Today was a pretty busy day at school. I got a good chance to spend some time with Miyake sensei, a part time teacher that has been studying English very hard. We set up some time to just sit and chat. It’s good practice for her, and I enjoy it as well. She has a good sense of humor and is a quick learner.
One of my classes that I have with Mr. Hayashi normally was all mine today. Mr. Hayashi was going to Kobe for some kind of meeting, so I taught the class on my own. It sounds impressive, but really all I did was give out some handouts, administer a test, and shoot the breeze with the students in Japanese and English.
At the end of school we had an assembly, so I snuck up behind Mr. Komuri and asked him if he was up for playing darts at Donkey that night. He gave out a startled giggle, and about a hundred students turned around to look at us. After calming down, he did say that he was interested, and he called around looking for some folks to go with us. We found a taker in Miss Yamamoto, one of the teachers that was transferred last term.
After school I came home and received a shipment from my last Costco excursion. Right after the delivery guy left, I caught the train to Akashi and walked over to Donkey. As I walked in the place was pretty empty. The master and his wife were there, and they recognized me from last time. A younger lady was there working, but she was also drinking a Corona. I wasn’t sure about her situation but she seemed interested in mine. Once I mentioned that I was waiting for Mr. Komuri, everyone got a smile on their face. He’s such a cheerful guy – he has that effect on a lot of people.
Mr. Komuri and Miss Yamamoto showed up and we ordered drinks. Mr. Komuri also asked for some food, and said that anything is OK. That gave the master a chance to serve us some strange things. I had some tiny squid – not cut up – just little babies. They had some mustard over the top, and they were actually pretty good. We also had some sashimi that was great and some tamago-yaki.
The younger girl served us the food and drinks, and then started practicing darts. She kept looking over at me to see if I’d step up and give her pointers or something. I tried to pay more attention to Mr. Komuri and Miss Yamamoto. After our snack we stepped up to play some darts. I explained a very simple version of baseball, and so we tried it out. Mr. Komuri did OK, about the same as last time. Miss Yamamoto was having some trouble but I could tell she was having a good time. I was throwing really well – kind of impressing myself. The master’s wife came out and played a game with us, and she was not too bad.
The master came and watched, and then joined in on a game. He pulled out one of those dart “holsters” that usually means he’s a serious player. He owns the board, so I was sure that he was good. I beat him by seven runs at the end – and he started pushing for me to join the Donkey team. I just smiled and said I’d think about it. I’m not that serious of a player, and it’s more fun to just play with friends.
After a few rounds of drinks we went out for okonomiyaki, and had some new flavors. One was really good – a thin pancake with pork strips across the top and a fried egg on top. It was really good with the sauce and the onions on top – wow! We closed down the okonomiyaki place and headed back home. In the station I said goodbye to everyone, but suddenly Struan came walking by out of nowhere. He was heading over to Murphy’s, so we went over together.
I haven’t been to Murphy’s in a long time. The place was just the same, dark and crowded. There weren’t many foreigners besides us, but Melanie came in with a couple of friends so that made it a bigger crowd. The beer prices went up – 850 yen for a 12 oz. glass, not even a real pint. I had one, and then I bowed out, having consumed plenty already in the other two restaurants I’d visited.
It was a fun night, and next Friday we are having an English teacher’s welcome/goodbye enkai. I’ll get to see Miss Yamamoto again, which will be fun. Now I’m off to bed!
