So I had a pretty good weekend, and it was as fairly relaxing as weekends get around here. I’m recharged and ready for next week.
Saturday morning I spent some time on the phone with my parents and brother, and we chatted for quite a while. Afterwards I wrapped up some laundry, and then geared up and walked out to the Tsuchiyama station – from there it was only two stops to get to Okubo, and there I saw Lord Of The Rings: Return of The King. The movie was great, and it was a very satisfying ending to a great series of movies.
Seeing the movie alone was not really my original plan, but due to circumstances well within my control, other options weren’t available. To make a long story short I promised to see the movie with three different people, some of whom would not be happy to find out that I had seen the movie with any of the other people. Some of the people know about the other people, some of the people don’t. Confused? Me, too. This is a taste of my social life in Japan. Ultimately, the best option was to go and see it alone, and see it again as many times as circumstances warrant.
Anyway, I came back with a load of groceries – there was a sale on sushi that was reaching the end of it’s shelf-life, so I stocked up and ate like a king when I got home.
Sunday morning I went in to school and was an interviewer for the STEP English proficiency test. I’ve done it once before and it’s a nice gig. It pays around $200 for a half day’s work. Easy money.
During lunch Mr. Hayashi’s daughter practiced English with me. She is fairly good at English, and she is a demanding girl – she had Mr. Hayashi whipped big time. She is going to make some poor Japanese guy very submissive someday. I talked with some recent graduates of Takasago Minami High School over lunch – they had classes with Andy, my predecessor, and so between giggles and blushes we talked about what they are doing nowadays. Afterwards we finished interviewing one of them asked for my cell phone number, and lucky I don’t have a cell phone, otherwise I would have been stuck. Whew!
As for the interviews themselves, they went really well, and for the most part the interviewees did great. I had four of my students come in and take the test, and they were very relieved when they walked in the door and found me inside. One of my students absolutely aced the test, and I wanted to get up and give her a high-five, but decorum prevented it. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
Per tradition we jumped into Mr. Hayashi’s car and went for dinner at Graciani’s. The feature this time was rabbit, but I skipped it and went with veal. The veal was OK, but a little too delicate for my taste. I guess I just prefer hot and spicy BBQ beef.
One thing about Graciani’s is that they always fuss over which utensil you should use at each course, and it tends to fluster the people eating there. I guess it is an expensive restaurant, and people like to think that there is a proper way to do things. If I ran a restaurant I wouldn’t worry about what utensils people used – the most important thing is that they are having a good time. Strangely, in Japan people don’t usually look at value – if something is expensive, then it must be good. If people fuss over the utensils, then it must be important. Tonight they opened a German Riesling (very sweet) and fussed over that, but Mr. Hayashi has long ago learned that he should keep me from offering my opinion on it. If I told people at the table that the wine isn’t that great, it’s like exposing the man behind the curtain… very embarrassing. Anyway, I had beer, and it was delicious.
Most of the conversation was in Japanese, so I felt a little more left out than normal. I’m thinking that I might skip the next one. It is expensive (almost $50), but when Mr. Hayashi has just handed you the easiest $300 you’ve ever made it is tough to say no. Still, I would be just as happy with a $5 bowl of ramen and have $45 left to put towards more important things. I’ll have to think about it.
Anyway, a big storm came rolling in while we were riding the train home, so I had to walk home without an umbrella – luckily I was wearing my waterproof jacket. I didn’t wear my rainpants today – so my bottom half got wet again. Tomorrow I will be more prepared – even now the thunder is rolling and the wind is blowing pretty well. Tomorrow’s weather will hopefully be mild. The good news is that the temperature has gone up with the storm coming through.
