GETTING BACK TO NORMAL IS NOT.

Not unexpected but difficult none the less, going in to work 5 times a week instead of just once is exhausting.  While I do not feel tired during the day, I am too tired on the train home to do anything other than shut my eyes.  Of course, the long walks during the day add to this fatigue, walked 7 KM a couple of Fridays ago.  The end result is that I am behind in my postings.

Thought I was done a couple of weeks ago when I found myself on a head on collision course with one of the matrons of the school.  An older woman with the air of authority who as either a nurse, doctor or admin had years of experience dealing with the BS all the above dish out as well as that from students and faculty and is not going to take any; she saw my bare face and eye locked on to my employee badge with my name blazoned across and boomed out a less than friendly “OHAIYO GOZAIMASU”. 

“Fore’ard pivot, fire as she bears!”  Locked on to her eyes which remained locked on my pass, my own “OHAIYO GOZAIMASU”  thundered out at point blank range.  Course altered just enough to avoid collision, we brushed passed each other close enough that fouling our yardarms was a real concern, I steamed on to my destination.  I have yet to hear a word about this encounter.   

A note on meeting people in the hall in Japan.  In normal circumstances, upon meeting others the formal morning greeting of “Ohaiyo gozaimasu” is exchanged.  However, for reasons that may have little to do with the panic, this has been rarely observed since we started back on campus this past May.  Most avert their eyes and pass me in silence.  The matronly woman booming out the greeting thus is a departure from anything I have experienced in the 18 years at that school and certainly this past month back on  campus.  However, after typing the above account, I had yet another unusual experience.  After the completion of the morning classes, I encountered a short women in a white coat, presumably a doctor but not necessarily so.  Her mask covered her mouth but was below her nose.  Upon seeing my unmasked face, her eyes took on the appearance of a frightened child’s and as we drew closer, she raised her mask to cover her nose and passed with her face angled away from me but her fearful eyes giving me a sideways glance.  From where the self control to keep from bursting out in laughter came, I have no idea.

On the positive side of the ledger, I later chanced upon another old timer at the school.  He too was unmasked.  Of the three long timers, merely starting my 19th year  at this school, I am the shortest.  Disposing of a single, noncomplying teacher is a distinct possibility, but all three of their longest serving teachers (These are the only two others I have seen unmasked at the school.) with the semester already well underway would put them in an unsanitary tributary without any means of propulsion.  I am feeling safer but not safe as I have not seen these two rigged for battle; they may don masks upon entering the classroom as some students at other schools do.  The school could also be looking for replacements at this moment and let us all go after the completion of the first semester.  Still, there are two others flying my flag at the school, which is good.

A third year nursing student has been unable to attend class these past three weeks.  She has been mentally ill the past year and Is apparently losing ground against it being only recently unable to attend school.  Another from the same class has taken a long leave of absence due to an unknown illness.  This is their last year at school, not the best time to take off.   Two students out of a class of about 20 (Sorry, I don’t have the class roster with me.) experiencing illness severe enough to miss weeks of the final year of nursing school and this just so happens to be their first time for English classes in person.  They have had some other classes on campus, ones that even the daftest Covidian would agree must be done in person, but all others have been online for 3 full school years.  Both students have attended the first day of class only.

At the medical side of the school, I have two classes of 7 students each.  Three of these 14 have each missed at least a day due to illness.  We have only had 4 weeks of class so far and we meet just once a week.  Never, in 18 years have I seen such high absenteeism.   A single student missing as many as two classes throughout an entire school year was not common.  Two students out of my combined two classes missing more than 3 days between them throughout an entire school year was almost rare.  Both of these situations have been surpassed in the first 4 weeks back on campus after three years.  But these are first year students, they have been in the classroom during high school as only secondary education went all online in Japan.  We can argue the exact mechanism for these changes but it can not be denied that a huge amount of damage has been done.

Still seeing half the kids leaving my kids’ juku masked.  Have crossed wakes with two groups of Jr. High students on field trips, all masked as were their teachers all since this supposedly ended a month ago today.  At this moment in Akihabara, about half are masked.

A week ago last Monday was raining so I decided to wear a pair of shoes that are both good in the rain and for work.  I have not worn those in years as I have not left the house for work much at all these past 3 years and three months, but who’s counting.  Half way to the train station, the heel starts to part company with the rest of my shoe.  No, it’s the entire sole that is now flapping.  This is coming off too quickly and completely to go all day with it like this.  Just a few steps after I came about and steered for home, the entire sole came off.  Hobbling with a backpack, a travel desk in my left hand, umbrella and the sole of my shoe in my right, I attracted many curious stares from those on their way to the station.  The sole of the left shoe started its attempted escape just as I arrived at home.  I had already found that many clothes no longer fit and now with shoes that fall apart on my feet I am wondering how many things were stowed 3yrs 3 mos ago expecting that they would be used again soon but are no longer in usable condition?

A typhoon visited us last Friday.  I have what I call a cyclone coat.  Very similar to the Drizabone coat I bought in E. Germany w/ Koalas and lost on the Emerald Isle, it is a Yankee version that I bought in collage in the States.  It has always performed well.  Umbrellas are worse than useless in a typhoon.  Anyone who has tried to use one knows how dangerous they can be to the user and others.  Having both my cyclone coat and hat, I set off to pick up my son from juku (cram school).  I got quite wet. Though not soaked, I had never gotten wet above waist with this coat in far worse storms.  This coat and hat have also been unused for at least 3 yrs 3mos and the wax had dried.  I have more wax that I will apply when circumstances permit.

I finish 3 hours earlier than planned on Wednesdays, probably due in part to the big pharma plant who posted a bad and inaccurate review of one of my classes.  So I walked to Shinjuku again instead of taking the train.  Taking a slightly different route this week, I went through a different area of this part of Tokyo.  I decided to pop into Marui, “Mall” that I have a 25 year history with, to get out of the sun a bit.  Here too I saw the reality of a destroyed economy.  Many closed off areas that were once shops.  Other vacated shops have displays set up by the few remaining shops to screen the fact that most of the floor is empty.  Instead of stores selling products as in the past, there is the now common high end pawn shop, fortune teller, therapeutic massage, insurance agent, and two travel agents.  I did not see these in Marui but I have often seen entire floors inhabited by vending machines where there used to be stores.  While this is not new to Japan as the economy here has been foundering for years, It is now almost universally spread.  Never saw this in Shinjuku before the panic.  I noticed similar the week before with in Shinjuku station.  Getting out on foot in the wonderful weather we have had recently, excepting the typhoon, is wonderfully uplifting.  Then the bubble is burst by all the empty store fronts I encounter.

Despite living in an area with a lot of hospitals, the amount of sirens heard a day has increased dramatically.  On a recent family trip to the park, a 15 minute drive, we played a new game, “Where are the sirens coming from?” as I searched the rear view mirrors and ahead to see if I needed to pull over and the wife and kids looked down the side streets as there was the sound of sirens coming from all directions at various times on both the way to the park and on the return home.  They are an almost constant back ground sound when at home now.  Previously I did not think it was possible to notice more sirens.  I was wrong.