IFA English Camp 07 - Takasago, Japan

ENGLISH CAMP

The IFA * Soon after I arrived in my town in Japan, I joined an organization called the International Friendship Association (IFA) in the town next to mine, Harimacho. It is basically a volunteer organization, run mostly by women - mostly housewives - who host various internationally-focused social events, trying to forge a strong relationship and frequent communication between the foreigner community and permanent residents. My participation has definately been beneficial in adjusting to life, and has introduced me to not only people from the community, but a few of my friends in Japan. I met my running partner, Takiko, through the IFA and they helped arrange my Japanese classes.

English Camp * As mentioned, the IFA is extremely active, organizing various events throughout the year (incl. cooking classes, holiday parties & plays). This past weekend was the annual overnight English language camp. Traditionally, the native English speakers volunteer to help (truly - we pay for our own room & board), planning workshops and activities for the participants. This year, there were five volunteers (Chris, Sean, Craig, me & Kelly) and about 15 participants. The camp is usually somewhat far away, but this year, they held it at a dorm-like training facitility in Takasago. It was probably more ironic for me, being that my school was about three blocks away and I can see the place from the train to and from work every day, but it was my first night in Takasago and still felt like a get-away.

Varied Expectations

So Kelly and I had barely returned from Osaka on Saturday morning when we grabbed our overnight bags and lesson supplies, and jetted off to meet the group in front of the Harimacho town hall. I'm not going to lie, I went into the event with mixed emotions and was not as eager as I could have been to go.

It was my first overnight IFA (Intl Friendship Association) event and the ladies of the community are very kind, but I have had a dearth of personal time lately and was hesistant to be working with a few of the other foreigners. We have had some major communication issues (conflicts) in the past year and generally don't associate outside of professional functions. We tried to organize everything through email during the weeks leading up to the event, and our interaction did not predict things to be getting any better; I was at a point where I almost did not want to attend camp.

Passion, Vision & Motivation - What Makes Any World Go 'Round

With that being said, however, I would also like to say that I was completely wrong and - despite my concerns - the overnight turned into one of my top memories in Japan thus far. I actually had a great time with the other foreigners and was impressed by everyone's involvement. It was, without a doubt, the most real-world CLV-esque experience I have ever had. Here's why... So, CLV, or maybe Skogfjorden (the Norwegian village), has indisputably had a huge influence on me, but most starkly as a staff member. I think a lot of people who know of the program but have not really had direct exposure adn experience with it misunderstand (or don't understand) how so many people can be so dedicated to a "summer camp" (coming back for even 25 or more summers, taking your working vacations - for one guy, on Wall Street - to work in MN, making almost no money). I have heard Skogfjorden called the "Norwegian cult" because we're all friends and enthusiastic about what we do (I haven't been there for 3 years and listen to me even now!), but I think the thing that binds the people that love and support CLV together is passion, trust, and a belief that what we are doing (the CLV mission) is valuable and important. It's about immersion, fulfilling our duty as responsible world citizens and sharing our knowledge with others. I haven't always liked or gotten along with everyone at "the skog" but I love working with them, because the are serious (とても　まぎめ）about what they are doing and are willing to work hard to make a difference. We're a team and are willing to do what it takes... but even with some late nights doing prep and hard-core lesson planning, it doesn't feel like work because we all get so much satisfaction out of it (and love what we do). This is something that, for the first time since I arrived, I felt like I found or CLV and our little community had in common. Nobody at the IFA camp was "too cool to paddle"; everyone participated, but moreso, gave it their all & were really open and into it. The workshops were really creative and mostly themed (I really liked Sean's LOVE theme, Craig gave a solid presentation that could have bordered on a trust theme & Kel and I just had fun with our games). I will use some of the ideas for school, but was happy to discover such a great bonding and educational experience. It was evident everyone had a good time and that that's why we were all there. It was a pure international exchange.

Highlights

So before I gush about what I liked best, I would like to comment that the biggest setback from the night was when Kelly and I were rudely awoken around 5am by the cage of roosters under our window (we had our own tatami-mat room and balcony; the rest of the women slept in one large tatami-mat room - so you take out the pads to sleep on at night - and the boys slept in another room like ours). I woke up in a confused state, with a, "Are you kidding me? Is that a rooster?!" They should put up a notice about that... or maybe they did and it was in kanji. So random.

Onto the highlights... I would say my favorite parts of this year's camp were the music-themed activities (Unchained Melody information gap, jam session with Chris & Kelly, sing-a-longs & karaoke with the group afterwards), the "Guess the Liar" game (I scared some people with being able to look them into the eye and be unthruthful...should've been an actress?), and watching the reactions on the "what animal would you be?" game (surprised by how creative the women were).

◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●◎●

I don't know if I'll be able to attend another IFA event for a while (with the exception of the 'Sayonara Party' for the people leaving Japan), but I'm actually looking forward to them with more anticipation. Very successful weekend!

Left: Here are two ladies from the camp, hanging out in the hall. The one in the back is just finishing law school. We might go shopping together sometime :)

Below are some more shots from the workshops Kelly and I put on. We played: 1. the M&M game (each color represents a different question; for example, 'what is your most embarrasing moment?'), 2. If you were an animal, what would you be (everyone draws it and then we all guess who it is), and 3. the good ole-fashioned pub quiz with trivia Qs & Beatles song clips.... (all after doing the macarena, of course...hehe)