It’s HAWT!

The temperature climbs to about 35 degrees Celsius daily and I have become addicted to air-conditioning, a concept I normally hate.

I walked in the door about half an hour ago, exchanging the wretched and buggy humidity outside, for a hot and stuffy apartment. I stripped down, cranked the air, doused myself in cold water and downed several glasses of ice cold water (I normally avoid cold drinks along with air con.)

Giant and LOUD insects are taking over the city and I’m renewing my commitment to freeze my garbage to keep the toasty apartment from stinking up while I’m working at school.

Speaking of which, there is air conditioning in the staffroom, but that’s basically it. The fans are cranked and the widows are opened wide in the hopes of generating a little breeze. But then, there’s the giant insect issue again as the indoors and outdoors merge. Only, the students are less than eager to share their classrooms and lessons are suspended while bees, and even butterflies, find their way out.

Tuesday and Wednesday are sports days at school. The students will be exerting themselves in this unbearable heat.

Oh, and it gets hotter. Last year, the region of Gunma, Japan that I call home hit about 46 degrees. It was the hottest place in Japan – hotter even, than the southern prefecture of Okinawa.

This year, I have the advantage of warming up with the weather. Maybe it’s a little less of a shock to the system this way. Maybe.

But you know, the one consolation I have is that I’m not alone in my suffering. Even people here from hot countries like Trinidad and South Africa admit that the heat here is pretty intense. So there! See, it has nothing to do with me being Canadian, even if my students are shocked to learn that we get warm temperatures in the double digits. Now, where is that ice pillow…?