Sekinai is just such a soft and warm place. I forgot to take a picture today, but the mountains looked exactly like the mountains back home. The kids were sweet and I had fun playing again today (spent a good deal of time talking with Hikari, who is getting to that age where he is troublesome- we did kung fu poses at each other and he complained about not being able to use the sewing machine without getting tired). It's been so long since I've been to the school that when I saw the kids I was a little startled by how small they are. Smaller than I remembered. Kana-chan is really a wonder. She designed her own original character and it is really quite distinct and charming, a little boy with very determined eyes. Today's lesson was parts of the body. She asked me how to say breasts but I kinda sidestepped the question and said "chest". She did the gesture of sweat pouring from her head like in anime and made the sound effect after she asked that question. I kind of want to kidnap her, but she might lose her magic in my care. The cute little gal I rode the bus with at the very beginning showed me a box she made out of milk cartons with a tulip, a butterfly, and a lightning bolt designed in beads on the front. Inside was a bow hairpin, a flower, and a cat, all crocheted.
The kind sensei who is so cute and playful told me today that she's 4 months pregnant! I never expected myself to be excited by that kind of news. Growing up I always thought it was a big pile of crap when adults would freak out for some lady going to have a baby. It's a different feeling when it's a friend, I suppose. She's expecting in July, just after I leave. She says she can't move as quickly and her tastes have changed, and now and again she gets cramps, and her hair is getting thinner. It's pretty crazy. I wasn't expecting her to become a mother and she says she and her husband were pretty surprised that they were finally able. But she's a terribly sweet and nurturing person with a great sense of humor, so I am hopeful for her child. That makes me kind of happy, that even with all the evil and harsh crap that goes on in the world, somewhere, in one little pocket here, there is a good mother eagerly waiting on a new human being. It's the first time I've been able to look at things in this light.
After lunch I hula hooped a bit and the girls showed off their leet unicycle skills. I tried to explain the "Why is 6 afraid of 7" joke to Kana and she did her damndest, but I realized that joke is a great example of the difference in Japanese and English grammar. I want to try and use this somehow.
I love the kids at the school even if they don't fawn on me the way some of the kids at the other schools do. I'm not sure why. It really is just the magic of the place, I suppose. It pries open my heart and there's no choice but for the warmth to flow in and out.
I'll need that warmth because it is bitterly cold here, colder than I've ever felt in my life. It's only 26 degrees farenheight, but somehow it feels so much colder. Maybe because I don't have a car to take me neatly from one place to another and the house isn't already heated up when I get home. Living alone has really been like boot camp for me. I'm finding out all kinds of luxuries I didn't know I had before.
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