Monday I only worked until noon- I was suffering cramps and aching pretty badly and when I mentioned I wasn't feeling so hot to Takekawa san she was quick to grant me the rest of the day off. I decided to tough it through the school so I don't come off as completely useless to the kyoikuinkai. I felt bad since Mr. Suzuki was feeling all happy and curious about how I dealt with the drinking the night before. Honestly I hadn't noticed anything regarding that and told him so. I emailed him later to tell him I was ok, but it would have been nice if I were able to show him how happy I was the night before.
The Hoikusho was pretty far away and I got lost. I hadn't had breakfast so I grabbed an onigiri and some vegetable juice from a Seicomart. I really am becoming reliant on conbini. The gods of fate decided to throw me a bone and while consulting my map I heard someone shout, "Hoikusho?!"
I followed the woman waving enthusiastically from her car and made it to the daycare. I was introduced to the older kids who knew quite a bit of english (One knew "Stand up please" and I showed them the Hokey Pokey- I felt bad for one kid who, when asked to say an English word, said "Shake", thinking it meant Dance- he was very close, but I felt it wrong not to give him a more correct word- the look on his face just made me feel real bad).
With the younger kids, two or three years old, we played in the dirt instead of in water (A bit harder for me to enjoy, but I found myself remembering how awesome making sand castles is). The bossy kid of this group was a girl named Yuna. I think I'm getting a bit better at knowing how to distract kids when they're upset. The child who was the most lovely and affectionate to me this time turned out to be a little girl who was excellent at mimicking my pronunciation of English. I pushed her on the swings and she showed me her matching knee-bandaids and socks. At lunch we sat together and she took positively forever to eat hers. At one point the girl across the table was scolded extensively (these kids were really young, they weren't so hot at feeding themselves yet) and my little girlfriend asked me, "Why?". I explained with visual aids that she'd put her fork and spoon into her soup upside-down, so the next time she used them her hands would get messy, and that was no good. As soon as that negative and harsh tone came from the other side of the table, rather than doing like I usually do and feeling all awkward and bad, I tried to be even more positive for what the kid next to me was doing right, and compliment her on it. Tried to help her learn by her friend's mistake. I don't know if that's a good strategy or not.
She was walked to the entry when I left, apart from all the other kids, very quiet. I felt like she didn't want me to go. She was very sweet. I wish I could remember her name. Maybe Koharu.
With that sentimental feeling I left and proceeded to wander. I was headed in the right direction I thought, until I saw the sea and my common sense kinda pooped out. I had the rest of the day off, though admittedly moving around had me feeling better, and hadn't decided if I was going back or not. If nothing else I still had the lunch hour and decided to have my onigiri by the seaside. At first I couldn't reach it, but after wandering various roads and completely losing track of my location, I made it there and just sat with the waves and the air and the seagulls. I'd luckily brought along my camera and caught a pretty decent shot of one of the birds.
I lunched on the onigiri which I swear was more delicious than any I've ever eaten before and enjoyed my juice. The air. Something about the air is just right at the sea. I was happy. I can't think of another word for it. Just... happy. Right. The correctness of it just sunk into me and I didn't have many thoughts. My legs dangled over the edge of the concrete bank.
Eventually a small family showed up with their innertubes and beach blankets, so I gathered myself and headed out. I was then lost for roughly twenty minutes in the blazing heat climbing hills on my bike. But there was no time constraint and I felt peaceful about it. I honestly don't mind not knowing my destination if there's no time limit. It's the kind of feeling I had wandering around Tokyo. Maybe my body was just longing for more of that. That feeling of drifting aimlessly and alone, unburdened, that I came to Japan seeking. When I found myself out where it was mostly farmland I turned myself around and headed back. A few Seicomarts later I was on track. I even got to see the temple Takekawa-san had driven past Friday before when taking me to Egao (she'd mistaken it for being next to Tsutsuji, but it was really next to Kurumi). The peace of the place was deep. It was a hot day and the light fell through the leaves onto the various statues and figures lovingly adorned with red bandannas. I don't know anything at all about temples so I tread lightly and left after just a bit of exploration, not wanting to ignorantly do something stupid.
Heading back I realized I was near Waka and knowing I would have the rest of the day to be creative, stopped in and bought a drawing book, watercolors (I knew I should have brought mine, but the set I bought here seems to be better quality), and brushes. Especially motivated, I swung into Postful and bought a bunch of that vegetable juice, late night snack, breakfast, and a capsule toy for Michelle. I rounded out the trip and my bag with a HM bento and headed home to spend the rest of the day taking things at my own pace, eating, creating, dreaming, and looking at the book of photography Mr. Suzuki lent me. I caught up a bit on my news and trucked away at Blank's redesign for the comic I am planning. It was hard to convince myself to go to bed early, the one goal I had set for myself, but I did it, stewing in the memories of a beautiful day, the blue sky, and the sea.
I wish that every day could be like this since it actually gave me the energy to enjoy my day instead of just staggering through it, but knowing that isn't possible until I find a job that will pay me to do so, I will just be especially grateful I was able to have one at all.
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