This morning the opportunity was perfect. Mr. Hayashi and I were hanging out alone in my classroom, and we had about 30 minutes to go before a full staff meeting. I chose that time to tell him about my upcoming marriage to Kuniko.
His reaction was surprised, but he didn’t freak out. He asked me a couple of questions and we talked for a little while, but he seemed eager to get out of there and tell as many people as possible.
My next stop was the vice principal. We talked for a few minutes, and he was happy to hear that Mr. Hayashi took the news well. Then we both went into the principal’s office, and told him. He was really excited for me. He said lots of things about an international culture, international relationships, and he was generally bubbling over with happiness. He asked when he could announce it – I was practical and said that word would probably spread soon enough, so we may as well do it today. He was happy to oblige.
We went into the staff meeting, and it was the topic that he started off with. He made the announcement, and everyone was buzzing, talking, mumbling, and generally very surprised. I stood up and said a few words in Japanese to thank everyone, and everyone was still talking a few minutes later. It felt really good to have the secret finally out in the open.
I had lots of visitors to my desk afterwards. Lots of congratulations, bows, handshakes, and even some stories about how lucky I was. The history teacher came by and gave me a light punch on the shoulder – I think he was a little disappointed that he didn’t hear it from me. Everyone else I talked to was really happy.
Mr. Kimura was really surprised. He said that another teacher, one that lives in my apartment complex, told him today that he had seen Kuniko and I walking together, but he kept our secret. Nice guy – I knew that we couldn’t keep it completely off the radar. Mr. Kimura was completely flabbergasted, though.
Although there were a lot of loud voices saying “good for you”, I’m sure there are some quiet ones somewhere in my staffroom that may not be so happy. There are various reasons, some of which I understand and some of which I won’t. This will definitely change the way some people look at me, though. I’ve gone from somebody that was just visiting Japan to somebody that plans on sticking around.
Kuniko and Ms. Miyake were meeting for lunch, and I saw an opportunity to sneak out and eat with them. Kuniko picked me up at Takasago station and we drove over and picked up Miyake sensei. From there we went to a Japanese restaurant that Miyake sensei knew.
The place was traditional Japanese – that it to say, you sat on the tatami floor, left your shoes in the foyer, lots of paper doors and beautiful artwork, etc. These places are always really interesting to me. We had a long, slow lunch, enjoying each others company and trying interesting foods. Because spring has kicked in here in Japan, the foods are inspired by the season, with some of the dishes only available at this time of year. Everything was good, some things were great.
We told Ms. Miyake all about our trip to America, our plans for the wedding, and the teachers’ reactions at school. She has been in on our secret for a while, and she seems really happy for us. She treated us to lunch, but I think it was really expensive. We’ll have to take her out sometime to pay her back.
I went back to school and things were pretty quiet – nobody missed me for the three hours that I was gone. My next stop was Tsuji-san’s place for a language exchange, and we caught up on each other’s trips. She had some great stories to tell, and it was fun to hear how she has been applying pressure to her boyfriend to get a marriage proposal out of him.
Back home I cooked up some shrimp, mushrooms and onions and had that over rice for a light dinner. Lunch was so big that I wasn’t that hungry. I talked a little with Kuniko on the phone, and now I’m heading to bed. Tomorrow is picture day at school, and the Kageyama family is coming over for tacos in the evening. Bring out the habanero sauce and tequila!
