Today I had just two classes. Usually today is the busiest day of the week, but Maeda sensei and Oshita sensei asked if I would skip their classes today because they want to prepare their students for the midterm exams coming up next week.
I taught my favorite class in the morning, Matsubara sensei’s class. I had a prize today, a cafe latte flavored KitKat, and I put it on the desk in front of the class but didn’t really talk about it. From the beginning everyone’s attention was riveted on the candy, and everyone listened carefully to every word I spoke.
At the end I had a word search race, and the winners won the candy. It was dead silent as people sweated trying to finish the puzzle by the end of class. In the end, two girls split the big prize, and luckily it’s easy to break up a KitKat into several pieces.
I did some brain-crushing Japanese grammar study through the afternoon, and sat through a mind-numbing meeting of the entire staff after school. Finally, at five o’clock I took off with the new Japanese teacher, Inomoto sensei in tow.
We took the train to Nishi-futami and went over to the yakitori to drink beers and chat. It was really nice talking to him. He’s a 39 year old teacher on a one year contract. He’s definitely different from a lot of the old-timers in our school. He leaves school as soon as possible, right around the same time I do. He works to live, as opposed to living for work. He loves his wife big time and cooks and cleans their home for her when she’s not around. He speaks three languages: Italian, English, and Japanese.
We had a great time drinking beer, speaking in a mix of Japanese and English, and eating lots of yakitori. He brought pictures from Italy – he’s been there many times, and loves studying Italian art and culture. I particularly enjoyed looking at the pictures – how often do you get to see the inside of the Vatican, views from the hillsides of Rome, and some authentic delicious Italian food. He said that he is thinking about quitting his job after his contract ends and moving to Italy to live there for a year.
After a big dinner I walked him back to the station, and I think we’ll probably get together again soon. He’s a really nice guy, and I like his philosophy on life.
Now I’m back home and relaxing. My brain hurts from studying so much today, so I might just do some pleasure reading and hit the hay early.
