to learn a couple chords in about a week (with lots of tutelage from Nathan - he rocks on the music front), and then used that to provide a base and rythm for Nathan to improvise over. Andrew, in the middle, is a nearby ALT and friend who is chanting something we came up with. It sounded as if a twisted parody of a tribal chant was rear-ended by a runaway language track from a Chinese tutorial CD. ALl three of us wound up chanting with wild abandon; we were there just to do our five minutes and get through it. We sounded very strange; I think Yoko Ono would have been proud of our... uh... music.
Here's the strangest part -- the people at the market loved it. Afterward they asked several times about the title of the song, or about the style of music. Nathan and I did a pretty good job of explaining what we did, but I just don't think anyone really got it.
At least everyone had a good time.
posted by Dehn at 13:51
1 Comments:
The middle school choir teacher to my left is very impressed!
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