After all our big meetings yesterday it was back to slacker-time for all the teachers. I slept in and didn’t stroll into work until around 9 o’clock. All of the teachers that I had partied with the night before hadn’t shown up yet, so I felt like a real hero getting there first.
The strangest thing was to see all the new teachers that had introduced themselves in business suits yesterday walking around wearing T-shirts and sweats. Apparently they know the routine, and they just started to fit right in.
I studied Japanese for about an hour at my desk, and then changed my clothes and went to the gym to work out. After an hour doing that, I came back to the teacher’s room and still no Mr. Hayashi or Mr. Komuri. I decided to take matters into my own hands and left around 11:30. I stopped into Seiyu for some sushi and went home.
In the evening Kuniko dropped by – she is staying in Kakogawa until Saturday night so we thought we’d go do something fun. At first we stopped at the mall to shop for a watch – hers broke a little while ago. After striking out at the mall we drove into Akashi and walked through Akashi park.
The park was bigger than I had realized, and we passed lots of people partying under the cherry blossoms. The place was gearing up for bigger parties on Saturday, and the weather should be nice for that. The parties are supposed to be about viewing cherry blossoms, but in reality they can get pretty rowdy, with everyone drinking way too much.
We did a big circle through the park, about an hour’s walk, and then when it started getting a little cold we headed back to the car. We drove back to Futami, and then I invited Kuniko to join me for dinner at the yakitori.
The gang at the yakitori had met Kuniko informally during the Futami Matsuri. Afterwards they had asked all about her, trying to figure out whether she was girlfriend material. When I stolled into the place with her Friday evening, there was quite a reaction. Two regulars that I always bump into there jumped up and started making the Japanese sign for “girlfriend”, which is the extended pinky finger. The master jumped smiled and shook his head.
We sat down and ordered up lots of food, and talked with the master a bit. They are doing a cherry blossom party/volleyball game on April 11th, and he invited Kuniko and I to come. It’s on the weekend, so there is an outside chance that Kuniko would be free. I’m hoping she can come along – the parties with these guys are a lot of fun. We ate big, with frequent visits from my two drunk friends who gave me neck massages and words of encouragement in Japanese. I think they figured this was a first date and they wanted to get me relaxed – I’m not sure. Anyway, they were harmless and it was a fun time.
Saturday night I’m planning on meeting Antoine in Sannomiya for a recap of last month and to chat about April. Sunday should be pretty relaxing – I’m hoping to do a hike on Takamikura in the morning, and then relax the rest of the day.
