Today was the second day of my easy week. I arrived at work and knocked out my daily quota of vocabulary, and that freed me up to work on my powerpoint presentation for the chemistry students next week. I spent about an hour on it today, and it was fun to try to figure out the best way to explain wine fermentation in ways that the students might understand.
Just before noon I did a make-up interview test for two students, and then headed out the door. At the train station I just missed the train, so I sat around learning some new vocabulary. I looked up at one point when a train came on the opposite side of the tracks, and two boys from another high school were sitting in the window making goofy faces at me. I carefully stuck out my tongue at them, and then we all kind of smiled and laughed about it as the train pulled away. Just a little reminder not to get old yet.
On the way home I stopped in at IY and had a “Hot Chili Straight Burger” from Lotteria. It wasn’t hot, although the chili was quite good. I ate the burger in about 30 seconds, and was wholly unsatisfied. I looked back at the counter to see if they had something else to eat and all three of the employees were staring at me like they had never seen anybody wolf a burger before. I smiled at them, and two of them smiled back while the other ducked into the back of the store.
I went ahead and ordered a regular burger, and then sat down and ate that one a little more slowly. I carefully didn’t look at the counter – just in case.
After a little bit of shopping at the grocery store I came back with some empty boxes to pack up things at home. They are big onion boxes, and luckily they don’t smell like it.
My afternoon was pretty mellow – I called my folks, did some laundry, and spent about an hour or so packing. I figure if I do about an hour a day this week we’ll have a good jump on things for later.
Kuniko promised that she’ll get home late again tonight. She’s going to leave early tomorrow to meet me in Kobe, so she’s going to try to get everything done tonight. Overworked! Underpaid!
I saw a posting today for a job in Kobe, at a Berlitz School. It looked good until I found out that there is mandatory unpaid training, and a one year contract required, effectively putting me out of the job market for next April. They sent me a huge questionnaire to fill out if I am interested, and there are lots and lots of deep questions. I think I’ll have to pass, though. The search continues!
