The next weekend was much of the same thing with the addition of fireworks and I got these amazing photos which I proceeded to accidentally delete so on to other things… Mmm I guess I can use this paragraph to mention iaido is still going fairly well and I still love my students but they have a way of burning me out and by the time it was winter break I was in much need of it.
So the last hurdle, before I could really enjoy my vacation was a long weekend trip to Ofunato again. It had only been a month since our last time there but in that time all the leaves had fallen and it had gotten much colder. We managed to cut our time down a bit by avoiding getting pulled over by the cops, not going on unnecessary detours and following the right expressway, but we had to leave later than normal so that still put us there by two in the morning. We arrived at a different community hall to find Ken (the coolest guy ever) waiting for us with his regular cheery smile and a broken arm held up in a sling. (He’d fallen off the latter a week earlier.) We fell asleep and then discovered in the morning that Yoshiko wouldn’t be joining us due to the flu. We had been debating going but in the end I’m glad we did since Habitat for Humanity was in a sad state that weekend.
So Saturday, we began building an old woman’s shed (she was home during the earthquake but her grandson ran home to get her to safety before the tsunami) and then we went back to the office to chance into Santa clothing for a Christmas party we put on for the kids. It was mostly fun, and Kevin made the best Santa ever! But we were so exhausted that by the end our energy was faltering… luckily we were rewarded with the onsen by the sea and I spent a lovely hour basking in the heat to the sound of the waves. Following was my favourite restaurant ever where I ordered my caesar salad with chicken followed by the best apply pie on Japan again! Then bed!
Sunday we all worked as a group, with the Japanese folks who joined us late Saturday, at a temporary library just outside one of the worst affected areas. We had driven through ((((Takada rizuten???))) before but it never ceased to astound me by the perfect lack of a town which was apparently once there. I could easily mistake it for a flatland when in reality it, Ken told us, was the city centre. Last trip we’d driven through an area where Yoshiko pointed out on the GPS, that hadn’t yet updated, where the houses used to be. I was in aw once again byt the lone traffic lights, broken bridge, demolished supermarket and apartment buildings and the baseball stadium out to sea. But that aside, the day was fun and we built shelters, tables, books shelves and varnished it all including a few benches. Another onsen and the teshoku with our Japanese friends. There was this sweet boy named Yuu there and when I told him in Lawsons that it was Kevin’s birthday the next day, he wasted no time in helping me spread the word until when we got back to the community hall we were able to throw him a little celebration with cakes and hot chocolate and Aiko bought him a pokemon present. It was really fun.
More sleep. But not enough.
Monday was our last day and also the day we were supposed to drive back. We parted ways with Aiko, Yuu and the others and went with Ken to this house on the other side of Ofunato. It belonged to a man who designed ink stones. I think he was rather famous for the prices I saw on them were more than I make in a month… anyways, his story is that he was actually away when disaster struck but his family climbed a rope up the steep embankment behind his house (put there for this exact reason) to safety. He had a beautiful house but it was in the process of being restored as the tsunami reached even the second floor. Our task for him was to build a little vinyl tent shed for his inkstones. It was easy enough. Oh and the most important part! It snowed the night before! Beautiful big flakes to mark my first snowfall of the year! And so the following day the world was blanketed in lovely white. It was also warm and bright and before long it melted, but for the first few hours it was fabulous! At lunch we were taken to a community hall for the temp houses nearby (Kevin and Ken went off to the hardware floor) and were asked to sing a few songs which we sand horrible but it was all for the greater cause of the party so we withstood it. After finishing touches and then fish soup prepared by the artist, and goodbye to our Japanese friends, we were on our way home. As it was Christmas eve we stopped for friend chicken and cake (as is the Japanese way) and drove eight hours south to our beds.
For… the following day we were expected at school. It was a long boring affair so I won’t go into details but it involved bad kyushoku and a long and boring closing ceremony. But Christmas evening I headed to Fujiyoshida where Sheena, Laura, Ken and I drank and ate and watched the Santa Clause until exhausted we all fell asleep. The next morning we rose with the sun for an onsen then McDonalds breakfast and after I went home to do the big year end clean.
I won’t go any further for that’s meant for the next chapter. The chapter in which I pick Nikki up in Tokyo and we head to Takayama and Kanazawa!
