Today was a special day for us since all the teachers that had been transferred to other schools came back today to make some short speeches to us and much longer ones to the students they are leaving behind. It was also interesting because they all left before I announced our wedding plans at school, so there was another group of shocked people today.
Mr. Hayashi got to them before I could, which I guess really didn’t surprise me. Mr. Komuri was really happy for me – he had a great reaction. Yoshizumi sensei also was really happy, and Terano sensei was absolutely stunned – she couldn’t stop laughing.
My change in status from “single and potentially gay” to “engaged” has made a big difference around the office among younger female teachers. I’ve found that they will stop by and talk to me more, and today the new math teacher brought in some pudding that she made at home for me to eat. I told Kuniko about this and she laughed – now I’m off the market and considered “safe” to hang out with.
While eating pudding with Watanabe sensei I was hanging out in the guidance room. Mr. Hayashi is a guidance teacher this year, and they’ve got him working hard. I’d wager that it’s as hard as he’s ever had to work at our school. He was complaining today that guidance teachers are required to wear ties, because they are in frequent contact with companies that we are trying to convince to hire our graduates. I wish I could say that I feel bad for him, but he’s had it easy for a long time – at least since I’ve been here. I know that other teachers resent his early hours and very non-Japanese attitude about work. I think probably somebody has noticed and taken action.
I left at five o’clock today and met Kuniko in Akashi on her way home from work. We got a couple of hot coffees at Starbucks and walked through Akashi park to enjoy the cherry blossoms. This year it’s a short season for the cherry blossoms, and they’ll likely be gone by next weekend. Last year we did the same walk and again it was really nice.
We walked through the park, every so often passing blue tarps covered with people drinking heavily. It was fairly windy and a little cold, though – we kept moving and ended up walking through town looking for a good ramen restaurant. We found one near the train station and had some delicious ramen, and some gyoza on the side.
After that we went to the bookstore to browse around, and Kuniko bought “The DaVinci Code” in English to read. Finally we said our goodbyes at the Akashi gate, and we went back our separate ways. Now I’m home typing up this journal and getting ready for an early bedtime. Tomorrow I’m going to work a little on my taxes – being overseas affords me an automatic two month extension, and luckily I don’t have to pay American taxes on money I make here in Japan. Lucky, lucky!
