From the gray desk...

All too soon, winter vacation is over.

My nasty little alarm starts to trill and it is disappointingly dark and much too cold to be waking up for anything, much less an entire day of desk duty (although teachers must report, the kids don't come back until Friday). It's gonna be a loooong day in the staff room.

I get ready and break the hermetic seal on the front door to discover 5cm of new-fallen snow. Since I think snow always makes everything look nicer, I don't mind, and I'm even more relieved to find that it's not slippery as I begin my ride to work.

As usual, I roll into the parking lot at school sweaty and snotty. Unlike usual, about a half dozen teachers are outside, diligently clearing the lot of snow with garden shovels and push brooms. Although I'd much rather go inside and blow my nose and clean myself up (my normal ritual upon arriving at school), since the principal himself is out there sweeping away, I grab a traditional broom (basically, a bundle of sticks) and celebrate my return to work by industriously pushing snow around.

I don't think I've accomplished much, but the teachers all decide we have succeeded in our task, so we head indoors.

I hadn't realized it while outside, but the teachers shoveling away were ALL of the teachers reporting to school today. I take a look at the weekly schedule and I have an AHA! moment: all those weird kanji with the 8s and the 4s next to them? Of course. A listing of the teachers who are taking half and full-days off. All in all, 19 of the 32 or so staff members have taken off. Even the tea lady is out.

I take advantage of the quiet to redo my English Bulletin Board and to finish planning lessons for the 7th graders through the end of the year. Considering school isn't out until the end of March, I feel fairly on-top of things.

Around 3:30, the principal takes pity on me and chases me home. Either that, or he felt like going home early too and didn't want any witnesses.

I stop by Don Quixote for the first time in two weeks or so to load up on corn flakes and organic soy milk. I am somewhat surprised that the little ditties playing on endless loops in each aisle are no longer weird or annoying. In fact, I had kind of missed them. Especially the "Genki for Natto" song... that one's my favorite... (for those of you not in Japan, natto is fermented soybeans that have a consistency somewhat like chunky snot and a smell not unlike dirty feet. Genki is a word that translates as "healthy", but also has connotations of being energetic and peppy. It's not really the first food you'd think of that would have it's own poppy theme song, but at Don Quixote's it does...)

I go to the gym, which has just reopened today after a 2-week remodel. Everything is moved around: I feel like a little kid whose mom has moved all of his toys. The biggest change is that the weight room is now hidden in a corner of the 4th floor. As I lift and look around me at the usual bunch of dudes, I have a realization as to why they have moved Testosteroneville to a new zipcode.

I turn to T, the only regular who speaks English: "You know why they put us back here, don't you?"

He looks at me quizzically.

"So you can't stare at the women on the bikes and the treadmills anymore. You were making them uncomfortable."

He looks around, as the new reality dawns on him. You see, T spends hours in the weight room, but doesn't lift very much. He's mostly there to hang out, practice English, and ogle the pretty ladies. The old weight room had a large window that looked onto the main floor. T would sit there and watch the ladies' butts on the treadmills like it was his own, live widescreen TV.

Within moments, he is gone. I find him later using the relocated machines (I've never seen him do anything other than free weights before), now conveniently located directly in front of the new glass-front yoga room (with a class in session, of course).

"C'mon T, we should sign up for yoga!" I offer.

He shakes his head and continues to stare...