Sept. 28-30

Another bench for "the lady across the street"- Mrs. Kanno.

Mrs. Oda and her neighbor try out my first-ever "double deck".

I keep meaning to write about life in Ajigasawa as well, but it never seems to happen. I am back in Iwate for a few days, doing some promised work.
Since I was here last, there was a cold spell. It looks like the temporary housing is not going to be very good in cold weather. I hope all the relief agencies are on the ball, preparing cold weather stuff for the weeks ahead.
As for me, I was building decks and benches today.
This morning early, I made a second bench for Mrs. Konno, the lady across from the Ofunato Baptist Church. She wanted to have more capacity to invite passing volunteers into her yard for tea. I also made a new top for the table she had been using; a cast aluminum base with a plastic tray balanced on top (both scrounged from the flotsam around her place). The base now has a new wooden top; I'm not sure what the fate of the plastic tray will be.
The next stop was a new place, Ikawa Kouen (park), not too far away from the place I was at the last time. Mrs. Oda, a young mother, wanted her deck to stretch across to her next-door neighbor's place. The neighbor is a young mom, too; I guess they will do some trading of babysitting. Anyway, it took time to work out the modified plans and get it done. As you can see from the photo, it was late afternoon by the time I finished. I was worried about another contact at the Ikawa Elementary school, as I had promided to see them today as well. After a brief consultation about closing in the porches at Ikawa Kouen for 3 people, I finally headed for the elementary school. The whole playground is covered with temporary housing- as are most of the school playgrounds on the coast. I had made a second bench in the morning for this place, and ended up with orders for 3 more.
There are two more new places to visit this time, and I came up with yet another. It came about in a strange way. I had stopped in a convienience store to get a toothbrush (I always forget something), and inadvertantly let out a big sigh as the cashier rang it up. He was very sympathetic, and asked what I had been doing to get so tired out.
When I told him, he immediately asked me to make a deck for one of his relatives! Which I did. It needed to be yet another innovation, as this place, Undou Kouen ("Sports Park") has windows instead of sliding doors in the back walls of the units. I ended up making a low floor with a single bar on front to dry bedding. I wasn't very impressed, but 2 other residents were, so- two more orders.
The Sports Park and the elementary school are both much bigger than the places I have been so far; 300 units, compared to a dozen or so in each of the 3 other places. In both of these large projects gangs of carpenters (where did they all come from?) were busy building acess ramps for handicapped residents. I also saw a lot of benches that were provided by an NPO. All of them were brightly painted, as that was the condition under which they were given- the recipiants had to decorate them.
Tomorrow looks like another busy day. I have 2 more new places to visit, and some unfinished business in the previous ones.
It's not over yet....