I walked to the train station this morning, and it was raining buckets. I have a sturdy umbrella and my trusty REI jacket, and between the two I kept my top half very dry. The bottom half got wet though, and doing a quick survey on the train, it is a common problem. If the weather keeps up, I might look for some rain pants to put on over my slacks.
The rain quit around noon, and then a serious cold set in. It’s not even close to winter, and I can see that I’m going to have to make an investment in long underwear. I spent a few minutes explaining to my co-workers what “wimp” means.
Yesterday I was really impressed with the jazz band’s performance. Unfortunately, today I had a class during today’s performance, and I missed it. After school I walked up the stairs to the fourth floor and stuck my head in the band room. They were just getting ready to do a performance for the junior high students, and the many of the members called my name and waved. While they were waiting for someone to show up, they rotated by and said hello, hardly the shy students I am so used to seeing in my English class. The teacher invited me to sit inside and listen, so I sat near the trumpets, surrounded by all the brass instruments. The bass players (there were two) were in front with the drums and the piano.
The band started up, and I couldn’t believe how great they sounded. Sitting in the middle of a jazz band as they play – what an amazing feeling. Maybe I’ve been listening to music out of only two speakers for too long. It was especially cool when you know most of the players. The students would grin and make faces at me in between their parts and giggle and laugh at my reaction.
Afterwards, I walked around and thanked everyone, telling them in Japanese how great it was. Each one would say something either in Japanese or English, like “thanks” or “please come back soon”. There was even an “I love you”. They were so happy to see me there, and I think that we made each other’s day today.
