I ♥ Typhoon!

Image courtesy of Space.com

Classes were cancelled Thursday due to heavy rain in the wake of Japan's first typhoon of the season. As soon as the public announcement sirens sounded, the second years students began to cheer, shouting "Yay! Lucky! I love typhoon! I love rainy!" as they jumped off their chairs and threw their pens and pencil cases into the air in celebration. A rumble of joy erupted throughout the school, echoing through the corridors and courtyard as students shouted similar sentiments from the balcony of their classrooms (except in Japanese). It was a wonderful way to begin 3rd period, and you can imagine how productive a period it was. The students had to stay in school until 1:30, wasting time in a special homeroom waiting for lunch. When the time finally came to send them home, the rain miraculously stopped, as it always does.

School is often called off in Japan for heavy rains associated with typhoons, even here in landlocked Ena, buffered by a barrier of mountains on all sides. Although students are often sent home after lunch or told not to come to school at all, teachers are required to report for duty and stay for the remainder of the day. This is especially fun for ALTs who have little or nothing to do to begin with, let alone when there are no students in the school to entertain. Luckily for me I was asked to give a "video letter" farewell speech to be broadcast on the school TV system during lunchtime next week. I only had about a half hour to pull it together, but as I sat there writing entirely in Japanese,without hesitation, complete with kanji, I realized how much I have learned just from being here for the past three years...