Today we had no classes, just a clean up session, and then after that an hour of speeches and stern warnings, and finally the students could go home for the summer vacation.
I was in charge of students cleaning up my classroom and so we cleaned the windows, and I enjoyed chatting with them as we worked. One of the students does a great impression of Oshita sensei, and we also talked about sports injuries.
It was incredibly hot in the gymnasium for the closing ceremony, and a couple of students passed out from the heat as they were standing there. I was lucky enough to be able to go outside when it was too hot, but the poor students were stuck there.
In the afternoon I hung out with some students at my desk, one of whom I shared a train with over the weekend. She asked me all about my trip to the museum, and we chatted for a long time in Japanese. She said she was really impressed that I went over and talked to her on the train – I guess she wasn’t expecting that.
After a while the vice principal gave me some paperwork to fill out. It’s the same paper I filled out last year – you write whether you will be in the office for each day during summer break. Just like last year I said that I would be there all day every day. This usually works with a nod and a wink – you disappear early and nobody seems to mind.
Mr. Hayashi paid me a visit and warned me that this year is very different, and they will be much more strict. He said that I’ll be working hours similar to my regular hours, from 7:30 to 4-5 in the afternoon. I was surprised that the system changed, but it doesn’t affect me much – I was planning on coming in to take advantage of the free air conditioning. I’m going to study anyway, might as well do it somewhere cool without distraction.
I turned in the paperwork to the vice principal and asked him why the policy had changed this year. He said that it hadn’t changed – I guess Mr. Hayashi was wrong. He told me that I can leave when I want, just let him know what I’m doing and it will be no problem. That’s nice to know – I wonder why Mr. Hayashi got the message all scrambled.
I left right on time today, and picked up some ingredients for tonight’s dinner at Ito Yokado. I used a recipe from a book that Kuniko got the other day. It was a yakiudon recipe, and it had some unusual steps… for example, I’ve never stir-fried using mayonnaise before. Following a recipe in Japanese is pretty tough – every once in a while I bump into a kanji that I don’t know so I have to guess, and I just fill in my own ideas here and there. Luckily, it turned out pretty good.
Tomorrow is my Friday – I’m officially taking Friday off so that Kuniko and I will have time to head to Osaka and visit the American embassy. We’re going to try to get the paperwork done for our legal marriage on Friday, because we both have lots of free time. Don’t panic, though – the marriage ceremony that counts is still on November 20th – a long way off. Still, at least in the eyes of the government, we’ll be husband and wife on Friday. That’s assuming that we are able to figure out the rather complicated paperwork involved.
