So today I decided to make my decision final and I announced to my school that I intend to stay for another year in Japan. The teachers and staff were very happy, and it sounds like I should have no problem on their side. The paperwork will be sent in but it won’t be official until I hear back from the main JET office – maybe sometime in January.
It was a very hard decision, but with support from family and friends, I think it will be the right one. It’s hard to imagine – with that one decision I’ve pretty much laid out my location, budget, and plans until July 2005. In the end it just seemed like it was the right thing to do – I haven’t gotten tired of anything here yet, and my list of things to do is still very long.
A year from now will you still be reading about trips to Kobe for Indian food? You bet. It’s one of the pleasures I look forward to, and I hope that doesn’t stop in the future.
Speaking of Indian food, today Mr. Hayashi and I split early, and we were joined by Miss Kageyama. She seems to tag along whenever we do fun stuff like this. I don’t blame her – why turn down a free meal and a ride to Kobe?
We had a good ride in the car to Kobe and I practiced my Japanese on the street signs – it’s much easier on the signs and on proper names. Complete sentences such as those in a newspaper are a lot more difficult. On the way there was a big accident that we passed by – and Japanese drivers rubberneck as much as California drivers. A car was smashed between a truck and a bus. It was probably the truck’s fault – an ambulance took off just before we got there, so hopefully everyone is OK.
The Indian restaurant was hard to find – Mr. Hayashi walked up and down a couple of blocks looking for it, and then we just kind of stumbled on to it. The decorations were nice, and they had all you could eat lunch for 1000 yen (around $8). On the menu they had all you could eat and drink dinner for 4000 yen (around $37). I still can’t wrap my head around the “all you can drink” concept. It just seems like it’s asking for a lot of trouble.
Afterwards, I stuck around in Kobe to do some Christmas shopping, and then I took the train home. My legs are still aching a little bit, and I have trouble on stairs, but I think by tomorrow I should be just fine. Miss Kageyama and I are hoping to see Finding Nemo tomorrow night. It just came out in Japan last weekend, and I still haven’t seen it!
