Today was the first day teaching classes with the textbooks. I got to Nozaki sensei’s place a little early because I figured there would be a lot of prep work to do today. Actually, she and her family were all home, which surprised me. There was a little family emergency false alarm last night, so Nozaki sensei and her husband both took the day off today.
Anyway, Nozaki sensei was there to help me prep for classes, and I had a little extra time before the students arrived so we walked around the neighborhood to introduce me and let everyone know not to panic if there is a foreign guy entering her home.
Nozaki sensei had purchased some little cheesecakes for the occasion. We went to each place, said hello and explained what was going on, and then handed over the present and said goodbye. The reactions of her neighbors were very positive. One lady said that she would be glad to have a foreigner around the neighborhood (whatever that meant). One house had just a college aged daughter home at the time, so we introduced ourselves to her and she smiled and looked at me like I was an appetizer on a plate.
One particular custom in Japan that is interesting to me is giving gifts. Nozaki sensei had bought the cheesecakes, and so when I saw that she had did that I said that it was such a big thing to do and she shouldn’t go to all the trouble. Then, when we walked around giving the gifts, the recipients of the gifts would say that it was way too much and actually appear to refuse the gift. Of course, you can’t let them refuse, and in order to get them to take the gift you tell them that the gift is nothing – very small, and not so delicious. That puts me in the unusual postion of belittling the gift that I recently had said was too much. It all depends on where you are on the respect scale at the moment.
Here’s a gift that my boss just bought for everyone, and here I am, in front of my boss, saying that it is really nothing at all and not even worth mentioning. The trick is to be as humble as possible, far past the point of personal comfort.
As for my classes, they went pretty well. With the textbook the students had a little more structure to their lesson. It was kind of nice, actually – before I would look up at the clock and see too much time left. Now I saw that there was not enough time.
After work I came home and cooked up some of the food that we got from Kuniko’s parents, and then did an hour of studying kanji before hitting the sack. I received a schedule from Nozaki sensei for my holidays this year, so tomorrow I want to check that out. It looks pretty good, though.
