I left Kuniko in a warm bed and walked off to work today. It was nearly dark as I walked around Ito Yokado, and when I got to the station there was nobody else there. Once in a while an express train would blow past me carrying a few people, but until my local train showed up I didn’t see anyone else.
Some people have longer holidays than I do, I guess. I walked to school and was the second teacher there. I spent most of the day bowing to people and wishing them a happy new year. I chatted with the vice principal, too – he was in a really great mood after having so much time off. A couple of teachers had taken a group trip to Singapore, so I scored some chocolate omiyage. The librarian had taken her family to Guam, and she told me all about her experiences there. It sounded like the whole thing was set up just for Japanese tourists.
Kuniko came and picked me up and together we went out to lunch at McDonald’s. We wanted to try a burger that they have for a limited time – it’s a double cheeseburger with Japanese mushrooms and a slightly sweet sauce. It was really good – I would it eat it again. They also had a shrimp version of chicken mcnuggets, and those were pretty good, too. A little expensive, though.
Tonight Kuniko went out drinking with some friends, and so I’m holding down the fort here. I made a simple dinner of rice and store-bought yakitori to go with some leftover kimchee. Tomorrow Kuniko has the day off again, and I’ll go in to work for the first half of the day. I need to start thinking about a lesson plan for my students and get ready for classes starting sometime next week.
