2007 Pacific Region Veterinary Command's Technician Conference
Bi annually our command holds a conference for the technicians working here. Since the Kadena AB vet clinic is the largest military clinic in the world we hold it down there. That means a free trip down there in Hawaii-like climate.
The conference was great and I learned and re-learned alot of stuff for use in our clinic up here, but having them be so big and us so small alot of the devices I learned on down there we couldn't even fathom getting them in Sasebo. It's alot different seeing approximately 100 paatients a day compared to our 100 a month. But overall I walked away with a bit more knowledge so everything was alright.
After the conference each day we ventured out in town to see what Okinawa had to offer. There are about a dozen bases down there so the island is very Americanized, which suited me just fine especially when it came to eat. We tried to go jet skiing one afternoon but were saddened that we needed a license and the class was two days long, two more than we had time for. We settled for 9 holes of golf though and had a blast on the new course.
Our final day there we had a 'cultural day' where we got to go to one of the cultural centers on Okinawa. We went to Okinawa World which was way down on the southern part of the island. There was a cave that stretched the entire length of the park and alot of agricultural products. Glass blowing demonstrations, snake shows, and taiko (sp) drummers also helped pass the time. The one thing I was interested in was the distillery for a drink called Habu-sake. The Habu is a poisonous snake that lives on the island and in some areas on mainland Japan. They take these snakes and preserve them then put them into the bottle to make it a little more potent. It is rare to find it on mainland and when you do it's rather expensive to drink. I got my souvenir bottle and was glad to see where this stuff comes from.
I got lucky and was able to attend this conference twice ('05, '07). Hopefully I'll be able to make it down there again one last time before I leave.
In the cave:
The Habu sake, yes you drink this stuff, even with the snake in it......
The conference was great and I learned and re-learned alot of stuff for use in our clinic up here, but having them be so big and us so small alot of the devices I learned on down there we couldn't even fathom getting them in Sasebo. It's alot different seeing approximately 100 paatients a day compared to our 100 a month. But overall I walked away with a bit more knowledge so everything was alright.
After the conference each day we ventured out in town to see what Okinawa had to offer. There are about a dozen bases down there so the island is very Americanized, which suited me just fine especially when it came to eat. We tried to go jet skiing one afternoon but were saddened that we needed a license and the class was two days long, two more than we had time for. We settled for 9 holes of golf though and had a blast on the new course.
Our final day there we had a 'cultural day' where we got to go to one of the cultural centers on Okinawa. We went to Okinawa World which was way down on the southern part of the island. There was a cave that stretched the entire length of the park and alot of agricultural products. Glass blowing demonstrations, snake shows, and taiko (sp) drummers also helped pass the time. The one thing I was interested in was the distillery for a drink called Habu-sake. The Habu is a poisonous snake that lives on the island and in some areas on mainland Japan. They take these snakes and preserve them then put them into the bottle to make it a little more potent. It is rare to find it on mainland and when you do it's rather expensive to drink. I got my souvenir bottle and was glad to see where this stuff comes from.
I got lucky and was able to attend this conference twice ('05, '07). Hopefully I'll be able to make it down there again one last time before I leave.
The Habu sake, yes you drink this stuff, even with the snake in it......
posted by Nickolaus Kersting at 7:27 AM
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