We finally wrapped up the exams today – just two left, and the students were free to go out and participate in their clubs, go home and relax, and get ready for the meaningless classes next week before the big summer break.
I went to school and studied hard through the morning until about lunchtime, and then packed up my gear to go. It was interesting to see that lots of teachers that were leaving early the rest of the week were sticking around today, but I followed through and walked right out of there. A couple of teachers made comments that it must be nice to be able to leave early, and I just smiled and told them just how nice it is.
Even though I have permission to go home, even though I have a special arrangement, even though I put in plenty of hours and a few half days every year doesn’t really make up for it, I still feel a pang of guilt as I leave all the other teachers behind. I know I shouldn’t, but it still creeps up on me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in Japan for so long – maybe the overwork culture is creeping up on me. I decided today that if I’m going to show people what its like to work a reasonable schedule and still do a great job, I’m going to have to get over the guilt pangs.
This weekend is the STEP test, and for the first time ever Mr. Hayashi wasn’t asking me about whether I had gotten a phone call from STEP headquarters. Usually he’s really eager to find out if I’m going to be doing the interviews – this time he was silent about it. I never did get the call, and I think I might have been bumped off the A-list. I don’t mind – Kuniko and I are planning on seeing Yuri perform at a taiko drum concert that day, but it was kind of strange. I hope my students do well – I’ll be thinking about them on Sunday.
Back home I spent the afternoon scrubbing the bathroom. Later this month the Kageyama family is going to remodel their bathroom, so I offered the use of my bathroom for bathing purposes in the evenings, for about a week. So, I wanted to scrub that sucker clean. I won’t go into detail, but there were some things that had been in there long before I showed up – I don’t think my predecessor Andy did much in the way of cleaning.
I got a message from Carrie this afternoon – she invited me and Kuniko to go drinking at the rooftop beer garden in Akashi if we were free, but I’m a little light on cash lately, especially with the post-wedding party we’re attending tomorrow night. Instead I spent tonight working on my Japanese, listening to loud music (Unida). I had zarusoba for dinner – delicious.
