hungry for HUNGER GAMES!

I’m catching up on my blog today, Wednesday, since I’m at the BOE where I don’t have internet and distractions are by far fewer.  Even though I’m writing this today, I know that it won’t be published until Thursday, so those of you wondering why I posted three blogs back-to-back-to-back, that’s why.  BOE day= no internet= lots of time to write and then wait for a connection to the internet so that I can post.   

This week is the second and final week of spring break.  Once again, I come to school and do nothing.  I blog, email, catch up with friends via Skype or Google chat, plan my next weekend getaway, and any variety of busy work activities.  One thing that is different this week are some of the teachers.  Yunomae JHS has a new vice principal and school nurse.  Both seem very nice, pleasant, and a welcomed addition.

Monday morning proved to me why we should have gone to the onsen (hot springs) after our hike.  Every time I rolled over during the night, I woke up in pain.  My body hated me from the waist down.  I felt like an old person waking up on Monday because it was seriously a struggle for me to get up and down.  EVERYTHING from the waist down hurt.  Sitting down to put my tights on hurt.  Bending over to pick up my backpack hurt.  Stepping down to the genkan (entryway) hurt.  I literally limped to school.  I had told a few teachers about my weekend plans to hike Ichifusa, and when they saw me limp into the building they all asked how it was.  All I had to do was point at my legs and say “ITAI!” (PAIN!)  Ha, ha.  I’m pretty sure everyone had a good laugh at the foreigner that day as I hobbled back and forth like an old person.    I don’t think I’ve ever been so sore!

That afternoon, the brass band kids came up to me as a group to say thanks for coming to their concert.  I’m not sure if the teacher told them to, if it’s a polite Japanese custom, or if they did it out of the goodness of their hearts, but regardless, it was absolutely precious!  They had difficulty getting the words out, but I was sooooooo happy because it was just too sweet!! “Melissa-sensei…..concert…….Saturday…….coming……thank you.”

Ian and I planned to go to Hitoyoshi after school, but he had another dentist appointment at 4PM, so I told him to take the car, and I’d meet him there.  It would normally take about fifteen minutes, but in my weeble-wobble state, it took longer.  At one side street, I crossed in front of a car.  We gave each other head bows, and I continued my walk.  However, I could hear the low purr of a car inching along behind me.  I turned around to see the same woman trailing to my side with her window rolled down.  She offered me a ride!  How sweet was that?    I don’t know her, and she doesn’t know me, but she offered.  I declined and thanked her.  In the States, I absolutely, positively WOULD NOT get into a stranger’s car, but here, if I didn’t feel like it was such an imposition, of course I would have!  You can TRUST people here!

Whenever I met Ian, he laughed at me and said that it looked like I was walking with a stick up my butt.  Sweet, huh?    I asked him how the appointment went, and he sang the praises of the Japanese dentist.  Not only was it a quick process to fill his cavity, but they actually REPAIRED the work that our former dentist did a so-so job of.  Ian said that in addition to that, there were two rough spots on his teeth that have bothered him for a while, and they smoothed those off.  Anyone want to guess how much all of this dental work cost?  About ten dollars!  Although I had to go back twice, Ian three times, our total cost of the dentist was a little less than $100.  Last year we spent nearly $1,000 in dental bills!  (Granted, Ian had twelve cavities, and little did we know that we were actually using an out of network dentist.)  The difference was amazing!  Plus, here they tell you to raise your hand if your feel the slightest bit of pain.  At home, the dentist could literally be drilling into your gums and continue on without batting an eye.  The entire way to Hitoyoshi Ian went on and on about how great the Japanese system was. 

Sometime in the dark hours of Tuesday morning I heard thunder.  It was such a foreign sound that I almost didn’t recognize it.  It’s not that thunderstorms don’t happen here, but rather that they aren’t as common.  Tuesday morning had that great spring storm feel to it.  While I didn’t hear anymore thunder, it was dark with clouds hanging low over the mountains and incredibly windy.  I opened a few windows in the house to let the breeze pass through (not the bathroom window—I learned my lesson).  It rained off and on, but the wind persisted, reminding me of spring storms at home.  I do miss a good thunderstorm!  There’s not as many April showers here as there are at home.  It might rain, but the majority of the rain pounds the area during the entire month of June—rainy season.

I woke up with a pretty good/crazy dream.  I dreamed that it was the zombie apocalypse, and we went to my home parish, St. John, to wait it out there.  St. John is a big, old church with strong walls and thick doors and sits on a hill….the perfect place to hide out against mindless flesh-eating monsters!  Hahaha!

One of my nursery schools closed, but I have new students in both of the other nursery schools, so I gave a mini-self-introduction lesson for them, showing them pictures of family and friends and maps of where I’m from.  There was a little time leftover, so I played duck, duck, goose.  The kids didn’t quite get the hang of it, so the teacher and I had to nudge the kids to run whenever they were “goose” or point at their spot in the circle to run to.  I’ll have to work on that, along with all of the other games I have up my sleeves!

I have a new voracious appetite. The other day I asked if anyone in the gun had the Hunger Games books.  Justine said that she did, so I asked if I could borrow them.  It’s all anyone is talking about now!  Hunger Games this and Hunger Games that.  Generally I resist these bandwagon books—Harry Potter, Twilight, but eventually I give into them and devour them once I start.  The same is true here.  Even my sister, Christina, is reading the series.  She has three young children and about five minutes of free time per day, yet she’s reading them to the point that she CAN’T put them down.  If she reads a book, you KNOW it’s good!  I started the first book yesterday after school and am already over halfway through.  The wind yesterday made it quite chilly, so I decided to curl up into bed with a cup of tea and book after school.  The only downside was that I didn’t want to get up to do anything.  Ian had run to Hitoyoshi to help Melissa buy a lawn mower, which provided me with plenty of alone time.  I told him that I’d have dinner ready at 7PM and to be home by then, but I ended up cooking it later because I was so enamored with the books.  After dinner, I dove right back into the book, and other than stopping to Skype Mommy, I read the entire night.  MUST.  FINISH.  BOOK. 

As I said, Ian helped Melissa buy a lawnmower.  He brought it back to our house to assemble it and was completely and utterly pleased with himself.    He calls it the “Flintstone” lawnmower since it doesn’t have a motor.  Instead it mows with the spinning blades.  Since it was too dark to go outside and use it, he wheeled it up and down our hallway.  It reminded me of my brother when he was younger.  He would wheel his tractors back and forth over the living room carpet pretending to plow the fields.  Ian did the same thing with the lawnmower.  

Like I said previously, I’m at the BOE today.  I’m always fascinated with how my co-workers conduct lunch time here.  At the JHS when class isn’t in session, sometimes we eat lunch at 12:15, sometimes 12:30.  Sometimes it’s okay to eat at your desk, but if people are gathering at the table, it’s better to eat there.  However, at the BOE, you could set your clock by what happens.  Once the noon bells go off, the lights dim, TV goes on, and everyone relaxes to eat lunch at his/her desk until 1PM.  Then the TV turns off, lights come back on, and everyone scoots in close to their desks to return to work.  I was looking forward to this hour long break all morning since it afforded me an entire hour of un-interrupted reading. 

…..and done!  I’m completely caught up and could probably ramble on about something else, but I’ll stop here for now.