hey all,
Lots of things in the works here. My school is still on holiday for the time being, basically until I hear from the boss and get asked to come in. I may take up a part time job at another school in the meantime, to supplement or replace my income.
The situation with the nuclear reactor finally looks like it is getting better, or at least not getting any worse, which is a nice feeling to have. One news source was quoting the World Bank as saying that it will take Japan at least 5 years to totally recover from this. The thing that still amazes me is the death toll; climbing closer to 10,000 by the hour, and over 11,000 missing. Around 200,000 people are lacking either food, water, electricity or homes. But if you compare this to the causality rate in Indonesia during the 2004 tsunami (which was caused by an ocean earthquake of only slightly greater magnitude than the one in Japan), your perspective changes completely. Despite the direness of the situation, the amazing infrastructure of Japan has probably saved 10's of thousands of lives.
Appropriately, Michi and I rented Touching the Void and The Beckoning Silence, two movies based on books by mountain guide/ rock climber Joe Simpson. The first I'd seen part of before. It is about an accident that befell the author when he was 25 years old while climbing in Peru, and how he managed to survive it. The latter, The Beckoning Silence, is a recounting by Joe Simpson of the story of Tony Curtz and his ill-fated team's attempt to climb Mt. Eiger in Switzerland in the 1930's. They are both kind of disaster movies, is what I'm getting at.
I finally got to see some of Michi's baby pictures, because we ate dinner with her family twice over the long weekend. The company was really good to have, especially after staying cooped up in my room all by myself for most of last week, with my overseas friends and family saying "Run away! Come back home!" and two teachers from my own school making plans to head back to their respective countries until things calmed down here. But spending time with both Michi and her family has calmed me down quite a bit, and given me a lot more hope and maybe a better perspective on Japan's and my own situation.
In other news, I have officially spent two years in Japan.
Cheers,
