Back to work, and what a strange day to return on. The first good news was that nobody really noticed that I was gone for three days until yesterday at about lunchtime. Mr. Hayashi turned in my time off request for me, and so I got three days off for the price of four hours. Oh yeah…
The day was strange because it was the day we met all of the new teachers and staff that have replaced the folks that transferred. Everyone was nervous, and to start with the teachers all moved to their new desks. Initially I had heard that I was moving along with all the other teachers, but it turns out that I’m staying right where I am. The seat next to me will be occupied by a part-time teacher who rarely comes in, so there’s a free seat for anybody to use anytime they want. Today the history teacher, Mr. Urakami, made judicious use of the seat and wouldn’t leave me alone. He visited four times and even came to talk to me while I was eating lunch. I tried to give him the hint by answering his questions with my mouth full, but he just kept on talking. Yikes.
We had several meetings today, and the new teachers had to do their self-introductions, which is pretty nerve-wracking, believe me. They did OK, and the two new English teachers seem pretty nice. One is really nervous, so I hope she lightens up and starts to relax.
After all the meetings, Mr. Hayashi had arranged a big BBQ at his place. We all piled into his car and drove over to Kakogawa. On the way we picked up Kuniko, and we pretended like we didn’t just spend six days with each other 24/7. Mr. Hayashi built a pretty good BBQ and we had sausages as an appetizer while drinking cold beer. He had purchased some tenderloin filets, and he cooked those up next with some scallops. We ate and talked and drank, and halfway through the meal Miss Yamamoto came by after her first day at her new school. She said that almost no English is spoken in their English department, so she’s afraid that her English skills will suffer there. At least there is an ALT there to speak with. It’s a British girl, so she’ll have to do some accent adjustment, but I’m sure it won’t be a big deal.
Everyone was having a great time, and when it got dark we went inside and had a cheesecake for dessert and talked with Mr. Hayashi’s son from Shikoku. He understood most of what we said in English, and did a good job holding up his side of the conversation.
Finally, we packed up and Miss Yamamoto gave Mr. Komuri, Mr. Kimura and I are ride to the nearest Sanyo train station. Mr. Komuri was pretty happy, and once we got to the station we made a wrong turn on appeared on the wrong platform directly across from us. He decided to sneak across the train tracks instead of going all the way back around. I’ve seen a lot of weird things in Japan, but seeing someone dash across train tracks that frequently have a speeding train on them is pretty scary. Tomorrow is Friday, and I’m definitely ready for the weekend.
