Today once again I had no classes, but it was really just a quirk in the schedule – starting tomorrow it will be back to normal. There were some classes going on for other teachers, however, and the staffroom was jumping with activity once again.
We had two new part-time teachers come to school today. One was a computer teacher that I had met previously – he’s one of those really young nervous guys who would get down and polish the floor with his dress shirt if you told him to.
The other guy was an older gentleman who used to be our new vice-principal’s principal. It was a weird connection. They got along great, and the new VP introduced me to him – in English. That was a twist – the new VP is a math teacher by trade, so a full scale intro in English kind of threw me. As for the new part-timer, we had a long talk in Japanese. He was really interested in me because he has a daughter who married a foreigner – an Israeli living in Kobe.
He mentioned that although his son-in-law can speak Japanese well enough, he can’t read or write it, and he was really impressed that I could. The more we talked about what exactly I could and couldn’t do the more I realized that I was just giving this guy ammunition the next time they meet up, so I tried to change the subject.
Arauchi sensei came by to ask me for some restaurant recommendations for my area. I gave him a few restaurants that I like, but really I don’t go out to many places besides the yakitori, and he has already been there. It was fun to give some recommendations, though – in Japanese, too. That goes to show how well I’ve settled into life here.
After school no ESS members showed up, so I made an exit right on time, and got a haircut in Befu on the way home. Kuniko has plans to meet up with a friend after work so I went ahead and ate leftovers for dinner tonight. Right now I’ve set aside some dinner for Kuniko and I’m just hanging out – she should get home any time now.
Tomorrow I can finally teach some classes – I’m really looking forward to that.
