Deconstructing Nakatsu High School

The folks at Nakatsu High are planning to build two new buildings over the next couple years, so they brought in a demolition crew in December to destroy the first of the the 50-year old school buildings. We had already completely emptied out the school building and moved to a temporary one in August, but it wasn't until December that they finally brought in the big machines and got to work. I was taken aback by how rapid it was. They spent what seemed like weeks building scaffolding around it and carefully removing panes of glass, etc, then one day I looked out the window of my own classroom in the adjoining building and saw poking out above the tarp what appeared to be a gigantic dinosaur eating the school. That's all I can really describe it as. The machines had these huge jaw-like attachments fitted to them, and they were insanely powerful. I watched as they would position them around a thick concrete pillar, and once they put the pressure on, the concrete would just explode under the pressure. It was really impressive. To watch it, I sat on the top of an adjoining building with some senior students and watched as these crazy machines ate the school bit by bit. It was hard to imagine that under all that rubble was where my first desk was, and where I had had so many experiences. They seem a little more fleeting, now that the building is gone. Now there is only a big dirt field. But as they say, the only constant is change.