I’m munching on some microwave popcorn – I think I figured out how to cook it correctly with my microwave. The highest setting is 500 watts, so it takes a little while and some kernels don’t pop. Still, the bag is almost three quarters full, and it isn’t burnt. Nice!
After unsuccessfully looking for sushi yesterday I tried another store today and found three long sushi rolls for only 100 yen each. I ate them tonight for dinner with some homemade miso soup, and it was good!
I confirmed today that Melanie, my upstairs neighbor from England, is not going to return next year on JET. She is going to go home for a while and then try to do some traveling in Africa. I think she was in a tough situation here on JET, and that contributed to her decision to leave. She was working at two schools, so she had to split time between the two and get to know two staffrooms full of teachers. Her primary school has three ALTs working – and they all work together in the classroom. There is no lesson planning for her, and she gets about 15 minutes of teaching time during any given class. That means that most of her day is spent at her desk sitting around waiting for the day to end. Also, I think that things can sometimes be tough for women in Japan – it is a very male centered society, and a strong female personality can come as an unwelcome surprise to some Japanese.
As for other JETs that I’ve gotten to know here, Antoine is staying for another year at least, Carrie is signed on for another year, and Nell has signed up, too.
Anyway, I’m going to meet up with Mel in the next couple of weeks at the yakitori and talk about it with her. This means that I’ll have a new neighbor upstairs next year – I hope they are nice!
The history teacher Mr. Urikami and I have been chatting quite a bit lately, and today we went out for lunch. We had some curry at a local restaurant. I asked for extra spicy but it still was very mild. It was also fairly expensive – for the same price you can get all-you-can-eat authentic Indian curry. I was a little disappointed, but it was fun to try a new place.
On Friday he invited me to join him for dinner at one of his favorite restaurants in Himeji. The chef is an ex-girlfriend of his, and I guess they are still on good terms. When Mr. Hayashi found out that we were going out without him, I think he got a little jealous. He jokingly called our dinner a “sausage party” and tried to get us to invite a female teacher or two along with us. We’re just there for a little dinner and some Guinness, so we’ll pass on the teachers. Then I had to explain what a sausage party was to Mr. Urikami, who got a big laugh out of the definition.
