Today I had the entire morning free, and two of the student teachers asked me to drop by their classes to watch their final lesson, and to give them sage advice afterwards. Of course, it wasn’t just me, there were several other teachers invited. I went to both classes, and although it was sometimes painful to see how nervous they were, overall they did a great job.
Later in the day both of the student teachers came by to say thanks for coming, and I gave them advice as best I could with my broken Japanese. They politely listened and nodded, although I’m not sure they understood. My basic message was keep up the good work – you’ll make a great teacher.
After school we had an ESS meeting to collect the articles for the newspaper that we are going to make for the culture festival. Some students came in and dropped off the paper, others came in and worked hard on their project. I chatted with several of the students, and we had fun talking about sushi, weekends, and the upcoming trip to Australia.
My next stop was across the street to talk with Tsuji-san. We’re planning a dinner together on Saturday, along with Kuniko and Tsuji-san’s boyfriend. She had good news – her boyfriend proposed last week, so we talked about that a lot. That was a very interesting conversation, but I’ll wait and elaborate on it after we have dinner with them Saturday night.
We’re also planning to go out with Tsuji-san’s other foreigner student, Daniel, next week. He’s wrapping up his contract and going home this year, so it’ll be kind of hello/goodbye party.
I stopped in at Ito Yokado on the way home because they were selling Hiroshima okonomiyaki – a real delicacy. They cooked it just the way I remember it, minus the garlic and kimchee. I took one home, and it was still steaming from the pan since my house is so close. It was a great dinner. They don’t do this often, so I just have to take it when I get it.
Yasu came by this evening to drop off some things for me. He wanted to get me properly outfitted for the Tiger’s game on Sunday. He bought me some noisemaking plastic bats, and a replica Tiger’s jersey to wear during the game. I was totally surprised. He said it was no problem, and wouldn’t let me pay him back. Instead I’m going to buy lunch and some beer for the game. The nice thing about Japanese baseball is that you can bring in your own food and beer!
