Spring has sprung

***sorry for the delay, life has been busy. I wrote this a week ago but I haven't had time to post it. All time refrences are as of a week ago. I know this is a little long, but trust me this is the shortened version**

It’s an amazing transformation that wakes the world. The blankets of snow have been gone for some time, but lately the temperature has started to be consistently warmer. The energy of spring is radiating through everything here. Change is in the air, at the schools, in the trees and plants, and in the life.

A little over a week ago I had a very strange moment upon entering my house. In the winter my house smells…cold. The kitchen usually smells like food, and the living room like incense. But that night, I walked in my house and smelled something that I hadn’t even noticed had been missing. The smell of tatami. In the warm months it’s the prevalent smell in the house. In summer it is crisp, but in fall it was a musty scent. Spring has the musty tones to it, but it also smells fresh. It was a neat moment to realize that I had been missing that smell. That was one of the fist indications of spring in Nakano.

Unlike most North American schools, Japanese schools begin their school year in April. There is a short break between the end of the previous year and the new one. Once the new year starts there are many changes around the school. Two of the English teachers left, and we have a new one. Kawamura-sensei is a pretty cool guy. He’s 23, this is his first full on teaching gig, and he plays in a band. He’s all about playing guitar and singing in class. The other day I caught the kids singing one of the songs by themselves.

Speaking of the students, there is an entire new group of students. It’s strange though. Each grade has a different coloured track suit, but apparently they keep the same colour as they progress in grades. It’s just quite strange to see what had been the old 3^rd grade colour on the new 1^st year students. We have a lot of really good new and returning kids at Kousha, so it should be a good year.

The school yard at Kousha is changing too. The metres of snow have melted and the school grounds have re-emerged. The grass is getting greener with every rain fall. Perhaps the most beautiful thing is the Cherry Blossom trees.

Cherry Blossoms are called Sakura in Japan, and both their beauty and the fleetingness there of, are celebrated by all. The trees at my school were in full bloom the other day. It was a spectacular sight to behold these giant Sakura trees, a swaying sea of white and pink. Even more spectacular was when they started to fall. The school grounds were blanketed in white once again, but this time with a tint of pink. The air was also full of petals, caught on the breeze and swirling around the schools garden. Perhaps the most beautiful time of all is now, as the petals are being washed away. The Sakura burst into life, the first splotch of colour on the spring canvas. Then they scatter and disappear. The first herald of life awakening.

My yard is changing as well. As my garden emerged from the weight of the snow, I regretfully found that most of my plants didn’t fare very well. I should have copied my neighbours and build wooden tee-pees around them before the snows came. On a brighter note, the growing sea of weeds (that passes for my lawn) was the stage for a beautiful sight. Red and yellow tulips popped out of nowhere and have brought a beautiful look to my yard. Both Brandon and I were shocked to see them. I never knew they were there, and Brandon swears he never saw them last year. I am sure he just never noticed. Either way, their arrival is a welcome bit of new life to my yard.

The air itself is beginning to transform as well. When the skies cleared up in winter, the air was clear and crisp. Lately there has been haze in the air. Not quite a fog, just a haze. I think it’s being caused by moisture from the wet earth starting to evaporate. That combined with all the plants starting to kick into gear. I termed it the “breath of the land.” Then again, it could be more of that damn sand from China.

And then I guess there’s my leg. My cast came off quite quickly. I have been free of it for a month. The crutches went away a little more slowly, as I wasn’t supposed to put much weight on my leg. I still had two for most of the time that my mom and sister were here. I had one for a week. Then it was time to go with out them (which to be honest I was already doing around my house a bit.) Now it has been about two weeks with out them. My leg is surprisingly well. I can walk around without my brace on, and I am even supposed to be running lightly with the brace on. All in all it’s going pretty smoothly.

Another change with my leg is the treatment. One of my English night class students got me an in with this hospital one town over. The building was renovated four months ago, but what the real draw is the joint specialist doctor guy. The lady from my class had her wrist operated on by him and said he did a fabulous job. He is also supposedly quite renowned, and he even has some foreign doctor training under him. On the up and up, they both speak English. They pulled…well sucked, 12cc of ‘joint fluid’ out of my knee the other day. Then they shot in some medicine. It was kinda cool, but it hurt a lot. That being said, the swelling has gone down considerably.

Best thing of all: new joint specialist doctor guy did some tests of my knee stability, and he says I don’t need surgery. He says we’ll take a conservative approach in the rehab and that it should be fine. Sweet.