TIEC

A week or so after classes were under way, she set off all by herself in the public car she has the use of and headed to the next town over, Memuro, to follow he friend to a weekend away “camping” by a mountain. It was being hosted for the local group of foreign teachers called the TIEC: Tokachi International Educators’ Circle. She was excited to meet other teachers in the area since there weren't many JETs.

 She had a lot of extra bedding in her house...

(she may have jumped into this pile of blankets and futons and down comforters a few times after this picture was shot...)

...so she stuffed the car in case the newer people didn't

 She was actually kind of excited to drive the whole way by herself and had even made a couple of mixed CDs (see bottom) for that purpose. It’s a strange feeling, actually wanting to drive, but singing at the top of her lungs in a car has always been a release of sorts for her. At any rate, it took about an hour of driving around country roads before they made it to the camping lodge. 

(Taking pictures while driving?! Nonsense...)

The first few hours were spent listening to different survival presentations (summer, winter, classroom, mold, bear, etc.) but after that they started preparing the food for the BBQ. It hadn't stopped raining all day, but the grills were in a covered area outside, so they carried on as planned. It was hard at first not having anything to do (there were only four knives for the many veggies and people in the kitchen), and there were more than a couple near misses with eight-legged friends descending from the ceiling to observe their preparations, so she was a little keyed up. She hadn't felt very anxious since being in Japan, but the mix of new people (that already knew each other), no way to help out or keep busy, and unexpected drop-ins were pushing her dangerously close to a brink she was never pleased to encounter. She scolded herself and made a point to say at least one thing to every person in the kitchen, which relieved her a bit. At dinner, she was able to have a moment with two separate people on account of their mutual loves of Sci-Fi/Fantasy books/movies and ballet. The later topic even evoked an invitation to attend classes. They ended up staying up late playing games and then getting up early for the small luxury of real bagels with cream cheese. They cleaned the rooms and headed off around noon. 

It was still raining, but there was a small group planning on stopping in Obihiro (the closest large city) to pick up some things at the store there that had a wider selection than normal supermarkets. She finally bought a pillow and even found a large box of Lipton black tea. Since they were nearby, they had soup curry for lunch and then headed to the arcade. They took some more purikura, played taiko drum games, and even a 3D horror shooting game that tracks your heart beat. Hers sky-rocketed and she screamed every time something new appeared (will wonders never cease…). 

with Chiaki and Lisa~

They broke off after that and she made her way home by nine that night (after she scrambled to figure out the kilometers between the places she traveled to record them in the car log she was supposed to be keeping the entire time…).

Track lists:
CD 1
CD 2