インフルエンザのおかげで

Today after lunch one of the two first grade classes got to go home early. They have tomorrow and Wednesday off as well.

The reason - influenza.

Six kids in that class alone were out with the flu, and a few others were showing some pretty heavy symptoms. Turns out there's kind of an unwritten rule (maybe it is written somewhere) that when about 1/3 of a class is absent or showing signs of illness that class gets effectively quarantined for a few days in order to prevent it from spreading to other classes. For the kids who are sick it's nice they can recover and not worry about having to catch up on a bunch of missed lessons. For the kids who aren't sick, well, they're just rolling in a few free days off school. The kids who it sucks most for is the other class of first graders. For them, the next few days is business as usual. Nothing they can do, but hang their heads in disappointment as they walk past the neighbouring classroom thinking "If only it could have been us."

Hot Water Troubles

I was lying in my bed Saturday evening playing some video games. I had the kerosene heater beside me going strong and a kettle on top of it with hot water ready to go for cocoa and tea. Generally, I get up to pour a new glass, but Saturday it was especially cold and I didn't feel like getting out from under the covers. I placed the cup in my lap and proceeded to pour the hot water in gingerly, so as not to spill any. Then out of nowhere my left hand slipped and my thumb went flying into the glass. Since this was freshly boiled water I ended up giving my left thumb a pretty good second degree burn. As a result of the shock I ended up flipping my mug, spilling tea all over my blanket which ended up scalding my left leg as well. Since the tea leaves were loose in a strainer over the mug they scattered across my bed and floor as well. Luckily, there was no staining on my blanket and clean-up was relatively easy even if my finger was killing me for the rest of the day.

Today when I woke up I was freezing. It must have easily been the coldest night this winter and my core temperature was way down. I headed to the shower as per my usual routine only to find when I turned on the hot water nothing came out. The cold water worked fine, but not a single drop from the hot side. I checked both my sinks to confirm but it was much the same. With no real options and a cold shower out of the question I scrubbed down a few key areas and took a small French bath. The water is working fine now though so it makes sense to assume the pipe froze up overnight and thawed out during the day. It seems like this is a fairly common occurance over here as no one was surprised by my lack of hot water when I told them. Most Japanese bathe at night so not having hot water in the morning may only be a minor inconvenience, if they even notice, but for a morning bather like myself it's a crippling blow, especially when you need to get your core temp up quick. I only had 2 classes today though, so after they were over I spent the rest of the day in the properly heated staff room.

冬がいよいよやってきた

Today in my mind was the first true day of winter we've had so far this season here. Sure we've had some snow before but it was always too warm and never stuck around for more than a day. Today however, we've been having steady snowfall all day. At first it looked as if it would be like the snowfalls before as it was melting on contact, but then around 11 the winds picked up, the temperature dropped, and it started to stick and pile up. It's still falling at a good pace now with no signs of letting up. Tomorrow's forecast is looking very similar as well so it looks like the snow will be here to stay for a little while at least which is great. I was really getting sick of all the cold rain.

Another interesting thing to mention is the very perceptible change in temperature that occurs in the short 3 km or so between my house and my school. I'd say on average, it's generally always about 2 degrees Celsius warmer at my house than at school. The reason of course, being that the school is that much closer to the mountains and the cool mountain air funnels down there but dissipates by the time it reaches my area (if it even does). Japanese weather can be very random from place to place even within a relatively short distance. Back in Toronto there's nothing really like that. Whatever the weather is like in Toronto it's gonna be pretty much the same in Mississauga, Scarborough, Newmarket, or Ajax. On the other hand, in Taga for example, they generally get much more snow than here and it's maybe 15 km north where I am. Not what I would call "far" by any means. In any case, keep this snow coming, I'm loving it, even if my house is freezing.

Preach It

Quote of the week right here:

"Speaking from a psychiatrist's point of view, being able to see oneself urinate the furthest possible distance brings joy to men in a feeling that stems back to the old days of hunting and gathering"

Found here

ギリギリセーフ

Recently, for one reason or another I haven't been getting enough sleep and I'm well aware of it. In an attempt to get back on track I went to bed fairly early last night. I ended up waking up naturally this morning 15 minutes before my alarm went off. I turned the heater on and went back to sleep waiting for my alarm. Well my alarm went off. Five times to be precise, and I kept shutting it off. The snooze will only repeat 5 times max so after that if you don't get up you're SOL.

I woke up again naturally at 7:28 and looked at the time. I normally leave my house at 7:35 to get to the bus stop to go to work. Realizing I only had 7 minutes. I threw on some clothes, and brushed my teeth. No time for a shower I but the deodorant on thick and used an extra spray of cologne. There was still some left over wax in my hair so I didn't have to worry about bed head. No time to eat a proper breakfast, I threw a couple of oranges in my pocket and was off. I arrived at work same time as always and smiled to myself knowing that I had woken up only 25 minutes earlier and no one was the wiser.

Sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're just good. Today I was a bit of both.