The Talandis Family in Japan

UPDATE: (4/5/08) I‘ve just refreshed all of the video clips in this post with bigger and clearer versions. Check out all my my hard work from the past two weeks!

I finally got back home from New Zealand on Monday, March 10th. It was a very smooth journey, and I can’t speak highly enough about Singapore Airlines. The planes were modern and comfortable, and the built-in video on demand system made the time fly by. We left Christchurch at noon on Sunday, then flew nearly 10 hours to Singapore. I measured time in movies and TV shows… “Okay, only two movies left…” This really helped! I would get up and walk around between shows, and I really enjoyed catching up on some films I hadn’t seen. While at Changi Airport I managed to get in a workout and a shower at a gym there. What a huge place that airport is! It’s a massive shopping mall. At 1 am we boarded our flight to Osaka. This was the hardest part of the trip because for us it was really 5 am! We had pulled an all-nighter, so once we got on the plane, everyone fell instantly to sleep. From Osaka to Toyama was a six hour bus ride, so by the time we got back at 3pm, it was the culmination of a 36 hour journey! Smooth and long… I took the next day off (yesterday) and got some rest.

Overall the trip was a great success. We had only a couple of minor problems, and they were dealt with quickly before they became bigger trouble. A couple of students didn’t get on quite well with their homestays, but that is par for the course. After a tough first week, my health improved a lot, and I started to really enjoy my time. I think I made the best of it, but I also spent too much money eating out. I couldn’t resist, as there were so many great restaurants to choose from.

During the mornings I worked on getting an article ready for (hopeful) publication in a language journal here in Japan, in addition editing videos of our afternoon activities. I still have a few more of those to go, but for now I’ll just post four of them. I don’t really appear much in them, but if you are interested in what I was up to, give them a look. They are not long and have been edited with short attention spans in mind:

Activity 2: Christchurch gondola This was a very nice thing to do early on in our trip, as it gave everyone on our group a great overview of the entire area. Christchurch is on a plain that is right next to the Banks Peninsula, an area of land formed six million years ago by volcanic eruptions. After a short ride up a 500 meter hill, you can see the entire area. Very nice!

Activity 3: The Maori experience One thing we learned on this trip was that New Zealand is a very young country, as countries go. It was settled in 1850 by folks from England. Of course they weren’t the first people on that land, the Maori were. At the Willowbank Wildlife Centre, on the outskirts of Christchurch, we could experience a bit of Maori culture by taking part in an interactive tour through a old-style village inhabited by Maori actors. They really brought the experience to life! We learned a lot, for sure.

Activity 4: Antarctic Centre Did you know that Christchurch is considered the “gateway to Antarctica?” It’s true. Next to the airport they have this massive complex of offices where countries that have bases down there (USA, NZ, Italy, Japan, etc) work to prepare expeditions. Planes loaded with supplies and scientists take off from there all the time. To involve the public, they created this fascinating visitor’s center that is an excellent example of “edu-tainment.” It’s part academic lecture and part theme-park thrill ride. And there are penguins- lot’s of penguins! Very interesting, and lots of fun!

Activity 5: Horseback riding This was a simple and relaxing activity- getting out into the countryside nearby Christchurch on the back of a horse. Personally I found the experience a bit boring, as I have ridden a horse before and wanted a bit more freedom to move where I wanted. However, almost all of our students had NEVER ridden before, so I was glad for the highly controlled (and safe) way the trek was handled.

Okay, so that’s it for now. I’m currently working on some more video clips, and I’ll get those posted when I’m done.

Hey all! I’m about half-way through my New Zealand trip, and I think it’s about time for an update on my adventures here. Overall, so far so good. The summer weather here has been quite spectacular, with almost no rain and temps in the low to mid 20s (C). That’s mid 70s for all you non-metric folk. The city is about the same size as Toyama City, with about 370,000 people. There is a HUGE park in the center of town- I heard it’s the third largest central-city park in the world. I’ve throughly enjoyed running and walking around there. I’m staying in a nice one-bedroom apartment very near to the school where our students are studying at. Besides a few design flaws, I’m very happy with it. Best thing of all is the washer and drier! I can clean all my clothes in a jiffy, which is quite a change from my life in Toyama, where we hang-dry everything, and it sometimes takes days before I can wear certain items.

My daily routine is to wake up at 7:20am, take a shower, and have breakfast while checking out the morning news and weather (it’s so nice to be able to understand what’s on the TV!). I meet my colleague Mr. Kawahata (who’s staying in an apartment above me) at 8:20, then we walk together through a small park to King’s Education. It’s only a five minute stroll, so I really appreciate the location of our hotel apartments. Once there, we sit in the entrance lobby and greet our students as they come in. All of them are staying with host families around town and bus to school. Once we’re sure everyone has arrived, we hang out in the teacher’s lounge for the rest of the morning. This is my free Internet access time, so I keep busy with email, catching up on the news, and getting some research done (I’ve been working on an article for publication). Free wireless Internet is very rare here; Fortunately the local public library has it, so after lunch with Mr. Kawahata (we alway eat out at one of the many many excellent restaurants nearby), I head off to continue whatever project I’m on. At six Mr. Kawahata and I go jogging along the Avon River near our hotel. After that, it’s dinner time, so we either go out or stay in, depending on our mood.

That’s basically it, but you know, each day is unique, so there is always something new to see and do. A few things I’ve been able to do have been to visit the local museums, go running in the super gorgeous botanical garden park, attend choral services at the Christchurch Cathedral (which is Anglican), and go to a Catholic Cathedral for Sunday mass. Last weekend, in fact, I went to my first ever (?) mass held in Latin. That was very interesting, but I realized I like the “new” style better! [Mom or dad- did you ever take me to a Latin mass when I was a child?] I’ve realized that my thing to give up for lent is not to “give up” anything at all, but to attend church more! That feels more positive to me, and I’ve greatly enjoyed this opportunity to attend services with amazing location, music, and ENGLISH!

During the week days I’ve also accompanied our students on pre-planned field trips. The first of these was a city tour around Christchurch. I whipped up the following video clip, which I posted on a new website I created for our trip. Check it out- you won’t see me until the very very end, but you can get an idea of what the city is like and an idea of what I’m doing down here. I’m currently working on more videos, so I’ll post those when their done.

So, that’s it for now. I’ll be here until March 9th.

UPDATE: (4/5/08) I’ve reposted the video clip below to a bigger and clearer version. Check it out!