This weekend I played in a 7’s rugby tournament at Nago Senior High school. One of my teachers (who is leaving) is a member of a men’s rugby club in Nago and invited me to come and play for them. So I did and it was lots of fun, despite raining constantly and heavily throughout the morning and afternoon. My team got to the semi-finals which was pretty good I reckon. The final ended up being between Nago HS A and B teams; they are the number one or two school for rugby in Okinawa I think. For some unknown reason the tournament took place on a pitch which was not covered in grass but instead was sand! Not fine soft sand either, hard gritty stuff! It was about the most abrasive playing surface I could imagine, everyone had big grazes on their legs and arms by the time we were done. My left knee is going to have a quite impressive scab! Anyway it was fun. Got some bad news today, Teru (my best buddy on Izena) won’t have a job after the end of this week and will probably have to go to Okinawa honto to try and find a job. Jobs are few and far between on Izena it seems, he also said they were pretty scarce on Okinawa honto too. I hope he magically finds one on Izena! To make things worse Koshin has also gone to stay with family on Okinawa honto (for personal reasons) and Nagi also will also have to go to Okinawa honto to try and find a job. So that’s my three best friends on Izena gone or going! Bummer, and all this after they managed to convince the BOE to let a particular female teacher they liked to stay another year. My predecessor did say people came and went on Izena but still, I will miss them, although I am still hoping they will find some job on Izena. There have also been budget cuts to the education system here in Okinawa and some teachers are loosing their jobs, it seems not all is well with Okinawa/Japan plc.