Actually, fishing is mean

After school yesterday instead of waiting for the bus I started walking down the hill towards the water. This was a good change for a few reasons:

1) At 4:15 I am technically off work. Unfortunately, my bus does not come until 4:52, creating a bigger dilemma than one would imagine. After 4:15 they eventually tell me to leave, which leaves me standing by the bus stop still at around 4:30-4:45 when all the other teachers drive by in their cars as they leave work. They are for some reason obliged to pick me up and call the school to tell them I have missed my bus. I have tried everything from explaining in messed up Japanese to showing them the bus schedule to writing 4:52 all over the place, and just when I think they understand that the bus probably hadn’t come yet, the next day at school someone asks me, “Yesterday you miss bus. Why?” So yesterday instead of trying to hide in the bushes when the teachers drove by, I enjoyed a lovely walk down the hill along the ocean.

2) I wouldn’t walk the whole way home normally (it’s probably a 45min walk, not bad if I was wearing humane shoes and clothing) but I was meeting Mark to go fishing at the Urakuwa breakwater (yes Urakuwa means nothing to you, but one day I hope to make the first English map of Kamigoto, and then it will). Fishing is a nice change from coming home and wanting to pass out.

3) It was unbelievably beautiful. There are little cute fishing boats and a pedestrian bridge over the canals that go into the town. The sun was setting over the mountains on this side. Eastwards the water expands past the island remains that are scattered out towards the horizon. If you really stop and listen you can hear the water lapping and so many birds. The bugs and cars navigating the mountains noticeably get louder. A song plays in each town at 8am, Noon and 5pm and every now and then a chime goes off and then various incomprehensible announcements (sounds to me like a Japanese motherly porn star voice) bounces off the hills and the sky. Its hard to believe there are problems in the world when you are lying here. I felt like swimming so I did. The water was really warm on top and it was a rush just thinking about the incredible abundance of life below me. I can’t wait to start scuba diving here!

But after catching a few fish and trying to let them go, we realized fishing is mean. First you have to grab them to get the hook out. But they are slimy and freak out when you touch them so the hook rips their mouth halfway off when they start thrashing. That is, if you get the hook just on their lips. One fish got it up its mouth so it was hanging upside down and bloody goo was coming out of its eye. DAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. There has got to be a better way.