Friday I left home early and went to Takasago to visit my old school on their culture festival day. It felt really weird to be walking through the town of Takasago again. On the way to the school a (crazy?) lady called out to me saying that I was going the wrong way – she said the factory was down the other direction. I just smiled and kept walking.
At the school there were a few teaching standing around outside guiding visitors, and so I got a chance to see Mr. Hayashi again, although we didn’t really have a chance to talk much. I went inside the school and I was guided to the staff room by Yamamoto sensei.
Not only were they expecting me but they had a bento lunch for me as well. Another teacher was absent so they gave me his lunch – thanks! We sat and talked and ate, and I got to say hello to my ex-coworkers as they walked by. Afterwards I walked the hallways with Maeda sensei, and it was great to see all my old students again. They were really happy to see me, and it was tough to try to say hello to everyone… it’s like suddenly meeting 600 of your friends… who do you say hello to first?
I stopped by the ESS room and was really impressed with what Brenda has done with her classroom and the club. The place looked great, and I think the students are really active. I talked with Brenda and with Nozaki sensei as well, and they seemed really happy that I visited.
Walking back to the station at one in the afternoon I couldn’t help but notice that Takasago was like a ghost town. It really felt empty and dead, and to be honest it kind of creeped me out. Maybe it was the contrast with Okubo, maybe it was just after leaving all the hustle and bustle of the culture festival, but it was spooky.
Overall it was a fun day, and I’m really glad that I stopped by. Afterwards I had some extra time so I took the Sanyo train to Akashi. On the Sanyo train I bumped into an ex-student, so I chatted with him in Japanese until I got to Akashi. There had some coffee at a coffeeshop there, and then took the JR train to Higashi Kakogawa to go to work. As I was heading to work I passed a few ex-Takasago Minami students and it really struck me how deep my connections are with the town of Takasago after three years of teaching there.
I had just two classes to teach at work, and then I was out of there and headed home. Kuniko wanted to celebrate Friday night with me so we went out to dinner at the local yakitori that I like and that Kuniko had never been to. We really enjoyed the evening and drank lots of cold beer with our meat sticks.
One of the cool options that I am only just figuring out after four years in Japan is that many restaurants will make a bento lunch for you to take home that night and eat the next day. Maybe it’s because you will be hungover, or maybe because your wife will be mad at you for drinking all night and won’t make you a lunch. Whatever the reason, you can just ask and they’ll set you up. I decided to ask for a bento for Kuniko to take to work on Saturday, and the master hooked us up with a custom-made lunch for her. Nice!
