Typhoon Day

I mentioned yesterday that Japan would be on a typhoon alert for most of today. The morning today, was a bit nasty as it rained pretty hard and it was also quite windy. As such, the school I was supposed to go to today cancelled its classes. The trains had also stopped, so I had no way of getting there. Most schools in Iwaki were in the same situation and I woke up to many posts on Facebook about how everyone had the day off. This wasn’t the case for me as my base school still wanted me to come in. Actually, they suggested that I didn’t come in today, but that I would have to take a holiday day.

Grudgingly, I grabbed my lunch, arranged a spare set of clothes, and prepared myself to ride my bike into potential typhoon weather. By the time I left my house however, the rain had mostly stopped and the wind had died down quite a bit. The air was actually quite warm – maybe because the winds approached from the south? In any event, most of the city was closed up and I rode quite easily through the empty streets of Iwaki. I think that it ended up that most of the typhoon missed Fukushima and hit most of the East/North East of the island.

Upon arriving at school, I was a bit annoyed, and relieved at the same time, to find that classes had been cancelled here as well, but that teachers were still expected to come to school. Many teachers were amazed that I braved the weather on my bicycle, but again, there wasn’t much weather for me to brave.

I spent most of the morning doing some much-needed studying of the Japanese language. The more I study, the more I find I don’t know anything. The teacher I share my office with has spent so much time working with me at this – I owe him a lot.

The students were also supposed to cook a lunch for the teachers today, but because there were no students in the school, and teachers were worried about the food going bad, we all went to the home economics room and cooked the meal ourselves. We made Oyokodon. The name “oyokodon” includes “oyo,” which means “parent,” and “ko,” which means “baby,” which in this case refer to the fact that the dish includes both “chicken” and “egg.” It is served over a rice bowl, which is the “don” component to the name. Lunch was delicious, free, and I learned how to cook a Japanese meal. I might try it out by myself sometime in the near future.

After lazing around the office, full of oyokodon, for a while, a few teachers invited us to play volleyball in the gym – and play volleyball we did. We played six each side for probably a good couple of hours, which meant that I had to put in a bit of overtime, but I didn’t mind. The only downside to the day was that I split my pants, almost in half, while going for a dig on the ball. That, and the blisters I have on my feet from playing with no shoes.

In conclusion, this nasty typhoon day ended up turning into a beautiful, “I-wish-I-brought-my-camera-day.” I had my phone, but it’s not exactly ideal. Next time, hopefully I’ll get to experience a real-life Japanese typhoon.