More from last week...

It is impossible to keep up with posting every funny, weird, or good story I have on here! When I get home from work I am pooped! I should just sit down here and write, but instead I browse classifieds to find things like a cat and a fridge. We got a fridge and I have met one cat, but am still going to look at others. I am lonely here at night because Jon works in the evenings, so I want a cat.

Anyhow, recently Jon and I went on base for the first time. First we went to Camp Foster last Sunday for Foster Fest, which was a small carnival, but quite interesting. It was weird being on base though... Like a mini American in a foreign country. The next day we returned to base to meet Rose (a military wife who has befriended us and told us to call her whenever we want to come on base to eat or buy things) to get pumpkins for the little Japanese kids. She showed us around all over the place and we went to the commissary for pumpkins (even though we didn't have the right passes). We were also very surprised when the guard let us in the base gate when all I said was we were meeting a friend named Rose and showed our IDs. Rose said that has never happened before! After buying 6 pumpkins for my schools and Ollie's (another JET) schools, we went to the PX. The PX is a store that is basically like a big Target, but with designer clothes for less than MSRP. Rose thought it was hilarious that we kept oohing and ahhing at all the American goods for sale. It had been 3 months since I'd been in an American store though, can you blame me? I thought it was funny when I bumped into someone and said "Sumimasen" instead of "excuse me" or "sorry"! You'll have to see if I do this when we come back for Christmas! The best part about our base trip was being able to eat Subway for dinner. I miss Subway's turkey sandwiches. I miss Turkey. We stayed on base till after 10pm, closing out the PX and then hitting up Taco Bell on our way out! There are no Taco Bells on Okinawa. I missed being home a little bit while in the PX, but after our 5 our adventure was over and we finally got home (after being in traffic), I was glad to get to rest. I felt like I used to feel after being at Disneyland. I would always think, I had fun, but I am so tired because we would stay so late!

Takaio Sensei (the English Coordinator for Chinen) and I made mashed sweet potatoes last week to practice for our cooking class (which I missed today because I am home sick). The sweet potatoes she got were beni-imo (purple sweet potatoes), which looked intersting mashed, but I actually prefer the taste of these to american sweet potatoes. Anyways, they didn't turn out to her liking, so she added butter. The butter was from the teachers' room fridge and tasted awful (it tasted like refrigerator). I thought she was going to through out the last spoonful but Sato Sensei (5th grade teacher) came in and she asked him if he wanted them, in Japanese. She fed him the heaping spoonful of potatoes... I really felt bad because they were really awful tasting. He gagged on them a few times but swallowed them. I thought she was so mean for doing that! I don't know if I will understand the humor of Japanese people, or perhaps the idea of honor that comes from someone who is willing to eat disqusting food instead of just spitting it out!

Finally, recently a boy in the Chiba prefecture died at school, during lunch, from choking on a peice of bread. The story is here, with comments from locals (in English) It is just so sad to me. I eat lunch with the students and haven't seen anything quite like this, but I do see the teachers in their corner, doing work, not paying attention to the students, and I have been appalled (at first) at the children who goof around and beat up on each other just about any time and any where on school grounds. We have no teachers on duty during breaks (recess or lunch) and students are always getting hurt. One of the first days of school, a boy fell out of a tree he was climbing (they climb trees and walls all the time) and broke his arm or his leg and hit his head. He was in the hospital at least over night. The school had an assembly and announced after both these incidents about school safety. After the tree incident. the students made signs saying not to climb the trees and hung them on the trees around school. After the choking incident, the school nurse announced to the students the importance of not rushing and chewing their food completely.
I wonder if teachers here must be CPR and First Aid certified. It sounds like the boy in Chiba Prefecture would still be alive if they did.