Tricky Moves, Himeji

It rained pretty hard last night off and on, and today I walked to work in the slightest drizzle, but it wasn’t quite enough to need an umbrella. We got a late start to our morning, but I still showed up at work at 7:15, well before most of the other teachers.

I had a tricky maneuver to pull off at school today – getting off early four days in a row without using my precious remaining time off. Over the last two years I have gone home early during exams, because I work extra hours the rest of the time. It works out pretty well for me and for the school. I get time off for free, and the school gets lots of extra hours from me during the rest of the year.

The tricky part here was to talk to the new vice-principal, who was fresh from another school and another ALT. He knows nothing about the arrangement, so I had to make it seem like I’m just confirming that I get my deserved time off, rather than I am trying to pull a fast one and sneak out while everyone else has to take time off to leave.

I enlisted the help of my new go-between, Yamamoto sensei. He has taken over for Mr. Hayashi who can’t do the ALT watching job anymore because of his summer trips to Australia for the school. Yamamoto sensei is completely relaxed, and he’s got the right approach to the whole thing. He knows that I am a responsible adult who has shown over the last two years that I’m not trying to take advantage of the system, I just want a fair shake.

I told him about the agreement from the last two years, and together we went to the vice principal. Yamamoto sensei explained it in Japanese and then, just when there was a pause as the vice principal was taking it all in, he said in Japanese “I think this system is a good idea and I recommend we should let him continue.”

It was beautiful because now the vice principal had the choice of acquiescing or saying that he disagreed with Yamamoto sensei, and one thing that Japanese people try to avoid is disagreements – especially verbal ones. The vice principal just nodded his head and said “no problem”, and that was it. I’m going to get four half-days off in a row, just like last year. It will help a lot in getting some important things done, things that can only be done during the weekdays.

So I wish that I could stick around and work with Yamamoto sensei more, but of course I cannot. I can only hope that the next ALT that shows up is a responsible adult who won’t take advantage of the system, or my school.

At noon I was out the door and on my way to Himeji. I was heading there to get my driver’s license translated by the Japanese equivalent of AAA. Despite having a map it was pretty hard to find the place, and I was walking around a little lost for a while until I found a landmark.

The translation itself was simple enough, and I set off with all the paperwork I need to make an attempt at a license in Akashi next time I feel game. On the way home I picked up some souvenirs and then took the train back home. I got back at a reasonable hour, so I had time to straighten up a little bit and to work on loading some more vocabulary into my handheld computer.

Kuniko suggested going out, so we went over to the local sushi bar – it has been a long time since I was there last and Kuniko has never been. Unfortunately it was closed, so we instead went back to IY and had spaghetti and risotto at the Italian restaurant up on the third floor.

Now we’re back home with full bellies and just hanging around tonight. Tomorrow I’ve got just a half day at work, and that’s a nice schedule to have on a Friday.


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