Saturday May 7th
A few of us went down to the kindergarten in Soma again to entertain the kiddies. It was fairly low key and the adults were making fried rice cakes and potatoes for the kids. Afterwards we spent time down at the river walking on stones. One cute little Japanese boy didn't even really try to stay dry. It got to the point where he just stripped down to his boxers. The story was made more awesome by the fact that when he came traipsing back in only wet, white underpants, his mom smiled as if to say "ooohhhh you....." and pulled out a ziplock bag with a spare set of clothing.
^ Before... ^
^ Fukushima Love ^
^ Brad "The Broccoli" Trenery ^
Sat. May 14th
A group of us went to Shinchi where a friend of ours was forced to move and had just settled into his new place. A group of us decided to go up Friday night to party with him before getting up the next morning to do work nearer to the coast. His new dwelling is anything but state of the art. It was rented previously by an 80+ year old couple who decided to leave after the quake. When we first entered, the unmistakable smell of mothballs flooded our nostrils and I remember thinking how funny it was that old people all smell the same. I have no idea what mothballs do, but maybe I should look into it because old people are usually pretty wise about that kinda stuff. Anyway, his toilet is a minuscule step above a porta-potty and has a water gun connected to the wall to wash away any extra... His shower can't really be called a shower because it consists of a bathtub that heats up water and a bucket to douse himself with. Overall, not idea living conditions. However, this has not phased his spirit or mindset at all. He continues to look on the bright side of things and says that it makes him appreciate showers at other people's places all the more. In times of stress we all react differently, but sometimes it's important to recalibrate our perspective and master our emotions to allow our often clouded rationality to shine through.
Catch that snitch!
1 comment:
Your friend shows us that we can't always chose what happens to us but we can chose the lens through which we see our situation.Thanks for sharing your experiences!
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