The Current Situation

I went to a Junior High this week that had only 12 students. The staff and faculty to accompany those dozen students consisted of about 10 teachers, a nurse, a gardener, two lunch ladies, and maybe three or so other miscellaneous people. Nothing wrong with the students, just that the school was scheduled to be closed down in the near future. It was kind of odd roaming the empty halls of a Junior High that easily could have supported a few hundred students. Kind of sad that the school was even closing, considering how old some of Japan's schools can get (I went to one school that had its 80 year anniversary last month, if that gives you an idea).

Been spending more and more time inside my apartment with Japan's "rainy season" on the prowl. Should be called the "sticky and unpleasant mist-water in a hot furnace season." You walk outside, and you're blasted in a layer of heat and water. A few seconds of that and you're dripping as if you had just gotten out of the shower (even though it's not raining). Needless to say, a large pile of my clothes is quickly collecting by the washer.

I normally visit some place new on the weekend, see a different part of Japan. This weekend, though, I'm resting. After standing in front of kids all week and running this way and that on my 70 minutes of daily commute, I'm just plum tired.

On a lighter note, I visited a few bookstores last weekend. I found it quite amusing that the "Foreign Books" section was all English novels. I bought three books while I was there. Been running out of things I can read.