Typhoon #2 and Kitchen Disaster

Typhoon Number Two
Thursday, August 2, 2007

I love my mornings because they are for my lessons with the children. After that I eat lunch for an hour and then have lessons for the teachers and principals in the afternoons. Here is the schedule for the children’s lessons:
Monday and Tuesday: two 5 year old classes
Wednesday: one 3 year old class, one 4 and 5 year old mixed class
Thursday: one 3 year old class (10 minutes of songs), one 4 year old class, two 5 year old classes
Friday: one 3 year old class (10 minutes of songs), two 4 year old classes, one 5 year old class

Thursday was easy cheesy because in rolled a typhoon. I don’t know what it is about me and Japan, but I am completely bringing in the natural disasters it seems like. As soon as I got here there was that huge typhoon that first week. Then right after that there was that disastrous earthquake up in northern Japan. Thank goodness it didn’t do anything here, but it was really bad for up there. Then a little later there was another bad earthquake and now another typhoon. I just take cover and follow directions like a pro and try to stay out of Mother Nature’s way.

So far I have learned that if there is a typhoon you stay inside because signs might blow off of buildings and hit you in the head. Now, imaging a Japanese person who speaks VERY little English acting that out so that you will understand. Quite comical. I asked about getting to the lowest point, away from windows in tornado position, etc. Nope, you don’t do that here. Just stay inside and you will be okay and live to tell about it tomorrow.

I am not sure about the earthquakes though. No one can seem to tell me what to do. I am just going with the old Saved by the Bell info where Slater gets into the door frame while the school is shaking. You remember, right? He is standing there in a towel because he just came from football practice or something and he was in the locker room. You know, admit it. You were just as much a follower as I was and if you were flipping channels today and you saw it on you would stop and watch the whole episode. You can even sing the theme song. HA

So, back to Thursday. I taught my lessons with the children, ate lunch, and then had a teacher lesson. The wind was blowing so hard that the trees were bending over and touching their leaves to the ground. The kids were wild so I know we were in for a treat. Since I had to ride the train for an hour to get home, we were paying close attention to the weather. The wind kept getting stronger so they were going to shut down the trains early. I got to leave the school a couple of hours early and go on home. That was nice.

To celebrate my early departure we went out to dinner. This time the ‘we’ included Tara as well as Clo and me. Tara is the new teacher that will be teaching in the schools with me. We are split between seven nursery schools, the principals, some children, and the professors for lessons.

During the course of dinner, Mama Naoko called. She wanted to come over and check our balconies to make sure that nothing was on them because of the typhoon. It did not matter how many times I told her that they were clear, she still insisted on coming over to check. I finally gave up and told her that we would call her when we left dinner so that she could come over. Poor Tara is on week one and is not used to the VIP treatment. She just wants some space to relax and settle in…not going to get it though!

After dinner we went back to the apartment. Naoko came over and saw that we were safe from the wind potentially whipping onto our balconies and stealing our stuff to throw out onto the street. She also brought me a toaster. I am so pumped about that. I almost had the most unfortunate event happen last night when I tried to cook…

I don’t like gas stoves. In fact, I hate them with a passion. They scare me. I have electric at home. Mom loves her gas but I like my electric. So I decided to toast an English muffin in the oven and I tried to turn it on but it didn’t work. All of a sudden all I could smell was gas. I kind of freaked out a little because I didn’t want to die. I turned off the gas under the stove and ran out of the apartment. I knew I was smelling gas because it was giving me a headache but I didn’t want to become used to the smell and then die so I called Tara. She was asleep so she didn’t answer. I went back in the house and opened the balcony door and turned on the fan and called Naoko and she came right over.

The gas smell was gone by the time she got here. I must have just held down the thing too long and let the gas out but she thought it was best if she bought me an electric toaster after I explained my HUGE fear of gas to her. I will use the stove, but under adult supervision. That totally stinks though because I have found some stuff that’s so great to cook. I need my electric stove back.