Signs Of Improvement

Today was almost like a Friday, because tomorrow is a holiday here in Japan. It’s the holiday celebrating the autumnal equinox, and today’s weather is starting to reflect the change in season. I was enjoying nice cool, cloudy weather today. They turned off the air conditioning in the school, and the classes I taught were sweat-free. One student even closed a window because of the cool wind blowing through.

Today at lunch I sat with a couple of teachers that I don’t usually hang out with, and we spoke for a while in Japanese. One of the teachers said that my Japanese was really getting better. He said that my predecessor couldn’t speak much Japanese at all. Later on in the day Mr. Hayashi was helping me by checking my translations, and he said that I’m showing some progress. His exact words were, “I can easily tell that you are climbing the ladder”. A little encouragement goes a long ways!

After school I stopped in at the store to buy some cheese and flour tortillas. At home I made a big pan of taco stuff – beans, meat, sour cream, cheese, salsa, and onions. I cut off a square and filled a couple of tortillas with it. Excellent!

While Kuniko and I were messaging each other, she invited me to come visit her the next day, since we both have a holiday. Even though it was late I decided to head over there this evening. On the train I listened to White Zombie and tried memorizing vocabulary, but the music didn’t seem to help much.

I pulled into Osaka and met up with Kuniko at her place. I was dead tired, but since she had the whole day off to sleep and study she was just getting started. I stayed up for an hour or so, and then passed out.


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