Before I detail my special day, I must comment on something important I forgot to include yesterday. The grade 10's returned from Canada yesterday around lunch time. I didn't see anyone until today. My section chief quickly found me to say how great a time he had and told me to thank everyone in Stony Plain for their hospitality. He also added that he was very tired today.
He didn't get to talk to me long because we had a bit of a crisis at the office this afternoon. It started small enough. I didn't even notice the janitor working on the hot-water radiant heater in the corner beforehand. He was getting the system ready for winter. From my desk I heard a small "ting!" and then a hiss. I got up to investigate because I thought it sounded suspiciously like running water and I know better then to trust the stuff. My comments, "Ah... it's water," didn't elicit anyone to action. When I saw the janitor returned with pliers I considered everything back under control and sat down again. Crack! Upon hearing the loud new sound I knew exactly what had happened. I didn't even need to turn around as people ran to the sound of rushing water. As everyone started to pull chairs into the hall, put paper onto desks, and mop, I tried to make witty remarks to lighten the mood (like father like son). Nothing like a crisis to break up an otherwise monotonous week. Everyone in the office was finding the situation absurd. Wow, it was lot of water. There were a lot of kids in the building for some reason and they were immediately drawn to the commotion. The older students wanted to help but this being Japan, there were power cords everywhere and this posed a bit of a safety issue. Musashi returned after a short errand to the Yakuba, saw the mess, and said with a big grin, "Man, I leave this place for ten minutes." It gets better! People are starting to roll up their sleeves and put on boots at this point because the water is still gushing out, but... then... the water starts getting hot, really hot, because remember it's part of the boiler system. Now no one can even get near the thing. Finally someone makes it to the main valve - where ever it is - so that the water can be shut off from the main supply. Now clean up can begin. This was really insightful too because as visitors came by the office everyone felt obligated to pitch in (one delivery guy and several teachers). Soon we had a lot of helping hands - everyone was bonding - and everything was quickly put back to normal.
Finally, I just wanted to let everyone know that I survived the special class this morning. I think the Usui's are miracle workers and I felt great. (I was thinking later how everything they suggested tasted like ginger.) The funniest moments were when we were trying to line up the kids. It was an exercise in futility. Like me trying to appreciate a-tonal post-modern classical music. They just wanted to look around and visit. It took forever, and by the time you got one line in order - looking over your shoulder - the other line was in chaos again.
I wanted to share an example of the amazing creativity of young children. Practicing Halloween gestures, I didn't think they should attempt Moon or Jack-o-lantern because I didn't think there were any obvious gestures (instead relying on witches, bats, and zombies etc.). However, when I said "Moon" or "Jack-o-lantern" there was absolutely no hesitation on their part. They just flopped to the ground like a pumpkin for example. Amazing. I was impressed because I would have skipped them all together; such is the unimaginative, dull brains of adults.
Tech note: There is a problem with blogspot's photo hosting system at the moment and so I have put up less pictures than I had planned.
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