Congrats to Miss Kageyama – today she got the results back from her STEP test that she took a couple of weeks ago, and she passed. Now she has to prepare for an interview test in Osaka in two weeks. It is a tough test, and one where you need to use your English fluently and naturally in a professional interview setting. Right now she’s just glad that she passed the first stage. In a few days she’ll start to get nervous about the interview. As long as she isn’t too nervous, she should do fine.
Last night the blanket kept me plenty warm. I can tell it will turn out to be worth every cent. The day at school was pretty uneventful. I ate lunch in the cafeteria with the students, and that caused a big stir. I ordered curry and rice, something traditionally eaten with a spoon. I think the students were hoping to see me use chopsticks.
My class I teach alone went especially well today. I lapsed into Japanese a couple of times to keep things going, and at one point I taught the students how to count to four in Spanish. I don’t know how it came up, but it was fun to teach. As soon as I break from the norm, I seem to have more fun teaching – I need to strike some kind of balance here.
On the way home I stopped in at the liquor store next door – I wanted to pick up a bottle or two of wine. I found a decent bottle of French red, and a Madiera that I haven’t tried yet. The owner couldn’t find the price, and so he gave it to me and told me that he’d try to find the price for next time I came in. I’ve only been in there twice in three months, but I guess I’m easy enough to find.
Tonight was ground pork and rice in a udon broth with sprouts, chopped onions, an egg, and some habanero hot sauce. It’s been cooler weather, so it was my version of comfort food.
