This and that

Japan is still hot and muggy. The elementary children have their Sports Day this coming Saturday and so everyday they come to school carrying frozen plastic bottles of water to drink while they are out on the playground practicing their events. Sports Day is one of the biggest events in Japan... I enjoyed it when my children were in kindergarten, it was a duty when they went to elementary school, I disliked having to go when they were in jr. high and I still avoid the community Sports Day events. Call me a spoiled sport. I've never been too much into exercise and games.

This morning the poor school principal admitted to being exhausted with all the practices going on in the heat. And he was at the school over the weekend cutting grass and weeds in the adjoining empty lots so that parents' cars will have a place to park on the big day. He said that he also had to attend PTA meetings in the evening all last week for parents' Sports Day support committees. I assured him that since I'm being paid to be the crosswalk guard in front of the school that he really didn't need to feel obligated to stand out there with me from 7:30 every morning. It seems to me that being a school principal in Japan is a more time consuming job than being one in the States.

*******

We got a call early Friday morning from Tetsu's mother's neighbor alerting us to the fact that Tetsu's mother was feeling poorly and needed Tetsu to come. Tetsu rushed over and took his mother to the hospital and after a few hours of waiting (and Mother's blood pressure going higher and higher because she was so annoyed) and a few hours of IV, finally she was admitted to the hospital. Nothing really wrong, but she is 88 and it is very hot and she lives alone and gets upset easily.

I went to the hospital Friday evening but Tetsu's mother was in grand spirits and feeling very happy about being in such a nice cool place with very good food and friendly nurses. Since then we've gone daily and since she isn't getting any treatment, the hospital says she's ready to go home. BUT Tetsu's mother says going home on the fourth day of being hospitalized is bad luck (Japanese dislike the number four) so she is planning to stay in the hospital until tomorrow... the fifth day.

Japan would sure welcome some cool weather!