this MAY be my last post while in okinawa.
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after three and a half months, we have now finished our course – digital video production for education and dissemination. this morning, we had our closing ceremonies and received our certificates (and grades) as proof of our accomplishment.
last night of gilbert in okinawa. so, gilbert, kap, daysa, josel, and i went to (another) buffet style restaurant. also, julie and michelle joined us.
we had barbeque in this place. aside from being eat all you can, it is also cook it yourself.
after several weeks of working, we proudly presented our final projects.
our group’s video’s title is “every little bit counts.” because we are showing what the participants should do in accordance to JICA’s environmental policy certified by ISO14001, the title simply refers to those easy tasks everyone can do to help our environment. as implied, this are just little bits but if everybody does them, they will add up and create a positive impact on our environment.
still wrapping up final production for today. but we had a short break to entertain some little visitors.
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josel, a new filipino participant arrived at 11:30 pm. he will be part of “application of multimedia technology for e-education”. this course will have the same instructors and facilities as my course. i’m sure he will enjoy his stay. his MTEC family will make sure of that. 
everything is so dark and gloomy.
while we are seriously preparing paperwork for final project, the heavens are mourning our leaving soon. :p
actually the weather is bad because a typhoon is heading to okinawa from the philippines.
my last sunday in okinawa was well spent, in my opinion. cris and i spent it with the solis family and mang meng. they welcomed every filipino who came to okinawa. living examples of the filipino hospitality.
maraming maraming salamat po sir dante, ate jing, danice, dane, and mang meng. See you again in the philippines!
about two months ago, i signed up for the home stay and visit program. it allows participants to meet an okinawan family and experience their daily life. they usually ask us to sign up earlier because they had to match our “profile” (questionnaire we answered) with the family’s. They have a “host family bank” from the members of the urasoe international relations program.
because it was too long ago (and this was our last weekend), i expected the stay or visit (i selected either) to be cancelled.
friday (jan 23) was another holiday here in japan – KINRO-KANSHA-NO-HI (Labor thanksgiving day). having a three-day weekend was a treat for us, especially because this is dvp07’s last weekend in okinawa.
information of the holiday from the jica kenshu-in website:
In 1948, it was designated a national holiday “for the people to honor labor, celebrate manufacturing and give thanks to one another.” From ancient times, this day has been an observance known as the NINAMESAI-Shinto Harvest Festival, carried out at the imperial court. For this, the Emperor dedicates that year’s new rice to the gods and tastes it for the first time. This observance is held still today in the Imperial Household.
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after saying farewell to a lot of friends here at oic, it is (almost) our time to say goodbye.
was a bit busy today in class. we had our midterm presentation for our final production and i think everyone did a great job.
then, we analyzed the results to decide which parts to revise to improve our video.
all the thinking must have drained me out. i fell asleep when i got up to my room. (good thing i woke up before the shokudo closed.) and now, for another effort to desperately connect my insignificant posts with more interesting topics. drum roll please….
for the past week, dvp07 has been very busy working on the final production project (video on JICA’s environmental policy). of course, you might think that i could not be too busy because i was still able to do a lot of “unofficial” activities (as you can read in previous entries in this blog). they actually designed the course to not interfere with our free time. lucky!
(note: dr reiser’s lecture and the school visit were official activities but were scheduled within the final production period.)
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