Kuniko and I woke up around seven in the morning, and we were both ready to get to work studying. I got up and turned on the hot water for shower, and while we were waiting for it to heat up, we ended up falling asleep. I woke up a few minutes later, ran in and turned it off, and the next thing I knew it was eleven in the morning.

We finally got out of bed and we hit the shower. Afterwards we made a quick visit to Ito Yokado, and we bought some roast beef to make a couple of sandwiches. Back home I made up some sandwiches, and then we went out to take a walk and enjoy the beautiful weather. It was gorgeous today, and we walked through the park on the southern coast of the inland sea. The cherry trees are losing their cherry blossoms gradually, and we got to walk under trees with petals drifiting through the air on the wind. It was a really nice moment for me – one that I’ll remember for a long time.

We walked back to my place, and did some studying together. Kuniko is listening to English lessons that she records from NHK radio. I was working on Japanese vocabulary, and we worked during through the afternoon with all the windows and doors open to let the breeze and warm air come through my apartment.

Finally around 5 p.m. Kuniko had to head back to her house, so I said goodbye to her out in front of my apartment, and then I went inside to study some more.

Before I knew it I was hungry again, so I decided to go get sushi over at the restaurant close to my place. The last time I was there the locals bought my dinner, so I have no idea what the prices are like at this place. I had a wallet full of money, so I figured it was a good time to find out.

I went inside and there was already a crowd of people in there. I took the last chair at the bar, and everyone was buzzing with the idea that there was a foreigner in the place. The master of the sushi place always has a funny reaction to me being there – kind of like he’s waiting for the punchline of some joke that someone is playing on him.

I sat and ordered up some sushi and sake. Before that the master laid out some food for me, and so I ate some of the mysterious food with the older guy next to me speaking incomprehensible Japanese in my ear. It was some kind of cooked fish suspended in a gelatinous material, served cold on a platter. The flavor was OK, not too fishy, but definitely not my favorite.

Somebody next to me said that I should talk to another one of the customers, and before I knew we were switching seats and I was introduced to Iku-san, a middle aged woman who works for a computer company in Osaka, takes weekly English lessons at a local school, and spent a few months living in Sacramento, California. At first she said that her English was terrible, but of course by the time we started talking she was extremely fluent, and she did a great job. Unfortunately for me I had no chance to practice my Japanese tonight.

Everybody watched me carefully – “Oh, he can use chopsticks!”, “Oh, foreigners can eat octopus!”, etc. There was a lot of food, and I really ate my fill. Which reminds me…

Sushi restaurants in Japan can be pretty daunting. First, there is rarely a menu – you ask what the master has, and what he recommends. Also, at most places I’ve been to there is no price list. At the end, you just find out how much you owe, and then you pay it. This evening, I ordered a few pieces of sushi, but other sushi appeared at my place without me having ordered it. It was like the master was keeping me in food, and if I ran out, he would have some kind of fish in front of me. It was hard to explain, and I asked Iku-san about it. She said that it was just best to bring lots of money when you go to a sushi bar. It’s hard for a foreigner like me to get used to.

At the end I called for the check, and for the second time in a row I found out that the meal was being paid for by one of the other customers. At first I refused, and then said that they were being too nice, and then finally I relented and gave lots of thanks and promises to pay next time. If I ever see these guys again, I’m going to go broke!

This week should be interesting – it’ll be my first full load of classes. I’ll get to meet the first years in my classroom for the first time, and at the end of the week we’ll have the welcome party for the new teachers in Himeji. It should be a lot of fun.

I spent most of the day cleaning up the house and listening to Japanese CDs – focusing on listening. Even listening to passages where I knew all of the vocabulary I would sometimes have trouble. Getting the pronunciations and accents down is a tough part of learning any language. Japanese has fairly easy pronunciation, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t lots of ways to say the same words.

Late in the afternoon Kuniko came over, and together we took the train to the Arai station, just west of Takasago. From there we walked to a local izakaya, and met a large group of Takasago Minami teachers.

The party was organized by Ohara sensei, a part time PE teacher that is currently unemployed. I said hello to him a couple of times when he was at my school, but he didn’t really show much interest in talking to me then. He was much nicer today. There were lots of other teachers though, and we all had a good time drinking, eating, and talking.

People got up to speed about Kuniko and I, and I drank lots of beer and sho-chu. We talked to some of the new teachers, and the best part in my opinion was when the old teachers warned the new math teacher, Watanabe sensei, about the history teacher. It was really interesting to see a lineup of four previous teachers all tell Watanabe sensei that the history teacher pursued them mercilessly. Watanabe sensei took the advice to heart, and I fear that the history teacher will encounter a little more resistance the next time he tries to make a move.

By the end of the night I was pretty drunk, but still managed to get home safely, thanks to Kuniko. We headed back and crashed right out – it’s hard work drinking and eating so much.

This morning I came in to work enjoying some warmer weather and sunshine. Our students are back into a normal routine, except for the first years, who still are doing orientations. Monday will be their first normal day at school, and my first class with them.

Today I had just one class in the morning with Mr. Hayashi. It is another English proficiency preparation class, and it was full of third year girls that love to joke around with Mr. Hayashi. They sat right up front in front of us, and enjoyed the chance to joke and flirt with him, and Mr. Hayashi also enjoyed the chance. We did manage to do a class, but I can tell over the entire year that this will be one of those classes where I wait patiently at the side of the classroom with most of the other students while Mr. Hayashi chats with just a couple of students.

After class I went in to get a chest X-ray with all the other teachers and students. It’s a mandatory procedure in the public school system, and I’m happy to have it done. The vice principal seemed a little worried that I might freak out, but hey, it doesn’t cost me anything and it’s good to know that everything in there is going OK.

At lunchtime I walked over to the local Seiyu mall and there was a new restaurant there – a Danish hot dog place. I don’t know much about Danish hot dogs, but there was a Danish guy working there, and he told me all about his trials and ordeals living in Japan. While he was toasting the hot dog buns he told me the story, bringing his face close to mine when emphasizing a point. He had wet, glassy eyes, and I kept thinking that I wouldn’t likely trust this guy outside of buying a hot dog from him. He showed me a picture of his old restaurant that he had built from scratch somewhere north of here, with authentic Danish architecture. The whole meal was slightly depressing, but I promised to eat a hot dog in front of all the teachers in the staffroom, so let’s hope that helps business a bit.

Once school ended I came home and met Kuniko in the early evening. We ate at the local Korean restaurant chain inside Ito Yokado, and then came back to my place to catch up on each other’s week. It sounds like her new school is keeping her busy, but she’s not working as many hours as her old school, so at least that is a relief.

We’re going to meet up again on Saturday for a drinking party with some Takasago Minami and ex-Takasago Minami teachers, so that should be a good time. I’ll get a chance to hang out with some of the younger teachers – which is a rare thing for me. I’ve been stuck in the older teacher crowd for a while. I’m trying to branch out a little and spend time with some other people… it’s a good way to spread the international vibe, too.

I showed up for work today despite not having any classes – usually I’d have first year classes, but they are all tied up in orientations, so I was free to study at will. I hit the books hard, and have just a slight headache to show for it.

Ms. Miyake made an appearance at our school, and this year she’ll be sitting pretty close to me, so we are going to try to work on her English a bit more this year. Mr. Hayashi is going to be super-busy with his new job, so it might be up to me to help out with her English lessons. No problem, though… I really enjoy working with Ms. Miyake. Today we talked about one of our former students, and also planned the next lesson that we’ll teach together.

In the afternoon they had a presentation to the first year students in an attempt to get them to join various clubs. Mr. Hayashi had said that he had things under control, so Matsubara sensei and I didn’t have to worry about anything. I thought I’d go over to see what he had planned.

When I got there, two ESS students pulled me aside and asked me what they should do – one had a short speech written. I offered to go up there with them, so we sat around and waited until it was our club’s turn. Another ESS student came by and asked us what we were doing, and it turned out that Mr. Hayashi had given her a speech to read. I looked it over and it was pretty lean. We combined it with our speech, and all four of us went up and made an improptu presentation.

After school we had our first ESS meeting of the new year, but we had only two students show up. Matsubara sensei came to see what the club was like, and I was a little embarrassed to say that there were only two people. Anyway, they introduced themselves to Matsubara sensei and we chatted in a combination of English and Japanese. We’ve got some upcoming projects to work on – the culture festival is coming up, after all. Hopefully we’ll have a bigger turnout next time. Also, no sign of any new students that want to sign up. That’s bad news.

After ESS I went over to Tsuji-san’s place to have some conversations in Japanese. I talked for an hour in Japanese to varying degrees of success. Speaking Japanese is by far my weakest point – I can read fairly well, and I can do translations pretty well too, as long as it’s Japanese to English. Speaking and listening can use the most help. I’m hoping to focus a little more on these two things in the upcoming months.

Finally I got home around seven, and made a little ramen for dinner with some leftover beef from taco night – it turned out pretty good, better than I expected. I was still hoping to work on my Japanese, so I went down to the yakitori for some hot sake and some conversation. I bumped into a couple of regulars there and talked about all kinds of things with them. They are a lot less strict than Tsuji-san, but they let me know when I screw up, so it served its purpose.

Tomorrow is Friday and then it’ll be the weekend. Next week should be a lot more exciting, since I’ll get to meet the first year students for the first time!

I had my first two classes since vacation ended today, and they both went pretty well. The first was with the new English teacher, Matsubara sensei. She was understandably pretty nervous about teaching in front of some new students, and using English the whole time. She did a good job, though, and I think the lesson turned out great. The students in the class were taking it as an elective, so they were really into English. There were four boys, and the other 25 members were girls. I don’t know what that means, but it was like an all-star class of my favorite students from last year. I really enjoyed the group, and after they get used to me and the new teacher, we’ll have some fun in there.

My next class was with Mr. Hayashi teaching the third year English Proficiency preparation class. Mr. Hayashi had some ideas on how to teach the class, and so we tried some of them out, and they went pretty well. I think the class will get bored with it quickly, though, so hopefully we can spice things up later.

Tonight I turned on the TV and watched part of the Hanshin Tigers game. It’s the first time I’ve really sat down and watched TV since Kuniko moved her TV over here. It was fun to crack open a beer and watch baseball on TV.

Tomorrow should be another easy day – no classes for me. Hopefully we can get the ESS gang together and introduce the new teacher. I’ll go over and have a lesson with Tsuji-san, and then I’ll be getting ready for the weekend. Can’t wait!

Once again I went to school with no classes to teach. This week the first year students are doing orientations and trips, and my second and third year classes don’t kick in until midweek.

I took advantage of the quiet to hit the books hard, and after 8 solid hours of studying my brain was a little fried. That’s the perfect time to go home and do taxes!

First things first – I re-heated some taco leftovers from the other night and enjoyed the sound of the light rain outside hitting the bike shelter roof. I did a load of laundry, had a big glass of iced tea, and then I was mentally prepared to jump in.

I’ve been using Turbotax on the web for the last five years or so, and it has been reasonably easy to use, except for last year, because I moved to Japan right in the middle of the tax year. This year it was much more simple, and I was able to wade through it in about an hour.

There were some hitches of course, and I had to iron out some things on the fly. A couple of questions that the program asked me were pretty rough – “If you don’t want to claim a negative tax credit uncheck the box below” and other financial nonsense that would no doubt save me thousands of dollars in taxes if I had to pay any.

In the end I don’t owe anybody anything, that is, except for Turbotax. They have a free option that you can do, but they won’t import your old information. I figured it was worth the money to have some extra time and sanity this evening.

Have I said how crazy I am about Kuniko? After last night’s walk around Akashi it was really tough to send her home to her parents, and tonight I’m listening to some mellow music, drinking hot cocoa, and wishing she was around to chat with. I thought that I’d be savoring these times before we live together as my last pieces of bachelorhood, but instead I’m looking around my big dark apartment and wishing she was here with me studying, watching TV, or joking around.

Tomorrow I have two classes, and that will be my busiest day of the week. I’m looking forward to getting in front of some students and chatting with them again.

Today was a special day for us since all the teachers that had been transferred to other schools came back today to make some short speeches to us and much longer ones to the students they are leaving behind. It was also interesting because they all left before I announced our wedding plans at school, so there was another group of shocked people today.

Mr. Hayashi got to them before I could, which I guess really didn’t surprise me. Mr. Komuri was really happy for me – he had a great reaction. Yoshizumi sensei also was really happy, and Terano sensei was absolutely stunned – she couldn’t stop laughing.

My change in status from “single and potentially gay” to “engaged” has made a big difference around the office among younger female teachers. I’ve found that they will stop by and talk to me more, and today the new math teacher brought in some pudding that she made at home for me to eat. I told Kuniko about this and she laughed – now I’m off the market and considered “safe” to hang out with.

While eating pudding with Watanabe sensei I was hanging out in the guidance room. Mr. Hayashi is a guidance teacher this year, and they’ve got him working hard. I’d wager that it’s as hard as he’s ever had to work at our school. He was complaining today that guidance teachers are required to wear ties, because they are in frequent contact with companies that we are trying to convince to hire our graduates. I wish I could say that I feel bad for him, but he’s had it easy for a long time – at least since I’ve been here. I know that other teachers resent his early hours and very non-Japanese attitude about work. I think probably somebody has noticed and taken action.

I left at five o’clock today and met Kuniko in Akashi on her way home from work. We got a couple of hot coffees at Starbucks and walked through Akashi park to enjoy the cherry blossoms. This year it’s a short season for the cherry blossoms, and they’ll likely be gone by next weekend. Last year we did the same walk and again it was really nice.

We walked through the park, every so often passing blue tarps covered with people drinking heavily. It was fairly windy and a little cold, though – we kept moving and ended up walking through town looking for a good ramen restaurant. We found one near the train station and had some delicious ramen, and some gyoza on the side.

After that we went to the bookstore to browse around, and Kuniko bought “The DaVinci Code” in English to read. Finally we said our goodbyes at the Akashi gate, and we went back our separate ways. Now I’m home typing up this journal and getting ready for an early bedtime. Tomorrow I’m going to work a little on my taxes – being overseas affords me an automatic two month extension, and luckily I don’t have to pay American taxes on money I make here in Japan. Lucky, lucky!

The master had invited Kuniko and I to take part in the annual volleyball and hanami party. They had rented out some time at the local sports center, and so we all went over there to play some volleyball.

It is well-documented that I suck at sports, and the only good thing about playing volleyball is that I’m a little taller than average. I jumped around, batted at a few balls, and managed not to hurt myself. Kuniko was the smart one and didn’t play at all. She spent her time with some of the kids, trying to keep tabs on them and having long interesting conversations in Japanese.

By the time we finished playing at 11 o’clock, I was pretty tired. From there we went over to the yakitori, and had an indoor hanami party. Some of the group had some wicked hay fever problems, so being inside was supposed to help that out.

It was a big group of around 30 people, and because the beers were just starting to pour, it was a quiet group. We ate from a couple of big plates of Chinese food, had a couple of beers, and then Kuniko and I took off a little early. All this partying had taken it’s toll. We went back and spent the afternoon taking a nap, doing some lesson planning, and snacking on some of the foods that everyone had brought over. I’m sure the party is still going on over at the yakitori.

Kuniko headed back to her parent’s house after spending the better part of the last three days with me. I’m guessing that her parents would probably like to see a little more of her, so I’ve got to remember to share.

This evening Kuniko and I hosted a small get-together at my place for Yuri and Antoine. Yuri brought a friend of hers, Madoka, and Antoine brought his girlfriend Miwako. Since the weather has been warming up, I thought it would be great to throw some steaks on the BBQ and just hang out.

Of course, my BBQ is small… tiny, actually. I was able to cook the steaks two at a time, and then I did a package of bratwurst sausages. Kuniko brought some delicious salads on her way back from work, and everything turned out great. We had lots of food – there was leftover guacamole from the night before, chips, salsa, sauteed mushrooms and garlic, fresh spring rolls, and ice cream for dessert, thanks to Antoine and Miwako.

We spent the evening chatting and talking about all kinds of things. Miwako and Antoine are dealing with their cultural and language barriers, which seem to become bigger after the initial excitement of a new relationship. They are doing well, but Kuniko and Miwako exchanged email addresses, and I hope that maybe Kuniko can lend some good advice on having a relationship with a foreigner. We’re very different from just about everyone else here, so it does take some getting used to.

I opened up a bottle of wine from our recent trip – a bottle of Kunde that went well with the steak and sausage. The cameras came out and everyone was taking pictures. I’m hoping that I can convince some people to send me some.

Finally around 11 the party broke up and people went home. I fear that Antoine and Miwako might have had to take a taxi home from the train station – it was pretty late for the last train to Takarazuka.

Today was the first day back to school for our students, but there were not actually any classes. In fact, I didn’t have much to do but study and pose for a picture at the end of the day. I did get my schedule, and I spent some time trying to figure out what it really meant.

Last year when I got my schedule I had 11 classes listed, but two weeks later they had given me 7 more classes, so I taught 18 classes over the next year. That’s more than some other teachers had, and I’ll admit that it was challenging, but fun.

This year I had 13 classes listed on my schedule, but now I’m smarter and I walked around trying to figure out what else I’m going to be teaching. Mr. Hayashi added two classes to my schedule, not because I’m supposed to teach them, just because he wants somebody to help kill time when he’s in up in front of the students. He has a really laid back style teaching, just chatting with a few students up front and letting everyone else be bored and chat. Then he’ll tell me afterwards that the kids aren’t smart enough to understand what he has to teach anyway. Seems like the wrong approach for me.

Anyway, I told him that I hoped that my time in those classes could be used a little more effectively this year, and how I felt about last year’s standing around while he chatted up students. In a classic Hayashi response, he told me that he knows how frustrating it can be teaching kids that don’t want to learn, and he understands how I could be reluctant. Lost in translation, I guess.

I found out that I’ll be teaching a class with the new teacher, Matsubara sensei. She seemed surprised to find that she’d be teaching with me, and was at a loss for any kind of lesson plan or even curriculum. Our first class is Wednesday next week.

Finally Mr. Oshita and I have a class together, but he told me that he wouldn’t be requiring my services, so I don’t have to come to the class for the next year.

All of this seems pretty late in the game to be finding out, but this happened last year and it seems par for the course for my situation. I really worried about it a lot last year, but I’m taking a more practical approach this time, thinking about lesson ideas and getting a lot of stuff ready, just in case.

The school today had the opening ceremony and also the school entrance ceremony, which is just like the graduation only backwards. The new students come in with their homeroom teachers, sit down, listen to speech after speech, stand up, sit down, lots of bowing, and then file out again as official members of our school.

My highlight was the PTA representative, who gave the students a little grief for being so quiet when acknowledging their names as they were called out. Usually they say just “Hai!”, but he wanted something a little more robust from them. I’m glad that I was able to understand what he said – it was funny to hear the comments and it made me wonder how many other funny things I’ve missed in the past.

After school I went home and started making some guacamole and preparing tacos. I had invited the Kageyama’s to come over for dinner, and I decided to serve up tacos, which strangely has become my signature dish in Japan.

Kuniko arrived first directly from her new job in Kobe. She told me all about her day, and I really enjoyed having her there to help cook up dinner. Soon the doorbell rang, and Kuniko went to greet her parents.

Except, it wasn’t her parents. It was the apartment manager, who wanted to talk with me about paying my community management fees. Kuniko said she looked really surprised to see a Japanese girl opening my door, but she asked for me and we had a nice chat out on the landing. She also gave me some omiyage from her recent trip to Kyushu, so there’s more snacks to eat around here.

Finally Kuniko’s folks showed up with Kuniko’s washer and refrigerator, that were taking up lots of space at her parent’s house. We unloaded them and took them up to my spare room, and sooner or later I’ll rotate out my old things and put in her new things.

Dinner went really well. We sat around and I had everyone trying tacos and quesadillas. Kuniko was a big help translating, and I think slowly I’m getting more comfortable being around her folks. The language barrier is tough, but they are really understanding, even though I’m probably making lots of mistakes.

Kuniko’s mom had brought some homegrown shitake mushrooms, some waffle cake, and some beautiful flowers for the apartment. We had some of the waffle cakes for dessert, and then the Kageyama’s left for home. Kuniko and I organized some leftovers and then we walked out to Carrefour on the way to the train station to buy some supplies for the BBQ on Saturday night.

I was exhausted when I got home late that evening, so it’ll be really nice to sleep in on Saturday. Poor Kuniko has to work this Saturday for the entrance ceremony for her school, so she’ll need some relaxation when she comes back tomorrow.

This morning the opportunity was perfect. Mr. Hayashi and I were hanging out alone in my classroom, and we had about 30 minutes to go before a full staff meeting. I chose that time to tell him about my upcoming marriage to Kuniko.

His reaction was surprised, but he didn’t freak out. He asked me a couple of questions and we talked for a little while, but he seemed eager to get out of there and tell as many people as possible.

My next stop was the vice principal. We talked for a few minutes, and he was happy to hear that Mr. Hayashi took the news well. Then we both went into the principal’s office, and told him. He was really excited for me. He said lots of things about an international culture, international relationships, and he was generally bubbling over with happiness. He asked when he could announce it – I was practical and said that word would probably spread soon enough, so we may as well do it today. He was happy to oblige.

We went into the staff meeting, and it was the topic that he started off with. He made the announcement, and everyone was buzzing, talking, mumbling, and generally very surprised. I stood up and said a few words in Japanese to thank everyone, and everyone was still talking a few minutes later. It felt really good to have the secret finally out in the open.

I had lots of visitors to my desk afterwards. Lots of congratulations, bows, handshakes, and even some stories about how lucky I was. The history teacher came by and gave me a light punch on the shoulder – I think he was a little disappointed that he didn’t hear it from me. Everyone else I talked to was really happy.

Mr. Kimura was really surprised. He said that another teacher, one that lives in my apartment complex, told him today that he had seen Kuniko and I walking together, but he kept our secret. Nice guy – I knew that we couldn’t keep it completely off the radar. Mr. Kimura was completely flabbergasted, though.

Although there were a lot of loud voices saying “good for you”, I’m sure there are some quiet ones somewhere in my staffroom that may not be so happy. There are various reasons, some of which I understand and some of which I won’t. This will definitely change the way some people look at me, though. I’ve gone from somebody that was just visiting Japan to somebody that plans on sticking around.

Kuniko and Ms. Miyake were meeting for lunch, and I saw an opportunity to sneak out and eat with them. Kuniko picked me up at Takasago station and we drove over and picked up Miyake sensei. From there we went to a Japanese restaurant that Miyake sensei knew.

The place was traditional Japanese – that it to say, you sat on the tatami floor, left your shoes in the foyer, lots of paper doors and beautiful artwork, etc. These places are always really interesting to me. We had a long, slow lunch, enjoying each others company and trying interesting foods. Because spring has kicked in here in Japan, the foods are inspired by the season, with some of the dishes only available at this time of year. Everything was good, some things were great.

We told Ms. Miyake all about our trip to America, our plans for the wedding, and the teachers’ reactions at school. She has been in on our secret for a while, and she seems really happy for us. She treated us to lunch, but I think it was really expensive. We’ll have to take her out sometime to pay her back.

I went back to school and things were pretty quiet – nobody missed me for the three hours that I was gone. My next stop was Tsuji-san’s place for a language exchange, and we caught up on each other’s trips. She had some great stories to tell, and it was fun to hear how she has been applying pressure to her boyfriend to get a marriage proposal out of him.

Back home I cooked up some shrimp, mushrooms and onions and had that over rice for a light dinner. Lunch was so big that I wasn’t that hungry. I talked a little with Kuniko on the phone, and now I’m heading to bed. Tomorrow is picture day at school, and the Kageyama family is coming over for tacos in the evening. Bring out the habanero sauce and tequila!

If you’ve been following my blog recently you might have noticed that I’ve been going home pretty early every day. It’s a weird feeling to go in just for a few hours, but getting paid for the whole day. Since I took my vacation just before the official spring vacation, I feel a little bit like I’m double dipping.

On one hand I know that I’m going to be working hard soon enough, and that I put in extra hours normally, more than my contract stipulates. I also know that after next year I’ll have to get another job, and I’m sure they won’t be so cavalier about leaving early.

On the other hand I still feel a little guilty going home early – people I know ask me why I’m not at work. Other teachers are still at work – why am I going home?

Today I thought that I’d work a little later. Keep in mind that I don’t really have any pressing work – I’m way ahead of everything and ready for classes. At lunch time I went over to the cafe next door with the history teacher and Watanabe sensei. He continued to hit on her – enough to make me slightly uncomfortable. She’s a grown up, though – she doesn’t need my help.

After lunch I was hanging out in the teacher’s room studying, and the vice-principal came by to say hello. He’s a really cool guy – he knows about Kuniko and my upcoming marriage, and he’s really excited. He’s also got my back when it comes to telling Mr. Hayashi about Kuniko – just in case. He had this funny smile on his face, and he said discreetly, in English, “It is the afternoon, so you can sneak out.” I thanked him and we joked around a bit in English – he was an English teacher and he really enjoys chatting.

I gave it about 20 minutes and then left. On my way out, I was walking down the hallway and I caught the principal of the school taking off early too. He gave me a look that said, “I won’t tell if you don’t…” and we said goodbye and left. My school seems to suffering from a guilt complex, but we still get the work done.

Once I got home I spent some time doing research on just what exactly I’ll be doing once I finish up on the JET program. There’s lots of information on the web, but I really have to sift through it to find good information. Looking through what’s out there you see a lot of garbage, horror stories, rumors, and flat out lies. What’s it really like getting a job in Japan? I know that it won’t be easy, and I’ll be working a lot harder than I am now for the same kind of money. Add in the idea of supporting a family, and it sounds pretty daunting. I’m just trying to figure what I can do right now to put myself in the best position possible.

For dinner I cooked up some leftover beef and made a big thick beef, cheese and onion sandwich with lots of hot sauce. Delicious.

Kuniko said that she may end up at my place tonight. Tomorrow she doesn’t have to work, and tonight is her welcome party at her new school, so she might be pulling in here pretty late. I’m looking forward to seeing her, even if it’s just for an hour or two before bed.

I was the third person into work today, which is saying a lot. We’re on a really relaxed schedule right now, and the new people are just starting to figure things out. Each new teacher arrived around eight in the morning, and each one was astonished that there were only a couple other teachers there. It’s Takasago Minami High School – get used to the laid back culture…

One of the new teachers was sitting at the desk, so I took the opportunity to strike up a conversation with him in Japanese. We made small talk for a little bit, and then later he came by and talked to me in English. His English was pretty good, considering he’s a Japanese teacher. He seems really nice – I’m hoping to chat with him more in the future.

The place was pretty deserted most of the day – I went through hundreds of flashcards, studied two pages of Japanese grammar, and had some good conversations with the other teachers. The teachers that now sit in my area are definitely more into Japanese, so I might be able to speak Japanese more on a daily basis. That’s a good thing, I think.

The history teacher invited me to go to lunch with him and the new math teacher, Watanabe sensei. During lunch the history teacher was telling her all about his “Achilles heel”, women. He told her “I can’t get the number”. She didn’t understand, because he was speaking English, but he explained it in Japanese. Then he asked her in English, “Won’t you give me the number?” I think she understood, but she pretended she didn’t, and the history teacher said that he’d translate it later. Uncomfortable!

I was out of there by 1 p.m., and since Kuniko had the day off she was able to meet me at my place to hang out for a while. We went shopping at Ito Yokado for dinner supplies, and Kuniko bought all kinds of interesting things. We had a meat and mushroom dish that was flavored with soy sauce and garlic, some rice, and a spinach dish with mayo and miso. It turned out great. For dessert we had a Haagen Dazs parfait – whoah… good stuff.

Now I’m heading to bed – tomorrow is another mellow day, and Thursday is picture day at school, one of the few days where I have to wear a tie. Ick.

Today the new first years came to school for the first time to buy their uniforms, books and bags, to have their bicycles inspected, to have their hair checked for dye and length, and who knows what else.

As a result, today when I walked around there were lots of young impressionable students-to-be, so I made a point to make all my greetings in English. Most of the kids were up to the task. I got some great reactions, ranging from fits of giggling, to complete self introductions in English. I’ve heard that this year’s students scored very well on English, so I’m hoping that is going to be reflected in the classroom.

I’ll have to wait to get them into the classroom, though. They’ve still got a week of preparation, and then next week they will spend most of the time on a student trip to build some class spirit, or something. My first class with the first years won’t be until April 15th. I’ll get to teach some 2nd and 3rd years classes soon, though.

As I walked around the school I constantly heard my name being called out, and when I turned around there would some first year student I didn’t know smiling shyly at me. I don’t know how everybody seems to know my name already, but I’m guessing they used me in some kind of advertisement or promotional material. It’s kind of weird to have so many total strangers know your name.

Mr. Hayashi needed some help with some electronics today, so I went along with him to a few stores until he found what he needed. After the electronics trip we went over to the next-door cafe and had lunch with the history teacher and the new math teacher, Watanabe sensei. She’s fresh out of college, and looking for a crowd to run with. I’m not sure why she’s spending so much time with Mr. Hayashi and the history teacher, but I’m guessing it’s because they like to have a younger woman around. She doesn’t know so much English, so she must get bored easily when I’m around – everybody speaks English when I’m there. I’ll be interested to see how long it takes the history teacher to make his move on Watanabe sensei. Shouldn’t be longer than a few days, now.

I split from school around 2 p.m., did some shopping at Ito Yokado, and then came home to clean my house a bit. I cooked up a tofu dish that Kuniko made for me a long time ago, and it turned out OK. It wasn’t as good as when Kuniko did it, so I’ll have to convince her to cook it again for me. Also working against me is the fact that I can read only about 40% of the recipe.

This weekend Kuniko and I will go to the annual yakitori volleyball tournament and hanami party. Hanami literally means “Flower viewing”, but really it means “Drink-a-thon”. The cherry trees should be starting to blossom soon, but because of the strange weather it might be a little while longer.

Kuniko picked me up early Saturday morning and we drove to Okayama to help her sister move. Kuniko let me get behind the wheel for a little while during the long drive, and it was my first “on the road” experience driving in Japan. Lots of fun. I flipped the windshield wipers on when I wanted to turn, just like Kuniko had done when she was driving in America. I didn’t drive so long – maybe just 30 minutes or so. It was a good practice session.

When we got there we started moving lots of boxes, and soon after we arrived, Kuniko’s parents also showed up with a pickup truck to move the big stuff. We worked all day, and I was exhausted by the end of it. The new apartment was really nice, though, and I think that she’ll really enjoy living there. It’s near some big stores and in a more urban area than where she lived before.

At the end of the day Kuniko’s folks took us out to dinner at a yakiniku place, and we ate lots and lots of food – it was delicious. Then it was a long drive back. Kuniko stayed the night at my place rather than going back to her parents, so that was really nice.

Sunday I spent the morning with Kuniko – we went out for some sushi for lunch and enjoyed a really interesting conveyor belt sushi system. Of course you could pick up something off of the conveyor belt at any time, but if you wanted something special you used a touchpad to choose your item and then somebody in the back made it and put it on the conveyor. Somehow, when it gets close to you, the touchpad terminal starts beeping to get your attention, and you take it off. Fascinating. After lunch we slid our plates down a plate shaped slot and the computer checked to see how many plates we had eaten. A human being came by to confirm everything, and then we could go. Very interesting setup!

Kuniko went on to visit Obara sensei for coffee, and I spent the afternoon doing laundry, listening to standup comedy, and cooking up some ramen for dinner. I’m not sure what’s in store for me tomorrow at school, but I’m sure it’ll be interesting!