Typhooooon

Big news of the week? A typhoon is set to hit Tokushima this weekend!


I first heard about it on Wednesday when my main school, Kitako, talked about canceling the Culture Day festival this weekend on account of the weather. Since then, I`ve seen teachers with the storm radar window up on the browsers all day, watching the progress. Today the buzz has really begun. Every time I`ve talked to anyone today, we end up hovering around the typhoon topic. "This is my first time in a typhoon!" I offer, hoping they will give me some pointers or stories. With that method, I`ve gotten anything from "Aww, it`s just heavy rain, no big deal," to "You had better take a half day and go home early. Sometimes roads are underwater, cars blown around, and you could end up staying the night in your car!" So, what can I make of these mixed responses? There is an American maxim, "Better safe than sorry." Then again... ~

Another topic that people have been hot to bring up has been hurricane Irene that hit the states, uh, recently? "Yes, we will have a typhoon here - by the way, didn`t the East coast just have a big one?" The first time I heard that, I had no idea, and realized how out of the loop I am. No tv, no time to waste on current events with limited internet access, no English radio. And so, no real news input, other than whatever circulates around school (most of which I can`t understand). What else is going on out in the world?

In other news, many firsts this week! Had to give a speech in front of the whole assembly. It went over really well - thank you all for the prayers and encouragement! I just looked at the wall way across from me, and tried not to think about the 1000 faces looking my way. For my first class, Thursday morning, I made a powerponit to present pictures of America, Minnesota, U of M, my family, and my hobbies. After that a game and Q and A period. It went over pretty well, and just fit within time! Then I did the same lesson again today at the Science and Technology school (Kagiko), and.. well.. I`m going to need to learn to change the level of lessons depending on the schools. They were walking all over the room and talking the whole time, despite our trying to get their attention. Ah, well, we did our best! And it`s not so important for these students to know English.

No beach party last weekend. Just a long bike ride to Naruto, going to church (found one!), and cleaning up a temple/memorial site with the church folks. It was a lot of fun! I`ve been tired all week, though, so am looking forward to the weekend to rest.