We had another large group volunteering on Saturday. On the foreign volunteer side, there was myself and a wonderful relaxed couple now living in Tokyo who came to participate with us Friday through Sunday.
When we got to the volunteer center leader Futo-san told us that we were going to split up into two groups: one group was going to be cleaning a house with a big water gun, and the other was going to cut grass and pick up rubble. Richard, Debra (the couple) and I were all set to be part of the cutting grass/rubble picking up team when Futo-san ran up suddenly and said "The volunteer center needs more people for another job, so we're going to split you three off."
!!!
You mean you're going to leave me ALONE?
Aw, but it was just fine. HANDS: Team Foreign was assigned to work with three nice young men from various places who had registered to volunteer as individuals. Our mission was to move various hair salon equipment, like those heavy chairs and mirrors, to a storage facility. One hair salon owner was closing her shop, and wanted to give all the equipment she could to another friend who was going to open up a business in December. The explanation sheet for the job looked intriguing. "You will move chairs, mirrors, etcetera" it said.
Hmmm. Is etcetera heavy?
When we got there, it turned out that along with the chairs and mirrors, the shop owners wanted us to take some shelves as well. Unfortunately, the shelves were very, very firmly bolted to the wall to be earthquake-proof, so they wouldn't fall over. The team poked around the shelves for a while. The Japanese conversation didn't sound very hopeful: they weren't sure if it was possible to take off the shelves without damaging them, so maybe it was best to just leave it alone and take the things we could carry easily. The English conversation going around at the same time was Debra and Richard discussing exactly how the shelves were bolted to the wall and strategies about how to find out.
We loaded some of the chairs and mirrors into one of the vans and two of the men drove off to onload them at the storage center. While we were waiting, Richard and Debra got ahold of the crowbars and, after we got permission from the shop owners, started to carefully pry at one of the shelves.
I've never understood crowbars. If you want me to be as useless as possible, give me a crowbar and tell me to pry at something with it. You might as well be telling me to pry at something with a wet noodle. This is how useless I am. But Debra and Richard were pros. They had all kinds of prying/wiggling/lifting/jiggling strategies that they employed, all the while having a pretty lively discussion about exactly in what way the shelves were bolted to the wall. (Pics forthcoming.) The rest of our team came back to find that Debra and Richard had pried off one of the shelves perfectly, with no damage, and were starting on another.
This made me and continues to make me really really smug about HANDS: Team Foreign. Essentially all I did the whole day was stand around looking really smug watching Debra and Richard pry at shelves, occasionally helping to move a chair or translate something.
All in all, I felt, a very successful day.
Other projects for November and December are in the works, lots of leads to a lot of different things. Specialists in childhood trauma maybe coming to Iwate the end of this month, groups of 20 volunteers from India, Christmas parties for children, a call for donations for Christmas candy, an NPO ally in Toono who are also taking foreign volunteers. There's a group of college students coming next weekend, and a really big group of Iwate foreigners on the national holiday on the 23rd. I need to send a volunteer translation sheet to this great guy from Holland who's staying in Kamaishi and volunteering as an individual, with minimal Japanese, but can't enter his ridiculously long scribbled email address correctly.
It's all very exciting and nervewracking. These months are also going to fall under the category of "hard, but cool."
Cool post.
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