Jebi Typhoon Day

It was decided that all schools are canceled due to a “life-threatening typhoon.” However, regardless of whether students are at school, it is expected that teachers be at school, typhoon or shine. This rule also applies for summer, winter, and spring breaks; teachers have to be at school whether they have work to do or not and whether there are students or not. Luckily, on my way to work in the morning, the typhoon was not at full potential. However, there were significantly less workers going to work because the typhoon had already damaged the trains. Thus, I rode a practically empty bus 45 minutes to work. My mentor messaged me on the bus, and she said, “I think it would be best if you took a holiday and leave in the afternoon.” I was confused by this statement because I would prefer not to take a vacation day when I didn’t need to, so I messaged a few returning teachers asking them to interpret/decipher her message for me. Basically, rather than sending me home because the buses would be canceled in the afternoon and because there is nothing for me to do, I needed to take a half vacation day to leave school, hoping to catch the last running bus. I was slightly annoyed by this situation and culture the same way one would be slightly irritated by someone who eats a KitKat bar by biting into the whole thing instead of breaking it off into the smaller bars. Each school is different, but generally, teachers go to school when school gets canceled, they get asked to take a half day vacation day or they get sent home without needing to use vacation days. I would’ve preferred the latter but I wasn’t too bothered because the half day suggestion was for my safety and so I wouldn’t be stranded in the countryside in the middle of a catastrophic typhoon.

When I arrived at school, I greeted the teachers good morning as usual, noticing that all of them were wearing sweatpants or gym shorts (apparently that’s what teachers do on rainy days at work). I got settled at my desk, preparing for another day of self-entertainment, but I only had to endure nothingness for half a day. It all ended up working out for me because my mentor also took a half vacation day and drove me home, and I got a chance to do a workout in the rain before it got dark outside.

A typhoon, as I learned, is the same thing as a hurricane or a cyclone; they’re just called different things depending on the location and ocean origin. Luckily, the typhoon was not detrimental to Himeji, simply high winds and rainstorms similar to a heavy monsoon day in Arizona. I guess I just got lucky living in the Arizona of Japan, where it’s minimally affected by weather and has a great climate most of the year. Getting back safely and resting for a bit, I decided that it was a nice day for a run. Obviously, I’m not entirely crazy; I asked a few experienced teachers whether (haha) it was safe to run in the typhoon. Lucky me again, my colleagues and friends are just as crazy as I am and had no problem with the weather. I invited Zach as he’s been hinting at running for a while. We ran to and up the stairs of hell, after which we began our workout of six to eight stair sprints up roughly 70 meters of stairs. There were plenty of times when my hat almost flew off my head, but there were only two times when the wind almost blew my body away. I’d call that a win(d) for the day. Pictures are attached of the beautiful view of the city from the top of the stairs.

After a nice typhoon day and a good workout, Zach, Kevin, Josh (a new teacher in my cohort, ex-military), and I went to Koba’s for another delicious night. While pictures of the inside of the restaurant are not allowed, I took a couple pictures of the outside, and you can tell that Koba’s is definitely a special place compared to its neighbors. We met a man from Greece who was in Japan for a business trip, and it made me envious of such a life. Traveling for work, possibly doing an engineering job, networking, business, et cetera. What a life.

With that note, I realized that I need to make a decision soon regarding my plans for the future. Apparently, I have roughly five months to make a decision about whether or not I will be extending my contract for another year. How in the world am I supposed to know what I want a year from now in five months?! If I extend it, it’ll give me more time to study for the GRE and to apply for an MBA program. But what if I actually hate kids? Just kidding; seeing them and interacting with them is honestly the best part of my day. I’ll just make a pros and cons list and upload that. Send help, advice, or Mexican food!