Wednesday morning we walked past the junk on the ground on the way to work, and then headed out on the train to Kobe. Kuniko always gets off at Kobe station, and I get off at Sannomiya station. There’s lots of time to chat, even though the whole train is quiet and you know that everyone is listening and trying to figure out what you are saying.
I had a really busy day at school, with five classes out of six periods. The classes themselves weren’t so tough, but there wasn’t a lot of free time. Before I knew it, it was time to head back home.
Rather than heading home, I went back to Takasago to meet with some teachers and hang out. On the train to Takasago I bumped into some ex-students, and they giggled nervously and said some quick greetings before getting off the train.
I walked to an okonomiyaki restaurant near the school to have dinner with a group of teachers. The occasion was the beginning of exams at Takanan, and everyone had played softball earlier in the day so people were sore and aching.
Mainly I hung out with Yamamoto (Satoshi) sensei, and we talked music and travel and English. I talked with a few other teachers, though, and we all got a chance to listen to Oki sensei talk about his terrible school. A couple of years ago he was transferred to an agricultural night school, and this is apparently the bottom of the totem pole for high schools in the area. Every time I see him he’s complaining about it, and tonight was no exception.
As for the food, it was really good. I’ve been to the restaurant before, and it is run by just one lady who cooks everything. We had some big orders, and other people also were there, so we ended up serving ourselves drinks. It’s kind of fun to pour your own beers, and by the end of the night I was getting pretty good at it.
After hanging out for a while, I decided to head home. I tried to pay my share, but they wouldn’t let me. So, I called it a night and left for the station. On the way home I walked by lots of snack bars and nightclubs – Takasago is a completely different town at night.
I took the train back to Akashi, and then transferred to the JR line and came home to Okubo. I managed to get some bathtub time before bed, so that was a bonus. Kuniko and I worked on solving an English test that one of her students took recently, and then it was time to sleep. The rest of the week should be just as busy.
