Friday students from our school competed in a speech contest. Since I didn’t have classes all day, I went to the competition with them. Speech contests can be a little weird. There is a lot of very unnatural English being spoken. Also, students often try to use gestures to help liven up the material and as an aid to help them memorize it. The gestures frequently go over the line into “unnatural” territory. Too many gestures and you aren’t watching a speech – you’re watching a talking mime.
It was held in a large hall, and I sat up in the back near my school’s principal. A couple of the ALTs that I know from other schools came by to root on their students, too. A couple sat next to me and started goofing off during the presentations, making me a little embarrassed. They settled down after a little bit, though.
Our students did pretty well, but they didn’t have enough points to win. It’s pretty scary to go up there and do your speech – but they did it well, and I was really proud of them. I walked down and encouraged them before and after their speeches which seemed to keep them cheerful. I’m certain that I would really be freaking out if I was in their position.
After all was said and done, I headed into Sannomiya to meet up with Antoine and Kuniko. Antoine and I met up first and headed to a beer hall designed in a German style and owned by Sapporo. The beer there is very good – they have actual small lot beers and they are kind of unusual for Japanese beers. After a while we got a message from Kuniko saying that she couldn’t join us – she was feeling a little sick.
We went out to catch dinner at a Spanish restaurant in the new Kobe “Mint” building that was built in the center of Sannomiya. It was tough deciding where to eat, but that seemed like the most interesting selection. We sat at a nice bar in front of a giant pig leg attached to a stand with a bolt going through the lower ankle. The was even a hoof still on it.
The food was pretty good – we had a wide selection of cheeses and meats, and we even talked the chef into slicing off some of the pig meat for us to eat straight. It was really good – a spicy prociutto flavor that just kind of melted in your mouth. We had a bottle of Spanish wine, too. Overall it was great, and I’ll have to go there again with Kuniko sometime.
We made one last stop before heading back. The Belgian beer place was pretty busy, and we each had one drink “for the road”. I had a Cuban rum served straight up, and Antoine had a sho-chu tea. It was the first time I had heard of it but it sounded pretty good.
By the time I got home I was pretty tired and still a little drunk. Kuniko was zonked out, and I zonked out right next to her.
