It was raining cats and dogs today, and when I arrived at work I was a little moist, despite having an umbrella during my commute.
Today a class took one of my exams, and so I marked those quickly and then scooted out the door for a long lunch with Keiko and her friends. I’ve had lunch with Keiko and her friends a couple of times. The group changes slightly each time, but usually it is just a big meal and lots of talking. The idea is for them to practice their English, but lately they are using more and more Japanese since they know that I can understand it. While it makes them more comfortable, it’s not really a good way for them to learn English.
We had a pretty good time at the restaurant. It was filled with people, 99% of them women. They were all stealing glances at our table to see us speaking English (and Japanese) and there was an interesting side discussion as the women at our table gossiped about the others. I work in a small town, and so everyone wants to talk about who is doing what and whose son is doing this and that. If they put a little bit of their gossip energy into studying English they’d have it whipped by now!
After a long lunch I came back to work and putted around for about 20 minutes, and then I gathered up my stuff and left. On my way out I was walking down the hall to the exit, and by chance the vice principal walked out of an office and towards me. He saw me, and then looked at his watch, and then came walking towards me a little faster.
I’ll admit, my heart kind of skipped a beat – I’m leaving early and my boss is coming over to talk to me. We have an agreement about when I can leave during exam period, so I shouldn’t be worried. Sometimes there are miscommunications though; it has happened before.
He came up to me and said, “It is very late. You can leave much earlier!” I was relieved to hear it and promised that I’d leave earlier tomorrow.
Actually on Tuesday we had a little talk and he told me that I can leave in the afternoon through the exam period, and that I should just use my common sense on when to leave. That’s a big breakthrough. Sometimes things are pretty rigid and formal, especially about coming and going from school. He is saying that he trusts me to make the call whether it’s OK or not, and it was nice to hear. I haven’t worked at a company that trusted me to come and go as I please since I worked for Synapta back in 2001.
Tonight’s dinner is yakisoba, prepared by yours truly. Last night’s pasta was a hit and so I’ll try to keep the streak alive. It’s wet and cold outside, so heating up the kitchen with the frying pan is something I’m looking forward to.
