One of the big things they recommend when applying for the JET program and for any kind of international experience is flexibility. This weekend is a great example of this.
Tonight the original plan was for Mr. Komuri, Mr. Hayashi, and Miss Kageyama to join me on a trip to Nara to see the Omizutori festival. It’s a once in a year festival where priests build gigantic fires and draw water through gigantic metal devices. The effect is lots of sparks and a pretty dramatic show. This event is on my “big list of things to do while in Japan”. I told Mr. Komuri about it a long time ago, and he offered to join me. Soon we had a group of four, and everybody was really excited. Yesterday we found out that we had a mandatory staff meeting, so we would have to stick around until 4 p.m. at least. The drive to Nara is three hours (only 1.5 hours by train), so we would probably end up way too far away to see anything. Also, Mr. Hayashi is sick, Miss Kageyama had something come up (more on that in a minute), and Mr. Komuri didn’t think it was worth the long trip – not a lot of payoff.
I ended up scratching that event off my list and moving it to next year. Next year it should be on a Saturday, so hopefully it will be easier to get there.
Miss Kageyama was sitting at home sick last night and her family got a late night phone call – her grandmother passed away unexpectedly in Ehime prefecture, on Shikoku island. They had to drive off to be there last night, so not only is she sick but she is dealing with the loss of a loved one.
I went from being booked up completely to having a completely free weekend in about four hours. What am I going to do with this newfound gift? Probably sit around on my butt and study, eat, rest and read. I want to be ready for my trip next week and I want to be completely healed. A weekend of leisure seems like just the thing.
At work today we had a mandatory fire drill which involved the most inefficient bucket brigade I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of bucket brigades. Well, not really. Anyway, every student had a hand in moving buckets of water from the swimming pool all the way to the baseball diamond. I started walking back after the last bucket left the swimming pool and I got there several minutes before the first bucket showed up at the field. Let’s hope they have a better plan for a serious fire.
Today I brought a bag full of goodies to school – it was payback time for Valentine’s Day. Sunday is White Day in Japan – the day when the boys must give gifts back to the women that gave them on Feb. 14. I had lots to deal with so I got organized last night before bed. I bagged everything up and lugged them to school, and then made deliveries throughout the day. Everyone was very happy and surprised. I got a little worried because I was the only one dishing out gifts – every one of the first year male teachers had received the same gift – where were all the other gifts?
I made a trip up to the second year floor and tried to casually get the attention of the two students that had brought chocolate for me. I got them to come down to the teacher’s room and gave them their gifts there. They both were very happy.
I overheard Mr. Komuri asking Ms. Saegusa why she had gotten a gift from me, and then she explained about White Day. It dawned on me that every single male teacher but me had forgotten or ignored it. After lunch a couple of teachers came back with some gifts, so I guess they didn’t want to look bad. I’m betting that there will be some very elaborate gifts on Monday.
