I didn't get a chance to write again yesterday, but I am excited to say that yesterday was Disaster Day! Oh yes, we have such things here. This area is waiting for a massive earthquake in the next few years, so the government talked everyone into pretending one hit yesterday afternoon. They take such drills much, much more seriously here. It was identical to the drill from last year, so let me just use that descrption and add some more detail to the end.

First we had a minute of earthquake drill where students had to get under their desks. Then, when the bells sounded (in the entire village), everyone rushed outside.. all teachers wearing white Misato Junior High helmets. Teachers counted students (who were lined up perfectly by class) and then we sent most of the teachers running back into the "burning" school to retrieve things that we'd forgotten. Then the firetruck and ambulance raced onto the field and "rescued" someone from inside the school. After that, we all gathered around a huge metal tray filled with kerosene which the firefighters lit on fire. One girl and one boy from each class and two teachers got the chance to put it out using the fire extinguishers. (Meanwhile, there were people next door at the Village Hall and Board of Education practicing using the fire hoses, and I could hear the separate PAs of the elementary school and other offices going through similar drills). After we were done setting out fires, the kids had to get back in lines and we had speeches from the Vice Principal, a Board of Ed guy (I think) and the Fire Chief. Finally, we got to go back.. but not before we cleaned off our shoes (because it was a fire drill..we had to exit without changing from our indoor shoes to our outdoor shoes!). The entire drill took over 45 min and we all sat outside in the bright hot sun the whole time. It was pretty darn impressive, let me tell you (I wish I could have taken photos!).

Yep, now that I've re-read I can tell you for sure that we did practically the same thing this year. This year was much hotter though. The only positive change was that from where I was standing I could watch people over at the Village Hall jumping into a huge "sock" that was hanging from a 3rd floor window. It was the most bizarre, fun-looking escape idea I've seen yet. They would literally fall the three floors and then be caught by the closed end of the shoot. Probably didn't feel great, but I suppose its better than hitting the pavement.

Yesterday evening Jaclyn served up the first batch of some fish-burgers we scored at the grocery store. They were delicious and I'm just devestated because we bought them from a traveling salesman who was only in town for a week. This country hasn't really discovered soy or any other non-meat burger, so I would LOVE it if they would sell them regularly. They were delicious!!

After practically falling asleep in front of a bizarre Japanese game show, I actually went for about a half hour run. It was dark out so for once I wasn't melting as I ran, and it had cooled off considerably. Jaclyn came with on her bike and we chatted about next year and this weekend (a good mix, don't you think?). When it comes down to it, I'm not sure I know too many people who do know exactly what they're doing next year. That makes me feel a lot better.