Office Employees Clean Office ; 26,000 Insects Found Dead
I met a few more neighbors and had a cleaning party with my staff at the Board of Education. It's been a crazy few days! For the cleaning party we stopped work around 2pm and went to work piling papers and cardboard boxes that could be recycled and sorting out things. In Ine, the junior high school kids do a recycling thing twice a month, and they drive around to certain areas to pick up corrugated boxes and paper and things. But, you need to put them into tidy piles and tie them with string so the kids can move them easily. I think it's a really good idea to recycle things and also to take care when doing so. Japan is really big on sorting the trash. There are a million categories ; plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass items under a certain size, large heavy items, normal garbage, paper, and pura, which is things marked with プラon the wrapping (usually wrappers or plastic bags). Then there are things for Styrofoam as well. And no it wasn't easy figuring all this out!
So then we proceeded to sort, wrap, tie, and carry things down to the holding area. After that we swept up the masses of dead bugs and plant debris from around the windows and the floors and swept and vacuumed and mopped until we drowned in our own perspiration. Usually around 3pm it's about 96 degrees outside the humidity is just killer, so everyone was sweaty. But we got to change into less work-type clothes, so everyone was in sweats and crummy old shirts and things. I got to wear cookie-pants (stretchy pants for eating cookies) for the first time at work and a T-shirt. I have to say, that cleaning, although hot and sweaty, was a lot more fun than the usual grind. I don't think they do this every Friday, but maybe once a month? We all watched baseball and ate ice cream after it was done, and then went home. I have to say, I've never been prouder of a clean office! I guess when you do something yourself you do get that satisfaction from it. Although I still don't feel like cleaning my house.
Today I started to clean the house... just washing sheets and towels and vacuuming and scrubbing down the kitchen. It's just too hot to do everything at once. I took a break to grab sugar and milk from the store and to fill up my gas tank. The gas station owner is this really awesome nice guy, although I have a hard time understanding him. But he's very patient and kind, which is cool. On my way back from the errands, I met another neighbor, Michiko, who is the wife of my neighbor the retired English teacher (whose name, of course, I can't remember). They are super nice. Her English is really good, although she loves to say over and over "I can't speak English I can't speak English!" but with her English and my Japanese it's very easy to talk, actually. His English is better even and he's super nice as well. So they helped me figure out what days the garbage goes out and where to put things and so forth, it was very very helpful, because I really had no idea... and my garbage was starting to pile up. She also invited me in for tea, coffee, beer, or sake! She says. They are my favorite people right now, and it's awesome having two slight English speakers in close proximity. She told me that Ine only has 2'600 people living here, which doesn't shock me. But she says everyone is very nice, which I agreed with. The best was when I was asking about garbage, and she couldn't remember how to explain things so she grabbed my hand and started running towards her house with me in tow. She was ridiculously fast for a 5 foot tall 50-year old woman, I couldn't stop laughing. She then called out her husband. It's funny, cuz when married couples with children talk to each other they call each other "mother" and "father" in honorable terms. No "Oh, honey buggles?" It's "otoosan?' or "okaasan?" things like that. She told me she has a daughter my age, although I couldn't quite communicate with her on where this mystery girl was. Otherwise I would totally invite her to hang out and go to the beach and teach me how to make proper rice balls, cuz the ones I made yesterday were TERRIBLE.
It's really been fun getting to know the neighbors, and this is the first time I say that and actually mean it.
I really wish I could remember any of their names. I'm so bad at this. I only remember the names that I've heard before. Like Yumi, or Yukiko, or Tanaka. Easy ones like that.
Anyway, tomorrow I am having nine people over to go to the beach and destroy my house, but it'll be really awesome to have the company and to show them around! Plus I am looking forward to the seaside drive, it's kind of fun.
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