The other night we had Inoguchi sensei and his wife over for a taco dinner. They hadn’t had tacos before, and I wanted them to try out some homemade ones first. They actually drove to get here, so right away that ruled out a wild party (put the tequila away!). We hung out and ate, played some Wii and chatted about our trips. They had gone to Italy and then spent a few days in Singapore on the way back. From the pictures it looked like they had a great time. They rented a place with a kitchen instead of staying at a hotel and then cooked their own meals. The pictures of the shops and people running them were great – each day they picked out fresh meats, pasta, cheeses and then got a bottle of wine and made a big dinner. It looked like a fun way to spend the vacation.
I also caught up with Antoine last weekend. We ate and drank in Sannomiya and he told me all about his trip to Boston for the holidays to stay in a big house with all his relatives. It sounded like it was a good trip for him – he looked tired but sounded refreshed. I filled him in on Vietnam and we exchanged omiyage – it’s like we’re both Japanese now.
Also I had my last class with Yuka – she is leaving next week for a year in Australia. She received information about her host family, her school and her living situation, and together we talked about it. She was a little worried because it looks like she’ll be staying on a farm outside of Melbourne. The nearest public transportation was 35 kilometers away – wow. Under pets the host family wrote “Two cats, a dog and 2000 sheep”. That should be interesting. Yuka seems more of a city girl, so I wonder how that will work out. I got her a going away present – a Australian English/Japanese dictionary and she and her mother gave me a warm scarf to wear on these cold winter days. I’ll miss teaching Yuka, and I hope she does OK in Australia.
As the end of the school year is in sight there are lots of changes in the air. I’ve started to think about what I will do after April, and Kuniko and I are thinking seriously about buying a house (or having one built) somewhere. Lots of talk of the future lately. All of these plans need to be balanced against the time and money I’m putting into my own schooling (which should wrap up in November of this year). I’m sure I’ll write more about these later as they develop…
Despite my tenure ending at Nozaki sensei’s school we had some more students join up in the last few days, and so at least when I leave there will be more business than when I started. I kind of expected the opposite situation when I started last year.
I should get ready for classes – it’s cold and rainy outside, and I’m not looking forward to leaving the kotatsu and heading outside.
