To the left is a self-styled "average housewife" who was in Tono as a volunteer. "In the morning I do two hours of Zazen meditation and then a little exercise." "Oh, you mean a half hour or so?" "Well, about six hours. Then I cook lunch." (Why do I always feel like the bar is raised higher here in Japan?)
Next to her is a nurse from Florida (who is a native Japanese). "I didn't know what to do with my life, so I decided to become an R.N. in the States." "But wasn't it difficult to read all those medical textbooks in English?" "Yeah, it was a little difficult."
Below, more "totally average people", a mountain climber and a nursing home worker, both probably in their sixties, who dashed to northern Japan to the rescue. That night the nursing home worker awakened all fifty-or-so women voluteers (including me), who were sleeping in one room, by screaming in her sleep. According to her testimony the next morning, after sorting diapers in the warehouse (where disaster victims can come for supplies) all day, she dreamed she was being attacked by a giant diaper monster. Just try and visualize that!
Agh! Giant Diaper Monster! That's one way for your subconscious to process the experience, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteAlso...six hours is a little exercise? Did she say what kind of exercise? Is she an average housewife bodybuilder or ultra-marathoner?
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