Barnaby Donlon '93 from July '93 to '96 in Yamaguchi-ken
 
"Working at the International Division (my daily office)"
 
                                                                                 "Interpreting for a dignitary visiting Yamaguchi"
"At a beach (cleaning up event sponsored by an
organization I served as leader of.) "
 
"A school visit to Ouchi Middle School in Yamaguchi"
 
"Speaking (& singing) at the closing ceremony of the American Culture cause --a 6 week lecture series I taught in Yamaguchi"
¥For me, a typical day as a CIR was as follows:
8am - off to the office (5 min. bicycle ride to the Kencho)

8:30 - Start work with a strong cup of green tea; put the finishing touches on the monthly English newsletter I edited and desktop published

9:30 - Handle a phone call from another JET concerning a communication breakdown at his school.  Listen to his supervisor and set up a meeting time for later in the week

10:00 - Head upstairs to the Governor's office to interpret for a delegation from Papua New Guinea.  Their E-J interpreter fails to make it, so I am asked to interpret for the Governor and the group (English to Jpn. and Jpn. to English)

11:30 - See the delegation off and head back to the office to sketch out a speech for the afternoon.

12:30 - Quick teishoku lunch break in the cafeteria upstairs. Catch up on my newspaper reading and chat with Mr. Fujimura in English.  Neither of us have ever failed in our attempts to make the other laugh.

2:00 - Off to give a speech and visit a middle school in Ouchi.  The kids are excited to learn about America, and only know a few words in English so far.  I pretend to speak only English for the first 30 seconds, and the place explodes.  Then I transition to Japanese and they all smile as I tell them about my most recent blunder.  After a few minutes I try to get at something important for them to understand: they must be curious about the world and have the courage to challenge themselves and broaden their own worlds.  Create and seize the
opportunities!

4:00 - Now I'm a little wiped out.  Time to take a 5 minute nap outside by the waterfall next to our office.

4:15 - Another cup of coffee and I'm hacking away at some legal documents the Prefecture has prepared to have translated into English: the owner of some land they need to reclaim in Yanai has emigrated to the US, and they need to reach an agreement on an appropriate transfer price.

5:00 - Uh oh!  Only 30 minutes to scramble in preparation for tonight's community class in Shimonoseki.  Tonight's lecture and discussion is on Gender and Racial equality in the US and my 25 students are looking forward to a lively discussion about civil rights.  Hope my vocabulary is sufficient!  Better look up the word for anti-defamation.

6:30 - Class starts and runs to 8:30.  (3 other CIRs are teaching classes at the community center, too: Korean, Chinese, and German Culture Classes)  The lecture and discussion go smoothly and we end up with more to talk about than we have time for.

9:00 - Starved, we grab some hot noodles at Nagasaki-Chamen.  I order the "A-Setto, Nomihodai tsuki."

10:30 - Return home and turn on some jazz, shower, read my mail.  What a
day!

¥Needless to say, the JET Program was a lot of challenge and fun.  And, I think one important thing to remember when doing anything is KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR.  There were so many times when I walked into a room in Japan and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.  But, whenever it was appropriate to say something funny, I would do it.
People would laugh and the atmosphere would change completely.
 

Articles that Barnaby's essays are introduced.
 
A book, "JET ŠÂ‹«•ÛŒì‰^“®ƒKƒCƒh(The JET Environmental Action Guide), "
Barnaby edited.  It is wrtten in English & Japanese.
Chapter 1: The Main Issues
World Environmental Problems; Global Warming; Air Pollution; Ozone Depletion; Desertification; Hazardous Waste; Acid Rain; Decreasing Wildlife; Water Pollution; Rainforest Destruction; Overfishing; Energy Resources & alternatives; etc.
Chapter 2: Individual Action
Re-thinking our Lifestyle; Why Save Resources?; Vegetarianism; Green Shopping;
 Chemical Substitutes; Buying the Right Soap; Say "No!" to Styrofoam; Saving Energy & Water; Recycle - Why & How; Putting Out the Trash; Garbage Separation; etc.
Chapter 3: Community Action
Global Awareness Games; Organizing a Beach-Clean-up; Recycling Bingo; Environmental True & False Quiz; Ecological Awareness Check-up; Stamp & Telephone Card Collections; Profiting from Trash; How to Make Natural Soap; Making Postcards from Milk Cartons; Exploring the Internet; etc.

**NOTE
To order your copy for 2,000 yen , contact:
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