Lazy Summer Days

My alarm rings, I reluctantly tear off my eye mask and attempt to wake myself up. If the bright sunlight pouring in through the curtains doesn't do the trick, then I reach for my phone and play some John Legend or Black Eyed Peas, in order to bribe my brain into waking up enough to sing along. During the winter, the smell of hot oatmeal in the rice cooker is enough to get me up. But during the summer, I can't fathom the thought of anything hot, since I feel as if I'm slowly cooking throughout the night. Yet, sleeping with the air conditioning feels too cold; it's not hot enough for that just yet. I don't know why, ask my hypothalamus (I had to google what controls our body temperature haha)... Just a typical summer "rise and shine".

School's out for summer, so there aren't many kids cycling to school. They'll come out to play later, but if they're not wearing their uniforms, I wouldn't be able to recognize most of them anyways. Since there aren't any classes, there is no morning staff meeting, so I don't need to arrive early. I can roll in at a comfortable hour of 8:30AM. The extra ten minutes allow me to see some of the post 8:20AM action in the neighborhood around my school. The other day, I discovered a small group of senior ladies that gather in a small residential street to do radio taiso (calisthenics) together. Everyone and their mom (and their grandma) in Japan know how to do radio taiso. It's a radio broadcast exercise routine first introduced in 1928, later banned at the end of WWII for being too reminiscent of the military, and then modified and reintroduced in 1951. If you tune in to the NHK channel at 6:15AM, you'll be able to follow along and have your try at radio taiso. They teach it at school, and some employers have their employees do it together to build company morale. And these senior ladies in my school's neighborhood start their morning with some radio calisthenics, though if they are anything like my grandparents, they have been awake for hours. I wish I could capture the moment into a jar, in order to call upon it whenever I wanted to: the background music, the old women synchronized in their movements, the charming little street and the rice field nearby. Just a typical summer morning in the neighborhood.

I arrive at school, and about half of the teachers are here. Some are on vacation. A few students trickle in and out, partaking in club activities or extra lessons. It's quiet all day, and I sometimes roam the school looking for clubs to visit and students to talk to. I think the broadcasting club now expects my visit every afternoon. Although I think the teachers are not as busy during the summer, they sure seem just as busy. They are pros at this. I feel bad for interrupting their work if they are genuinely busy, but I try to practice my Japanese with them whenever I can. Just a typical summer day in the office...

Today, an English teacher asked me if I must come to school everyday. I let out a sigh and said, "yes, the Board of Education mandates it." She gave me a knowing look and apologetic smile. Don't worry ma'am, it's not your fault. Sigh. I tell her of my plan to clean and rid the LL room of boxes of old stickers that no longer stick, yellow paged magazines, and other English relics of the past. But that's not until next week. I know I sound like a slacker, but there's only so much lesson planning you can do without an active teaching experience with live feedback. And teaching English conversation is all about feedback. I open my Japanese textbook and attempt to study, but I'm not fooling anyone, my longing gaze aimed outside the window speaks for itself... I think I'll just doze off and dream of my summer plans =)

These are lazy summer days, and not the kind I prefer...