though i have lived through my share of rain now that i call myself a portlander i have yet to live through a rainy season in japan, though i am now offically working on it.
season offically kicked off about two weeks ago, but by the count here in nagasaki ken it was about two or three weeks late. we have had our share of downpours and drizzles and even got a real thunderstorm with lightning and HUGE claps of thunder a few days ago. (said thunder was some of the loudest i have ever heard, and i reacted with a small chirp and a leap from my desk, but so did many other people in the staff room so all good there.) but really, the rain has been consistenly...wet.
i have never expereinced the dampness that i am now in naru. everything drips with saturation and condensation. the staff fridge is sweating from the freezer unit on top and the leather straps of accessories are growing mold like petri dishes. i even noticed that my trusty backpack (the one i use everyday to and from school and such) is growing mold now on the straps and bottom side. my birkenstock sandals (my indoor shoes at school) stink to high heaven and now i am lost for how to get the smell out. how is all of this even possible? so with rainy season i am finding it is also deep cleaning season and running-a-fan-24-hours-a-day season.
today is for some reason or another the magical day when they start running the air conditioner in the staffroom. (it is the only room in the school air conditioned). it has been hot and humid here since the rain started, (really, really humid) and the days at school have been the kind where you just kind of sit in your own stank and wait for work to end and daydream about the cold shower to come. it is only sort of akward for me as i sweat about 1000 times more than anyone in this whole school and im pretty sure that i stink about the same. (WHY dont japanese people sweat like this?????? i swear they are always cold and literally it took less than five minutes before the ladies in the staffroom put on sweaters when the AC was turned on.) the nurse (who i guess is okay with bodily contact, or more so than most other people, which i guess is also a good thing considering she IS the nurse) touched me a few weeks ago in the midst of this heat and told me in japanese that i felt like a heater. i had not been doing anything strenuous and was also not running a fever. i just had to tell her like i tell everyone when they ask me if im cold, and they ALWAYS ask me if im cold, "im a hot blooded american" and pat my beefy arms. they smile at this, but i dont think that they really understand that i am not cold.
so now here i sit in my nicely air conditioned office room writing to all of you lovlies. i was reminded by a dear friend this morning that this weekend is the one where people blow things up for a reason back home. happy independence day to all of you. may you all enjoy the blessings of summertime in america with friends and family close by to encourage smiles and laughter.
i will be home cleaning and enjoying the good bit of rain that is falling on this parade. as an old friend once reminded me, "it cant rain all the time Sunshine!"
i will be seeing many of you soon. buckets of love from me to you.
namaste
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