Halfway through year 2? Really?

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the middle of an an August to July work contract would fall in the passing January into February, but you would be wrong. As was the case last year our mid-year seminar fell in November. Last week to be precise. And what a rumpus it was too with presentations, all-nighters, booze-ups and Starbucks overdoses. I was told by my Board Of Evil Education to take the bus and stay at a hotel for which they'd reimburse me, but the hotels have been booked up for months and the buses to get to and from the conference were cancelled months ago. So with no other choice, I broke the rules and drove. Except it does say I can commute in my contract, but that doesn't apparently mean anything.

The plan on Tuesday was to finally print out the latest edition of the Fuzzy Peach, but once at Fiona's with the laptop and printer set-up I hit print, telling Fiona in my bestest English accent that the printer is marvellous and the toner "never runs out". Until that night apparently. So the bloody magazine got postponed for another day...

Well, Wednesday was the usual round of speeches- were told how the JET programme worked, a Japanese guy who taught in Australia had the cheek to generalise about Australian schools as much as we do about Japanese schools and someone else told us that he was an English teacher who'd never met a native speaker and then proceeded to rattle of a list of all the people he'd ever met who spoke English. Scintillated I certainly was not. But he evening was much better. As the morning had marked the first of our trips to Starbucks, the time after the conference was spent on trips to Okayama's two Starbucks with Amy R while searching for printer cartridges and then Fiona, Saddam and I headed to Cannery Row. This is by far the best Italian restaurant I have been too and this was my second trip (the first being with Betsy, WhyVon and Alex in August).

Thursday was spent in mild panic as I had to do a presentation throughout which I spoke much too fast for the other Japanese teachers to understand and thanks to excessive planning was rushed through with material to spare. But the evening once again made up for the daytime when, having not had breakfast or lunch, we headed to an all you can drink beer garden (really an all-you-can-drink beer bar as it was indoors and there was no grass). It was allegedly all you can eat, but after a smattering of squid-in-wasabi and potato wedges I don't think my burgeoning appetite was sated. But I was more than tipsy and having a whale of a time. Julia and I did our best to demonstrate ghetto culture to Japanese teachers by grinding and shaking and dipping it low. I think the Japanese teachers were impressed. Julia certainly can shake it.

The night was in danger of stalling so Amy DM and I took direct action and headed off to the karaoke where people soon followed, so with Herb, Bob, Patrick, Claire and Amy R we were soon bringing the house down (falling of furniture and such). I cannot recall what time karaoke was OK, but Claire and I headed to the Red Moon despite having been accosted by friendly drunken JETs who warned us it was closed. We'd missed last orders, but they kindly gave us another chance. So after more booze Vicki, Adam and I set off, but I have no idea what the original plan was, just the memory that we walked and walked around Okayama for ages, trolling about combinis, coffee shops, a 24-hour bakery and places I'm not allowed to mention.

All you really need to know is that we were all in bed between 5 and 5:30 and that we all made it to lectures at 10:am on the Friday. Adam and Vicki looked rather sprightly. I looked like a train wreckage 3 months after. And as was suspected, one ALT used the question and answer session to ask questions that should have been dealt with privately... So I went for a soft drink with Fiona, Saddam and some others after the conference, but was barely conscious, so decided to stagger the 55 minute walk home. And lo and behold a vision awoke me. New displays in the GAP window and the promise of bargains made me wave hello and after a minor shopping moment I was in Starbucks again with Vicki, Amy R and Rob. And when a curry lunch was suggested, my banging head and sore stomach pushed me back to Fiona's, to bed. And in the evening I managed to make it out again and spent a good night with Vicki having revolving sushi and then drinking in a couple of bars. My planned 11pm bed-going accidentally became a 2-am bedgoing. Oops. Again.

So Saturday turned into a day of ER where I only left Fiona's for three hours to a) pay for my plane tickets, b) randomly shop and c) hunt for recognisable foreigners, none of whom I could find. So after takeaway pizza and more ER it was midnight and my homing device switched on, and Sunday at home was a lazy relaxing day with only a trip out to a) return a CD player and b) randomly shop (nabe here we come!). Although with what feels like a growing cold I could do with a few more relaxing days. Bring on Wednesday's national holiday...