Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
This guest post is by Jeff Shieh, the CIR in Uchinada.
Acacia Romantic Festival Flyer (pdf)
Uchinada Town is holding its annual Acacia Romantic Festival on Sunday, May 15, 2011. Every year, there is a flea market and local performances. This year, in light of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, they have made this into a charity event, where a portion of the proceeds from the flea market will go to relief funds.
AJET has never participated in this festival before, but this year, we would like to run a small booth. For that, we need volunteers to help out!
Here are the details:
Read more of this post
And I’m talking real AMERICAN football. You know, the one where the ball doesn’t come into contact with your foot (except for the kicker, but we don’t really pay attention to him). Well now you can see it live this Saturday thanks to the Kanazawa Weissenberg. Read more of this post
Photo: Ian Wilson
Regardless of whether you’re about to leave Ishikawa, staying on another year, or preparing to come to Ishikawa, you can do a lot of good with a minimal amount of effort. Awesome.
One of the current JETs, Caroline, is planning on joining a 2 week bike ride across Cambodia, as part of a fundraising event with PEPY Ride. The bike ride itself is a great cultural experience, emphasising exposure to non-profit organizations in Cambodia and expanding their world exposure. More importantly, however, the participants in the bike ride each make a $1,500 donation to help schools in Siem Reap. You can read more about PEPY and their contributions on their website.
As part of raising the $1,500 donation, Caroline is going to have a booksale at the mid-year conference, which all JETs participate in. This was a very popular event last year, and really benefits everyone — we all get a little starved for new English reading after being here a while.
That said, you can help Caroline, children in Siem Reap, and the bookreaders of Ishikawa by donating some of your used books (or DVDs) to the booksale. (Money raised through fundraisers will not be used to pay for her flights, hotels, or any such. She’s paying for all of that on her own.)
Bring your books & DVDs to the Starbucks at Labbro (right next to the Katamachi bus stop heading into Kanazawa) on:
Saturday, July 25th, 1:00-2:30 & 4:30-5:30 OR Sunday, July 26th, 2:30-5:00
Newcomers: If you’re still in your home country and will be coming to Ishikawa, don’t worry. You can help out, too! Grab some of your English books that you don’t mind parting with and pack them in your bags. It will encourage you to bring less, and give you more room to bring cool Japanese stuff home later on. Then, bring your books to the Mid-Year conference in November, and pass them off to Caroline then.
Caroline is also available on August 1st and 2nd if that’s your only chance to bring her books. In that case, please email her at: carrieann_o [AT] yahoo.co.uk
If you have any other fundraising ideas, she’d love to hear them.
Photo: (nutmeg)
Many of us who came to Japan brought clothes that we just don’t use anymore. All the bike-riding has caused our waistlines to shrink (or maybe you discovered a love for tempura and you’ve grown a bit). Perhaps you’ve forsaken your single-layer wearing ways and it’s all about the light, flowy, multiple layers now. Whatever the case, you’ve got stuff you’re just not wearing any more.
Lucky for you, right here in Ishikawa lives the national coordinator of a volunteer organization called Go M.A.D. (Go Make a Difference). In a really simple way, you can make a difference in the lives of people in Thailand and India by donating some of your (wearable) clothes. Please make sure they’re not full of holes or stained — and please wash them before you donate. It takes money and effort for organizations to get your clothes to the people who need them.
Go M.A.D. especially needs clothes for men. It’s hot in Thailand and India, so winter clothes cannot be accepted.
Photo: permanently_scatterbrained
Have something to donate? Email Marie at go.make.a.difference [at] gmail.com
Deadline for donations: June 30th, so please email her before then.
(Don’t worry. Marie is super nice and she’ll be thrilled you have something to donate!)
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