NOLAid

Last night was the culmination of Kara and Doug’s efforts to raise money for Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief. With the help of a few other Shimabara residents, including myself, they organized a huge concert/club event in a fairly large venue in central Shimabara. People here are amazing I have to say. Kara and Doug had no problem getting a venue rented for free when they explained it was for a fundraiser. In addition, I found whenever I mentioned the event or fundraising to a Japanese person, even in passing, they often just gave me money right on the spot to contribute to our efforts. I was impressed. A few weeks ago we had a small event at Shin’s to raise money but K & D wanted to do something more (since they were both teachers in New Orleans before coming here) and so they made plans for the big event. They managed to get several different performers (ranging from Jazz, to Rock, to Rap, to Acoustic guitar, and even one DJ) to perform for free on the night in question, and the rest of us helped make tickets, posters and various things like that. In addition to designing the tickets and info cards for the event (stretching my very limited artistic design capabilities) I was also responsible for the PowerPoint presentation. I was pretty proud of myself with that one, since I had to figure out how to use the projector on the night in question, with all the instructions in Japanese. Somehow, with the help of Kayoko translating, I managed to get it working, and the PowerPoint was showing New Orleans in better times all night on the far wall of the room. As soon as the presentation was set up however, I lost no time in getting myself highly drunk and debaucherous. The performers were all amazing and the venue was packed with both JETs and Japanese people. In all, we raised over $3000 that night! It feels good to have contributed to such a good cause.

Most of the night is a bit of a blur for me but it was good times for sure (though I think that I might have sexually abused more than one individual – ah the hazards of being my friend). Nicole (my friend from TO who now lives on an island in Nagasaki prefecture) came down for the weekend as well, so we had a tonne of fun as usual. I wish I could have shown her around more but we were nursing hangovers and she had to make sure to catch an early ferry so as not to miss the second ferry back from Fukuoka to Iki Island. Also, for the Fundraiser, most of the JETs in Shimabara offered our homes as places for people to crash. As a result I had two really nice Japanese girls stay with me in addition to Nicole. Because the musicians were staying with some of us as well, Kara made a great dinner on the night of the event. It really felt like we were all apart of a global community working towards a good cause. It made me feel as if there is hope for humanity after all (yes, I know I’m a big drama queen with a penchant for overstatement – one week the world is horrible and I’m forecasting global doom, and the next I see everyone working together in harmony for a better future – but that’s just me people. Welcome to the emotional rollercoaster that is my life.)

All in all the night was one of the best nights I’ve had so far in Japan. And that is really saying a lot! See below for pics of the first event at Shin’s as well as the big event at Big Blue Sky (the name of the second NOLAid venue).