Well, it was the first full morning at school with all the teachers that went to Stony Plain back. Hatano-sensei, who homestayed with Diane, learned lots about Canada. She had wondered before about the returning student`s stories of grey mountains in Banff and Jasper, because Hakkaido`s mountains are low and covered in trees. Having now visited the Rockies she understands how BIG they are and why they are said to be grey. Mutsumi, who homestayed at our house in Stony Plain, was most impressed by my dad`s Cedar Planck Salmon done on the BBQ. She loved our hammock but was quite wary of it though, having fallen off three times. I`m just happy the weather was good enough to allow such hi-jinx.
Man, is it ever windy here today. Everyone seems to be sniffling because of all the dust that has been picked up. Being fall now, the wind is no longer a reprieve from the hot weather and can be quite biting at times. I played a bit of soccer with the grade sixes today, they are normally more guarded with me than the younger grades, but most opened up after the class. I assisted two goals! I nearly had two goals myself but was robbed. I told myself that I should let the kids have all the fun. And the ball was going everywhere, it was so windy.
Story of the Heater
This actually happened a little while ago but I realized that I had not finished the story for my parents (worrying them a bit in the process). So - I retell it here - to offer insight into my life as an Albertan in Japan.
A furnace is a very important appliance for an Albertan winter. Maybe the most important in any house. Ask your self, would you like to do the wash or watch T.V. without a furnace in winter? Add to this the fact that having a working furnace or heater in winter really comes down to a life or death situation. I have grown up with this in mind and the correct working of my heater is a must.
Heating a home here is very different, its not done with one large forced-air furnace but with smaller room heaters. My main one is gas fed from a tank placed outside. Its just starting here that in the morning my house can be a bit chilly and so I thought I should make sure my big heater is in proper order. I turned it on, and nothing... I waited... still nothing. At this point I kind of start to panic, its not cold enough to be dangerous yet but I really have to get it sorted out because soon I will need it.
When I was at work later that day I explained, I must have seemed a bit anxious, that my heater was not working. Yamaki-san said that she had had her heater on today too and that I should get mine working. So, straight from there, we went to my house to have a look at the heater, a whole gaggle of us form the office. (Leading one to the question of how many office workers does it take to get a heater working.) They all gathered around the suspect heater, poking, prodding and priming, making sure everything was in working order before flipping the switch and turning the thing on.
Well, funny thing, the heater works perfectly. The thing literately takes 15 or 20 min to get hot. I`ve never heard of such craziness. Being an Albertan, use to big roaring furnaces (or perhaps just being me), I was expecting Dante`s inferno right off the bat. Turns out I had not waited nearly long enough before giving up. Lessoned learned. I was ribbed about it for the rest of the day but it was worth the laugh seeing all my co-workers huddled around trying to get the thing working in frantic Japanese. This story also illustrates to me the kindness of my community once they get to know you.
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