Well, the tacos did turn out great. Kuniko helped me by chopping the veggies, and we put together quite a feast. Kuniko had brought along some cake from a bakery in Osaka, so we had dessert covered as well.
In the end Kuniko decided to stay the night here, so we got an early start the next day, since we had to get her home to pick up her car and drive to Takasago Minami for interviews.
Around six in the morning we walked to the train station, but we ended up missing the train by two minutes. Poor Kuniko had to wait around for another fifteen minutes early in the morning for the next train. I walked back home and cleaned up my act, and then around 8 o’clock I went to the school.
As I was walking up, Kuniko pulled into the parking lot in her car, and we waved at each other like we hadn’t seen each other in months.
The STEP test is always easy money, and today was no exception. I had a little less money this time since I wasn’t interviewing, but it was pretty simple. I sat around with one of the office ladies and chatted in Japanese. She was joining the gang for a dinner at Graciani’s, but I had cancelled to spend time with Kuniko. I told her that she would enjoy the food and the atmosphere. It’s always fun at Graciani’s.
Mr. Hayashi was a little sketchy on the details of what I was going to do, but he did ask me to make a speech about the qualification level of the examiners. Some of them had gotten in under a “grandfather clause” and so they have the same level as the people they are interviewing – which seems strange. I made a quick speech to put a little pressure on them, and there was some uncomfortable shifting in chairs among some of the older teachers. I think my speech had the desired effect.
Mr. Hayashi occasionally gave me some papers and asked me to walk around the hallways looking like I was doing something important, so I did. All the students waiting for an interview would look at me with a mix of fear and concern – they were hoping that I wasn’t their interviewer.
Lots of Takasago Minami teachers were helping by hanging out with the interviewees before the interview, organizing papers, and just being around in case something happened. That was an easy job, too, but not as easy as chatting with the office lady in the room with all the fans and the cold tea.
After the test was over, Mr. Hayashi gave me around $140, and sent me home. Kuniko called and told me that she was heading my way, so I went to the station to meet her there. After three trains had come and gone, it seemed like something was wrong. I hurried home, and barely caught Kuniko as she was heading the other direction. She had waited at my door for 20 minutes, and was worried about me. We must have passed each other at some point – I felt terrible. She was just relieved that I was OK.
After a while we heard from Yasu. Yasu is going to take care of my plants while I’m gone, so he was coming over to see where the plants were and to pick up my spare key. He was also my alibi to get out of dinner at Graciani’s.
It only took five minutes to see where the plants were. Then, we went out for some pasta at an Italian restaurant that Yasu knew about. It was right next door to Carrefour, and the food was pretty good. I had a carbonara, and Kuniko had a shrimp and mushroom pasta. Yasu had a fresh vegetable pasta that looked really good.
We chatted for a long time, the conversations drifting between English and Japanese. The people at the next table would be able to understand us, and then they wouldn’t, and then they would. The food was really good, and not very expensive. Usually Italian food is more expensive here, because things that are perceived as European seem to cost more.
Back home we split up some of the desserts that I had on hand – Kuniko’s cake, and some ice cream from New Zealand that I had bought at Carrefour. We sat around the living room talking about places we all wanted to visit inside Japan – there are lots of interesting places that I haven’t seen yet.
Yasu headed home early, so Kuniko and I did some cleanup and went to bed. I have to work for a couple of hours tomorrow, so it’s early to bed for me.
