Today I had my last class of the term, and tomorrow is a relatively easy day. We are supposed to hang around school in the morning, and then take the entire school to see an “art performance” in the afternoon. Mr. Hayashi has given me clearance to spend 5 minutes at the “art performance” and then take off.
I need to get back home and do some packing. I’m almost done, but there are still some last minute things I need to take care of before I leave. If all goes well I’ll have three hours tomorrow to pack up before I have to leave for the airport.
I was supposed to get my packing done tonight, but the master of the yakitori called me up and said that they were having a “nabe party” and they were hoping I could attend. Nabe is a clay pot that they fill with tasty ingredients and then heat up at your table. I went over there and had dinner with some of my fellow regulars. The food was delicious – crab is in season now, and we had steamed crab legs, along with cabbage, mussels, and mushrooms in a big soup cooked at our table. The crab legs were excellent. The beer kept coming, and I was unsure of who was paying for this whole thing. Nobody said anything, so when I finally left I made sure to leave a lot of money at the counter – I didn’t want to saddle someone else with my bill. The language barrier plays a big role here – I’m not sure what is socially correct, so I end up assuming the worst case scenario and paying when I can.
Tomorrow, I’ll be going to the airport completely by public transportation. That should be interesting – I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. I’ll be getting on the plane around 8 p.m., and I’ll get to Australia the next day, so I should be able to sleep through it. I always have a tough time sleeping on planes, but hopefully a full day before I get on the plane should help with that.
While in Australia I will not be connected to the web, so this site won’t be updated until I get back. I fly back to Japan on the 28th or so. Expect a gigantic update soon after I return – you’ll have lots of reading to do.
