I got up this morning feeling great. My muscles were not sore at all, and I rolled out of bed and walked to the bathroom. Ouch! Blister alert! I had to spend some time this morning with bandages, and then I was able to walk to the train station. It hurt a lot at first, but after a few minutes, things loosened up and I felt much better.
Today was “Open High School” day, as well as tomorrow. This is the time for junior high students to audit our school, taking selected courses, trying out sports clubs, meeting teachers and students, and basically testing things out. All my regular classes were shorter to add another class period at the end of the day for the potential students.
After my regular classes were over, I walked over to the gym to watch the welcome ceremony. It was quite good, and everyone was on their best behavior. The jazz band played a number, which really impressed me. They were great! The dance club performed a pretty cool dance – it was choreographed very well.
Afterwards, I met Tsutsumi sensei and Yamamoto sensei in my classroom, and we taught a group of kids how to order hamburgers in America. It was fun to explain the idea of a “quarter pounder” to a bunch of Japanese teenagers. They have McDonald’s here, but the menu is different, and since they don’t use pounds here, the concept of a quarter pounder is pretty alien. But I suppose that’s why I’m here, being the resident alien.
One of the kids was pretty enthusiastic – I guess junior high school students in my prefecture only see an ALT about once a month. He talked to me about his IQ (107), what he was doing this weekend, and his school in a strange mix of English and Japanese. Once he figured out that I understood a little Japanese, he invited me to a bar after school. I didn’t fully understand, but Mr. Kimura thought that perhaps his parents owned the place and he was trying to drum up business. I politely declined citing the weather and my aching feet – the whole thing kind of caught me off guard.
After class I went back to my desk to see a giant package from my parents waiting for me. Several teachers were hovering around, hoping I would break it open, but acting on advice from my folks, I didn’t open it at school.
Unfortunately, I had to figure out a way to get the 20 pound (!) package home on my damaged feet in the pouring rain. Luckily, Mr. Kimura saw my dilemma and gave me a ride home. There I opened the package to find lots of warm clothes, salami, Vella’s cheese, seasoning packets, and hot sauce. Wow. It’s like Christmas when a package shows up.
Tonight I’m going to rest my feet by watching a movie curled up on my couch. With the heavy rain outside, it should be a nice relaxing evening.
