clothing, laundry detergent, soap, diapers, adult diapers, toilet paper, heat pads, laundry softener, even calendars. We also handed out tonjiru (a kind of pork soup?) and made mochi.
Distributing goods is difficult. Everyone needs these items, and it`s not always easy to get them, so they`re polite, but everyone has to take what they can quickly. There were a lot of rapid fire questions about what a certain item was or how many they were allowed to take, which is a little difficult to answer quickly in another language. I got the hang of it, kind of, though.
(If you are looking at this blog and considering volunteering without Japanese language skill: don`t worry. We make adjustments for people who can`t speak Japanese.)
The toilet paper disappeared very quickly. So did the diapers and the detergent. In fact, most everything went except some of the clothing, a few of the heat patches, the calendars, and some junky-looking necklaces.
I assumed that the coast would be warmer than inland and had underdressed a bit. I mean, it is warmer on the coast, but the temporary housing unit was in a windy area, and the windchill made it feel colder. One of the other regular volunteers took a coat from the donated clothing and tried to give it to me.
I said, "No, no, someone will use it." But then he pointed out that it was stained, and nobody would be able to use it anyway. I thought about this for a second, and then accepted the coat.
Thank you, person who donated their dirty coat.
I think it`s great to donate items to people who need them, but for the record: don`t donate a dirty coat! It`s like somebody thinks donating is better than throwing the coat away, and besides, the poor people on the coast will take anything they can get. From that logic, it`s OK to take a bite out of a hamburger and feed it to a homeless person. "Well, it wouldn`t be OK for me, but it is OK for you, because you are a poor person."
I think perhaps that reasoning is suspect!
Like, if you wouldn`t wear the dirty coat, don`t expect someone else less fortunate than you to wear the dirty coat because you don`t think they have any other options. Donate a clean one, or better yet: buy a new coat!
Give the dirty coat to the volunteer instead. :D We like dirty coats.
So, got a new dirty coat which shall become my special winter volunteer coat. Then, we made mochi. Of course they eventually decided that the random foreign volunteer needed to help swing the large mochi hammer thingy to make mochi. I obliged, reluctantly. After a little bit, I thought, this isn`t so bad, I`m really starting to get the hang of this, looks like this mochi will get made without any mishaps, but then...
!!!!
OH NO
You have got to be KIDDING!
I had DESTROYED the mochi hammer thing! There was to be NO MORE MOCHI because I had destroyed the mochi hammer thing. I think the gentleman in this picture is actually the head of Kamaishi volunteer center, holding one piece of what USED to be a mochi hammer thing, probably thinking "remind me why we take foreign volunteers again!"
Well, actually, there was a spare mochi hammer thing (?? Because everybody`s got a mochi hammer lying around in their truck bed? Where did it come from?) and fortunately, I did not destroy it.
Tomorrow`s a Christmas party for some kids in Kamaishi, nervous but we`ve got some really great volunteers for the event. Then back to the States for two weeks. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.
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