The Valentine’s Day Crisis
Feb. 14, 10:00 am.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Assuming this actually gets posted on today.
Last night, I washing my hands when the water came to a stop. That’s odd. Since the last few “incidents” of showers and toilets freezing, I had left some water running all the time to keep it from happening again. I checked on all my taps… nothing. Uh oh. I set my alarm for a little earlier in the morning and hoped that the same thing didn’t happen to the school.
Woke up early, checked on my water. Nothing. As I was clearing off the car I asked the school nurse (who was doing the same) if she had any water. None. Another morning of getting ready at school. At school I asked my Kyoto-sensei if he had any water. None. Yappari, (as they say here (it means, “as I thought!”)). The entire apartment had no water. I think the entire water pipe to our apartment froze this time. Fantastic. This wouldn’t be that big of a problem… except that it’s Valentine’s Day and Aiko is suppose to come to my apartment where we were going to cook together. We’re also in the middle of a 3-day snowfall (blizzard just isn’t the right word for it). Stay tuned… updates are coming…
10:45 am.
Talked to the office workers at my school. They said it was probably a larger problem and that I shouldn’t worry about it because that means somebody is doing something to fix it. I had to wonder if that’s true… I wonder… I wah wah wah wah wonder….
12:40 pm.
Went to the apartment and back with several of the teachers. No water. I turned off the water to my apartment, because I’m pretty sure that’s what the Kyoto-sensei told me to do. Kassai-sensei told me that somebody should be coming this afternoon to fix it. But, when I asked him about it again to make sure I understood (this was all in Japanese), he replied that it would happen this afternoon “or sometime”. Sometime. Can you guess what I miss most about Canada today? Yeah, you’re right. It’s root beer. I’m not even kidding you. A glass of Barq’s would taste so good right now. I’ll keep you informed about my Valentine’s Day Crisis story as it develops.
1:20 pm.
Told Aiko about the situation. She responded that she’ll bring a bottle of water. What a trooper! Also, in case you’re wondering why I’m at my desk all day today giving updates, it’s because I have no classes today. It’s high school entrance exam day! Or, leave Warren at his desk to study Japanese day!
2:45 pm.
Well, the office handyman went up to the apartment and decided that either the water pump is broken or frozen. Fan-didly-astic. I’m suppose to meet Aiko at 4:15 in Furukawa. That means we’ll be back at my apartment around 5 (after picking up a few supplies at the grocery store).
3:00 pm.
School handyman returned again. The water is fixed! The pump is still broken. Kinda. It just doesn’t automatically refill the water basin thing at the top of the apartment anymore. So, all we have to do is push a button when the water stops working now. At some point someone will fix this. Crisis adverted. You can relax now too. You know, I’m never really sure about what will happen to me next in this country. Most likely, it will be another problem that somehow concerns me being able to shower first thing in the morning.
Feb. 15, 9:11 am.
Well, I had forgotten about that last sentence I wrote. So, I went home after school and the water worked. I drove down to Furukawa, picked up Aiko, returned and found the water not working. We then drove down to Valor, picked up 4 liters of water, and made due. She was okay with the lack of water at my house. Which really, just makes her awesome. She brought me chocolates, which is traditional in Japanese culture on Valentine’s Day. I knew that she had never dated a westerner before so I had gone all out with the gifts. A box of chocolates, a dozen roses (which were shockingly cheap! They don’t raise the prices of roses on Valentine’s Day here because most guys don’t give any to the girls!!) and a simple necklace (white gold and three small blue topaz stones) (that’s right, my Mother raised me right). I think it floored her. She continued to bring up the flowers and necklace in the conversation all night. Nice. Supper, however, was her plan. She brought white Hokkaido wine (sweet, like German wine), cheese, pizza sauce and the crusts and we had gone to the grocery store together to pick out the toppings (bacon, sausage, tobasco sauce, corn, green vegetable who’s name I can’t remember, mushrooms and tomatoes). So we made pizzas in my little toaster oven and she also made a little salad with the leftover toppings. The apartment was cold (even with the heater going) but the pizzas were delicious and the company was of the highest grade. I’ve got one more weekend with her until she leaves (on Tuesday). Ganbarimasu.
Oh yeah. And I had to shower at school again today. It’s starting to get a little old.
Thing I miss most about Canada today: Root beer.
Thing I love most about Japan today: How much slower gossip about me spreads than I thought! I thought everyone was always talking about me, but, I guess I’m less the center of attention than I suspected. I talked to a few teachers on Valentine’s Day about my plans and some still hadn’t heard about me dating Aiko. Sugei!
