It’s starting to heat up even more around here – the temperature got into the low 30’s today, and the humidity is still up there. I spent a lot of time in the air-conditioned teacher’s office studying.

I had only one class, with Ms. Tsutsumi, and the students took a listening test to prepare them for the college entrance exams. It was an easy class for me – nothing really to do but tell them the answers and give them cues on what to listen for next time.

Mr. Urakami came by and tried to find out what I was doing yesterday. Everybody is curious, and the principal and vice-principal aren’t helping much – they won’t tell anyone anything, not even an alibi, so it just burns the curious people. I told Mr. Urakami that I was making teacher’s materials, and he seemed satisfied with that.

During most of the day I studied Japanese, but my brain was rejecting the words I tried to memorize. I figured that today wasn’t a memorization day, and instead did some reading. I read a couple of articles from the back of my textbook and at least got a little practice with that.

I was out of school a little early, and so I got home early and did a little bit of packing and laundry. I have all night tomorrow to get ready, but I just wanted to check and see if everything is going to fit – and I think it will. I’ll be traveling light, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Customs is going to love my bag – lots of weird little goodies in there.

Kuniko called and we chatted for about half an hour. We’re both not thrilled about being apart for as long as it will be. She’ll be taking the teacher’s exam while I’m gone, so I won’t be around to give her encouragement. I’ll be very happy to see her again once I get back.

The whole house is open, but it’s still hot. I’m off to close up the bedroom and turn on the A/C. Tomorrow is the last day before my vacation!

Today I got a chance to sleep in early, because I was mysteriously recruited to do some work for the prefectural board of education. They had asked about me through my principal, so I volunteered to help them out.

I met Mr. Hasegawa, the very friendly supervisor of the prefecture. He’s the top dog of the JET program in my prefecture, and he’s really a great guy. He had remembered me from some conversations we had early on in Tokyo and later in Yashiro, so he thought of me when this job came up.

My principal and vice-principal were pretty “cloak and dagger” about this, and I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone what I was doing. Mr. Hasegawa was also kind of secretive about it, and as we waited for one other ALT we chatted about my school, how my first year on JET was, and my expectations for the next year.

A few minutes later, Monica showed up and met us. A JET from the northern part of the prefecture, she spoke great Japanese, and she’s been studying hard and taking classes. I got the impression that maybe she studied a little too hard, but she seemed nice enough. Together we drove over to the library at the center of Akashi park, and went into a audio video room to be briefed on our mission.

Mr. Hasegawa introduced us to two other teachers, one of which also spoke English. All together the three teachers were responsible for creating the teacher’s exam for prospective teachers in the prefecture. These exams are notoriously difficult, and cover topics like English, Japanese, kanji, biology, history, you name it. It turns out that we were going to make the listening part of the English exam.

We were given the script, and then we went inside a sound studio to do sound levels and testing. The room was also set up for video, but we didn’t use it. The lights illuminating the stage were really bright, and you couldn’t help feeling a bit nervous when under the scrutiny of the teachers and the lights.

After fooling around a little and doing some practice runs, we started recording small pieces, and then the sound guy would put them together onto a tape in the right order. I had to over-enunciate words and basically sound like I was speaking to a kindergarten class. The only hitch was that I had to speak at a natural speed – without noticing my voice had slowed down to accomodate the people I speak with at school.

Monica was a natural at the voice part, and she did great. My voice seemed a little too nasal, but at the end the test sounded pretty good, and very professional. We took a break for lunch, and then worked until about 3 p.m. Afterwards, Mr. Hasegawa asked us if we could work on a few more secret projects in August. I volunteered to do that, so he said he’d talk to my principal. Monica is attending a Japanese language workshop in Nagoya during August, so she won’t be able to make it.

Overall it was a really interesting experience, and I was sworn to secrecy afterwards. In an interesting conflict-of-interest sidenote, it turns out that I know three teachers that are taking the teacher’s exam next week, one of which is Kuniko. We joked on the phone about it afterwards, but we both thought it would be best not to share anything about it. I’d hate for her to pass the exam and then think that it was only because she got some inside info from me.

Mr. Hayashi, Mr. Komuri, and Mr. Urakami all wanted to take me out to sushi as a going away party. We met up in Akashi around 7 p.m., and had a great sushi dinner. The beer was flowing, and we had lots of sushi. Lots. I don’t remember everything we had, but it started with a big plate of sashimi (straight raw fish – about eight different kinds). Then we had onigiri sushi (raw fish on top of a mound of sushi rice). We had around seven or eight different onigiri sushi, and then moved to makizushi (sushi rolls). We had four different rolls of makizushi.

Mr. Hayashi had kind of guessed what I was up to, and hinted around looking for details, but I didn’t give him much to go on. By now, I’m pretty good at keeping secrets from him. At one point an older guy bought me a beer because he was impressed with my chopstick skills – that was very nice.

Afterwards we headed back, and I took my usual anti-hangover precautions, four aspirin, and about 500 mL of water. Tomorrow is a school day – and it’s back to work!

We woke up fairly early Monday morning. Kuniko has a day off, so she was planning on just hanging out around my place until I get off work at 10:30. I got cleaned up and headed out the door in shorts and a T-shirt. Today at school is the second half of the mini-sports day, so it’s casual dress.

At school Mr. Hayashi and Mr. Komuri were raving about how well the dinner at Graciani’s went. They both said that I missed out on a great opportunity, and they showed me pictures of everyone having a good time. I stopped in later and asked the office lady how it went, and she said that it was excellent. She even got a birthday cake from the staff.

I hadn’t heard anything more about doing the recording job that my principal had asked me about earlier, but today I found out that I’ll be doing that on Tuesday. This caused a bit of a problem, because by the time they figured out when and where it was, I was already out the door and heading home. In the end, Mr. Hayashi called me at home to ask me to check with the principal, but I could tell he was curious. He’s getting cut out of the loop on this one, and nobody likes it when that happens.

When I got home, I got a warm greeting from Kuniko. She had bought me a takoyaki grill! What’s takoyaki? Little balls of dough, cooked up with a little chunk of octopus inside, and then served with sauce and some mayonnaise. They’re very good, and pretty popular in this area. Now I can make them at home! Kuniko fired up the grill and showed me how it’s done. They turned out great. She had bought a big chunk of octopus to cut up and put inside, and seeing that sitting on the counter was a real eye-opener.

While we were preparing the takoyaki, I called my folks and chatted with them for a while. Kuniko got on the phone with everyone, which was her first chance to talk to my family. I think it went pretty well – Kuniko was really nervous, but she did just fine. What do you say in a situation like that? Maybe now the ice is broken and we can have some more chats later on.

After a big lunch my phone started ringing, and I pretended I wasn’t home. Instead, Kuniko and I went and took a nap that lasted almost three hours. After the nap, we gathered up all our stuff, and headed to Sannomiya.

Originally, that is, before the three hour nap, our plans were to do some shopping in Sannomiya, have dinner, and then I would go to my class and Kuniko would go home. As it ended up, we skipped the shopping and did dinner only. What a dinner it was!

Kuniko suggested on the train ride over that we have dim sum. I haven’t had dim sum in years – not since I was working for Synapta in Palo Alto. Kuniko knew a place near the station, and since it was early we sat down without waiting and Kuniko ordered up some 食べ放題 (all you can eat) dim sum. The price was amazing – $15. In a place like that, foreigners can really do some damage. There was a big menu of different kinds of dim sum – you just tell the nice lady which ones and how many. There was also noodles, dessert, the works. Unbelievable. Kuniko was ordering like a pro, and I was enjoying all the food. It tasted great.

After dinner we walked to the YMCA, and I showed Kuniko where my class was. I saw some of my teachers walking around beforehand, and they smiled at me but didn’t really stop and chat. I think they probably saw me with Kuniko and thought, “So that’s his motivation…”

Kuniko and I walked down to the end of the street, and we said our goodbyes. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to see her walk away. I won’t see her again for almost a month – it will be tough. I’ve gotten used to looking forward to the weekends and knowing that she’ll be around soon enough. I know people that are maintaining relationships over long distances – seeing each other only a couple of times a year, and here I am sweating it out over a few weeks.

Class went really well, and we are moving along quickly now. I’m going to miss the next six meetings, so I’ll be playing catch-up big time when I get back. Between that and the jet lag, I’ll have my work cut out for me.

I got a message from Mr. Komuri – he wants to throw a going away party for me at his favorite sushi place. I’ve been there once before, but a week after we were there the owner found out he had cancer and closed the shop. Now he is opening it up for us because Mr. Komuri is a friend. I hope he is careful with the blowfish sushi – that’s my favorite, but it’s also the most dangerous. Just what I need – a sushi slicer that is looking death square in the eye.

Well, the tacos did turn out great. Kuniko helped me by chopping the veggies, and we put together quite a feast. Kuniko had brought along some cake from a bakery in Osaka, so we had dessert covered as well.

In the end Kuniko decided to stay the night here, so we got an early start the next day, since we had to get her home to pick up her car and drive to Takasago Minami for interviews.

Around six in the morning we walked to the train station, but we ended up missing the train by two minutes. Poor Kuniko had to wait around for another fifteen minutes early in the morning for the next train. I walked back home and cleaned up my act, and then around 8 o’clock I went to the school.

As I was walking up, Kuniko pulled into the parking lot in her car, and we waved at each other like we hadn’t seen each other in months.

The STEP test is always easy money, and today was no exception. I had a little less money this time since I wasn’t interviewing, but it was pretty simple. I sat around with one of the office ladies and chatted in Japanese. She was joining the gang for a dinner at Graciani’s, but I had cancelled to spend time with Kuniko. I told her that she would enjoy the food and the atmosphere. It’s always fun at Graciani’s.

Mr. Hayashi was a little sketchy on the details of what I was going to do, but he did ask me to make a speech about the qualification level of the examiners. Some of them had gotten in under a “grandfather clause” and so they have the same level as the people they are interviewing – which seems strange. I made a quick speech to put a little pressure on them, and there was some uncomfortable shifting in chairs among some of the older teachers. I think my speech had the desired effect.

Mr. Hayashi occasionally gave me some papers and asked me to walk around the hallways looking like I was doing something important, so I did. All the students waiting for an interview would look at me with a mix of fear and concern – they were hoping that I wasn’t their interviewer.

Lots of Takasago Minami teachers were helping by hanging out with the interviewees before the interview, organizing papers, and just being around in case something happened. That was an easy job, too, but not as easy as chatting with the office lady in the room with all the fans and the cold tea.

After the test was over, Mr. Hayashi gave me around $140, and sent me home. Kuniko called and told me that she was heading my way, so I went to the station to meet her there. After three trains had come and gone, it seemed like something was wrong. I hurried home, and barely caught Kuniko as she was heading the other direction. She had waited at my door for 20 minutes, and was worried about me. We must have passed each other at some point – I felt terrible. She was just relieved that I was OK.

After a while we heard from Yasu. Yasu is going to take care of my plants while I’m gone, so he was coming over to see where the plants were and to pick up my spare key. He was also my alibi to get out of dinner at Graciani’s.

It only took five minutes to see where the plants were. Then, we went out for some pasta at an Italian restaurant that Yasu knew about. It was right next door to Carrefour, and the food was pretty good. I had a carbonara, and Kuniko had a shrimp and mushroom pasta. Yasu had a fresh vegetable pasta that looked really good.

We chatted for a long time, the conversations drifting between English and Japanese. The people at the next table would be able to understand us, and then they wouldn’t, and then they would. The food was really good, and not very expensive. Usually Italian food is more expensive here, because things that are perceived as European seem to cost more.

Back home we split up some of the desserts that I had on hand – Kuniko’s cake, and some ice cream from New Zealand that I had bought at Carrefour. We sat around the living room talking about places we all wanted to visit inside Japan – there are lots of interesting places that I haven’t seen yet.

Yasu headed home early, so Kuniko and I did some cleanup and went to bed. I have to work for a couple of hours tomorrow, so it’s early to bed for me.

This morning I woke to a wet morning, but the good news was that it was nice and cool. I spent the morning getting organized, having a light breakfast, and doing laundry. My folks called in, and so we spent some time chatting – this time next week I’ll be in California.

The rain stopped, and I even saw a little sunshine in the distance. I saw this as my big opportunity, so I tucked my umbrella in my pocket, and made a run for Carrefour.

I really tried to do a light shopping trip, especially considering that I would have to lug everything back. I ended up buying quite a bit of stuff for tonight’s dinner and the weekend in general. I picked up a few things to bring back to America, and in general had a fun time shopping.

I’m hoping the tacos turn out great tonight!

Today was supposed to be one half of a “sports day”, but it really was just an excuse to wear out the students out on the field in the morning. Mr. Hayashi took me with him to Himeji to run some errands, and then we came back and had lunch in the cafeteria.

Mr. Hayashi asked me to help him with teaching a class to the students going to Australia. The first two students had arrived and then they paged all the teachers to go to the teacher’s room for a meeting. Mr. Hayashi had forgotten, so he left me in front of the fifteen students, without any lesson or plans.

I faked it – I told them about wearing shoes inside the house, about taking a shower in the morning rather than a bath at night, ordering food at McDonald’s, and basically winging it big time. The students watched in a strange fascination, but they were already pretty tired from running around outside in the heat.

Luckily, Mr. Hayashi came back in about twenty minutes and bailed me out. He talked a little about the trip, and how they are going to set up a website for their parents to follow along on their adventures. I’ll be interested to see how that goes.

After school I went into Kobe and attended my second Japanese class. The difficulty went up a notch, which is good. There were a couple of new students there, one guy from France. We’ve got quite an international crew. After the class I did a little bit of shopping, and then had some donburi for dinner at the ramen joint with the free kimchee. The donburi was delicious – it was grilled pork on a bed of rice with a bit of egg and nori on top. Yum!

Coming out of the restaurant and hitting the lively streets of Kobe – it was quite an experience. There’s something about walking out on the street on a steamy summer night with people walking all around speaking a language you can barely understand – signs you can barely read… it’s times like these where you really feel like you’re in a foreign country. There’s people on the streets hawking goods, guys trying to get you to meet girls, and everyone is staring at you as you walk by. Wow.

Now I’m back home with some shaved ice and trying to beat the heat. Tomorrow I’m off to Carrefour for some shopping – I’m cooking tacos for Kuniko tomorrow night.

Man, it’s hot – hot and wet. I’ve got a couple more months of this to go… where was all this hot air when I was huddled in front of my heater five months ago? You definitely get the extremes when it comes to weather here in Japan.

I did another half day at work today. In the morning I went over and talked to Mr. Hayashi. I told him that something had come up on Sunday night and I wouldn’t be able to join him at Graciani’s. To him I’m passing up a free dinner with a beautiful woman – what am I, crazy? Little does he know that I’m having a free dinner with another beautiful woman anyway. Sometimes things get a little weird around here.

After I left school I ran some errands at the local grocery and bought a huge lunch – sushi, inari (little pockets of fried sweetened tofu filled with sushi rice), two mini-sandwiches, and a roll filled with a cocktail weiner and some catsup. It was a feast for me and I really enjoyed my lunch. To make up for it I just had rice and a hard-boiled egg for dinner. Actually, it was garlic chili rice – I had some sauce leftover from something else and it worked out great.

I memorized more vocabulary tonight – nothing too exciting. The verb of the day is 移る (utsuru) which means “to move”, as in moving from one house to another.

Tomorrow is a mini-sports day at school. There are no classes, but apparently the students are going to go out there and work up a sweat. I’ll bet at least five of them pass out by the end of the day. I’ve also got my Japanese class in Sannomiya. Afterwards I might hit the ramen place again and take advantage of the all-you-can-eat kimchee. Oh, yeah.

I went over to the yakitori tonight, and there was some great news from the master. His wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl two weeks ago. It’s been that long since I’ve been in there, so it was news to me. The funny thing was that he didn’t mention it until about halfway through my meal.

He showed me a picture he took with his cellphone – what a cute baby! The master was definitely proud. Filling in for his wife, the master’s mother quizzed me on all kinds of things, and really put my Japanese to the test. She didn’t seem to mind if I didn’t understand something, she just kept talking. Wow, it was tough. The master interjected every once in a while to help me out, but it was good practice.

That reminds me, Kuniko told me a funny story last weekend. Apparently her students had asked her if she knew how to wink.

For some reason, Japanese people have trouble winking. Maybe it’s just not part of the culture, but winking is pretty rare. A long time ago I taught Kuniko how to wink, and it’s been one of our communication tools that we use, especially when other people are around.

Anyway, she demonstrated her winking technique to her students, and the classfull of girls went nuts (Kuniko teaches at a all-girls high school). She said that the students’ reaction was, “So that’s how you got your boyfriend!”

I’m going to study some flashcards, and then hit the hay early tonight. The bedroom temperature is dropping rapidly, and I’m hoping to have another comfortable night’s sleep.

On the way to school today I saw a lady wearing a T-shirt that said, no kidding, “I Want To Barry My Face In Your Breasts”. Why can’t I find T-shirts like that when I go shopping?

I finished marking my exams, and so Mr. Hayashi and I spent the morning chatting and catching up. This weekend is the STEP test. Usually I’m one of the interviewers, but this time I am sitting it out. I’m going to help by being a supervisor. It pays half as much as an interview, but there is no real work to speak of. I’m not sure why I’m off the team, but Mr. Hayashi felt really bad. He wants me to come to Graciani’s for dinner afterwards, and he’s trying to set me up with one of the ladies from the office. What he doesn’t know is that the lady in the office is a friend of Kuniko’s, and she knows all about our relationship.

Kuniko will be an interviewer at the school on Sunday, so we will be working together again. Mr. Hayashi told me that he didn’t want to invite any other women to Graciani’s because they don’t like to have to share the attention they get from the men. I just smile, nod, and continue to be amazed.

Anyway, Kuniko and I have made some plans behind the scenes. Hopefully she’ll be able to come visit me on Saturday and stay the night, and maybe again on Monday. I asked Mr. Hayashi for some extra time off to do some shopping, but it will really be time for Kuniko and I to spend together before I ship off to California.

Tonight I’m hoping that the yakitori is open – I really want to say hello to the master before I leave for America!

Today was the big day for my English students – they had the listening exam, which makes up around half of their grade in my class. After marking the first few classes’ exams, it seems like it was an easy test. I’m glad, actually. I’d like them to have some confidence going into the next term.

After lunch the history teacher came by to hang out with me. He insists that 15 minutes conversation a day is improving his English. I agree that it’s improving, but I don’t point out to him that it’s closer to 45 minutes a day. Still, he’s a nice enough guy and he’s got some interesting insight into the male-dominant Japanese culture. This is information I can use in the future – so I’m listening carefully and taking notes.

Some of the interesting things he said today got my attention. He saw a woman at a conference he was attending the other day, who was half Japanese, half German. The history teacher referred to her as “half”. Later he referred to her as “not pure” Japanese. Some of these terms might be found offensive in the right situations, but I concentrated on figuring out where these ideas come from, and if there are negative connotations.

He said that people that are half Japanese have a harder time finding jobs in Japan. It’s assumed that since they were raised at least partly by someone who isn’t Japanese, they probably don’t know the culture or language as well as someone raised by Japanese parents. He described a Japanese philosophy about two rabbits. If you see two rabbits in the forest, you’ll only be able to catch one. If you try to catch both, you’ll end up with none. He tried to explain that it meant that you can only be good at one thing – people raised with two languages are really only good with one of them, and that language won’t be Japanese. So they are not desirable as teachers or employees. Interesting.

I gave him some tips on meeting girls, and I’ve discovered that I’m becoming a primary source of information in this particular arena for him. I’m working on overcoming his shyness. Once we get over that, look out ladies!

I managed to avoid getting recruited into the softball team, and got home at a decent hour. After doing some chores and cleaning up around the house I decided to go visit the yakitori – it’s been a while since I was there. Unfortunately, it was his night off, so I ended up eating okonomiyaki at the local restaurant. I discovered that it can be lonely eating okonomiyaki alone.

Back home I exchanged some e-mail with Kuniko, writing only in Japanese. It’s good practice for me, although it takes a really long time for me to respond. We’re coming up with plans for this weekend, which will be chock full of interesting situations.

Exams are continuing at Takasago Minami, and so the teachers are having it easy. Tomorrow the fun ends for me – the students are taking my test and I’m responsible for marking them. I should be fairly busy for a while. Luckily it means I’ll get to skip the softball tournament at the other school.

Today Mr. Hayashi took me and Mr. Komuri out to lunch at an okonomiyaki place. It was really good – they even had Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki… delicious! We sat and chatted about various things and relaxed, then when we got back to school Mr. Hayashi cut me loose for the day.

I went home and changed clothes, and then headed into Kobe to attend my first class at the YMCA. The teacher was very nervous – maybe it was her first time. They are rotating teachers to give everyone a shot, and so most of these folks haven’t taught before.

One interesting thing about the class is the students. There are about twelve students. There was two from California, one from New Zealand, two from India, five from China, one from Hungary, and one from Spain. Since very few people spoke English, including the teacher, we made do with Japanese. It was a weird experience to use Japanese to talk to a Hungarian, but it worked.

The class itself seemed a bit on the easy side, but maybe that’s just because it’s only just begun. I learned a few things and I made a few mistakes, so maybe it’s a good level for me.

One of the guys was raving about ramen during the class, so on the way home I stopped in at a noodle shop for some ramen. The bonus – all you could eat kimchee. Oh, yeah… I loaded up. The kimchee was really good, too. They were selling it in jars to take home, but I ate what was free and got out of there with a stomach full.

The class looks like it will be useful, and after all, the price is right. I’m hoping it will improve my Japanese even more!

Kuniko was completely awake at five a.m. – apparently her body cannot tell the difference between a work day and a weekend day. I woke up for a while too, and we made some breakfast, chatted for a while, and then pretty soon we fell asleep again. This time we slept until 10:30 or so in the morning, a proper sleep-in time.

We got our act together and went to Umeda. We were in search of an engagement ring.

Kuniko and I had talked about the ring the day I proposed, and I explained what my thinking was behind not buying it on my own. I wanted to get a ring that she liked. She agreed completely, and so together we went to some stores in the Umeda area to see what was out there.

I think at first Kuniko had a bit of sticker shock. Maybe she didn’t realize how much these things can be. I knew it could get pricey, and so I had been saving some money, just in case.

To make a long story short, we found a ring. We were both happy with it; it cost a lot less than what I had expected to pay, and it looks great on her finger.

After making the buy, we went back to her neighborhood to rent a movie and stay inside where it was cool. We watched “Love, Actually” which was a pretty fun movie. For dinner we went over to the local Indian food restaurant, where the cooks prepared a great spicy meal for us.

We made plans to see each other again next weekend – the last weekend before I leave for my trip to the USA. It was a great weekend with Kuniko, and it was tough to say goodbye.

As I walked home from my local station in Futami, I bumped into a nice lady that I’ve seen around town a couple of times. We chatted in Japanese and she said that she wanted me to teach her English. I explained that my schedule was a bit full. She complained that she was lonely, and wanted to learn English. I got the heck out of there as fast and as politely as I could.

Now I’m off to bed. It’s back to work tomorrow, and I have my first Japanese class at the YMCA in Sannomiya.

I got up this morning with ‘nary a hangover and was off to Befu to run some errands in town. The big shocker was that the local Uniqlo store was closed, so I missed out on the chance to buy some cooler clothes. It wasn’t a wasted trip, though – I picked up some goodies for the folks back home and got some roast beef at the Ito Yokado near the station.

Back home I ate a roast beef sandwich and got all packed up for my trip to Osaka. I left a bit early for Osaka, in order to stop at Universal Studios Japan to buy a present for Kuniko.

Lately it’s been hot and humid in Kansai, about 80 degrees F and 80-90% humidity. Oh yeah. I’m a sweat machine. The air conditioning on the trains and in the stations is a life-saver. At USJ I picked up the gift for Kuniko, and I had a little extra time to spare, so I walked around and took in some of the sights outside the park.

I found a couple of interesting restaurants that look like they were imported here along with the rest of the part – a rib restaurant/microbrewery, and a Hawaiian burger restaurant. It’s a long way to go for ribs, but I might do it – I’m hoping to try one of those in the near future.

I met up with Kuniko at her place around 6 p.m., and she cooked up a great dinner. I sliced ingredients, and she managed the rest of the dinner. It was a Japanese cold noodle dish, with some spicy sauce, and strips of egg, cucumber, and ham. It really hit the spot.

Afterwards we spent lots of time chatting about our week and talking about the future – it was time well spent. I think that Kuniko and I are both on the same page in terms of timing. We ended up staying up late watching TV and talking – we finally went to bed around midnight. Luckily, she’s got air conditioning.

Today was the first day of exams for our students. They get a half day of school during the exams, and I usually also get a half day. Because of some situations in the past where I’ve had to stay longer, I don’t usually plan on getting out early, but if it happens, great!

My test is administered on Tuesday of next week. I’ve heard rumors of an inter-high school softball game that is supposed to happen next Tuesday as well. I think they are trying to recruit me to play. No thank you! Let me know when the ping pong match is.

Ms. Miyake took the written STEP test a couple of weeks ago, and she was going for the second highest level. She insisted after the fact that she failed, but today she found out that she passed. Mr. Hayashi went over the results with her, and they spent a lot of time going over the answers. Mr. Hayashi has the top level of STEP qualification, so he’s able to help a lot of our teachers towards getting there.

After talking with Ms. Miyake, Mr. Hayashi told me that he thought the STEP test must be getting easier. He seemed worried that many people will get the same qualification as him – it seems to be a bit of a blow to his ego. I told him that everyone knows his English is great – no need to worry. Still, I think he’s not happy with more and more teachers getting better. He likes being the big fish in a small pond.

Mr. Komuri invited me to lunch at noon – we decided to meet at my desk before heading out for some food. I had an extra hour before that, so I went up to my classroom with Ms. Miyake and we did some listening practice for about 45 minutes. She had recorded some English conversations off of a radio program, and I asked her questions to test her comprehension. I also explained some of the vocabulary for her. I think it will be a benefit for her in the long run.

We wrapped up the practice at five minutes until noon, but when I got to the staffroom, Mr. Komuri wasn’t there. I waited at my desk until about 12:30, and then figured he wasn’t coming. I walked to the neighborhood grocery store and got a sandwich, instead.

Around 1:30 Mr. Komuri showed up, and he asked what I had for lunch. I explained that I had waited for him for about half an hour, and then just went out for a sandwich. He seemed surprised. I guess Mr. Hayashi had seen me and Ms. Miyake head our of the staffroom together and told Mr. Komuri that I was eating with her instead. Mr. Komuri apologized, and I chalked it up to a communication problem.

Around 2:00 Mr. Hayashi came back, and sat down with me to chat for a while. He asked me what I had for lunch, and asked me if I had been helping Ms. Miyake with her English. I think he was jealous! He told me that if she passes the next test, she’ll be giving me the credit. He said it all with a smile, but I don’t think he was too thrilled. Hmmm…

I did get to leave school early, so it was easy to meet up with Antoine in Sannomiya at 7 p.m. We walked around in vain searching for a revolving sushi type place, and finally gave up and went to a regular sushi place. There we did our best ordering sushi in Japanese. Antoine knows no Japanese at all, so it was all on me. I did my best, and we got a pretty wide assortment of raw fish to eat. This restaurant was strange in that they gave lots of fish, and only a tiny little lump of sushi rice underneath. It was good, though!

Afterwards we went to the Belgian beer place and I ordered the “Large Glass” of Hoeegarden White. It’s the size of two pints – you need to use both hands to lift the glass when it’s full. The price is cheaper by 200 yen than buying two individual beers.

Antoine and I struck up a conversation with a couple of teachers sitting next to us. The guy was a teacher at a school near Akashi – he teaches math. His English was pretty good, though. He was with a 19-year old girl that was cute. Apparently she is a part-time teacher at the school as well. She said she also works at Starbucks and plays in a punk rock band. She didn’t seem to thrilled to chat with us, but her friend made her keep talking.

He said that he is married, and has a 2-year old daughter at home. It seemed strange to Antoine and I that this guy is out drinking with some 19-year old girl when he’s got a wife and child at home. This is something that we’ve seem before in other situations. That definitely wouldn’t fly back in the USA.

The guy insisted on giving me his phone number and e-mail – he wants us all to go to dinner together. Maybe we will – he might be a good connection for a job down the line.

After the Belgian place we went back to the trains and headed home. I was pretty zonked out. I’m definitely ready for the weekend.

Today was the last official day for classes at my school. Tomorrow, the final exams begin for the term. Most of my classes today were review classes, so there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do but chat with the students and goof off.

I did spend a long time studying today. Ms. Miyake found an interesting textbook for me to use, and I’m able to practice reading with it. It’s much easier than the children’s books that I had borrowed. The level is a bit more advanced, but the vocabulary is more focused on what I’ve learned already.

Mr. Hayashi spent a lot of time today trying to convince me in a very Japanese fashion to do things that he wants me to do. For example, he told me that he heard that people that know Japanese have a very easy time finding a job on the west coast of America. I told him very directly that I’d much rather work in Japan. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to be too excited about me doing that. There are a couple of theories that I have, but who knows his real motivation?

Lately his tune has been the same, so I’ve decided to take all his career advice with a grain of salt. After all, he’s the same guy that forgets classes, listens to blank tapes in his car for the positive alpha waves, and calls his students monkeys without tails. I like the guy – he’s really a good person, he’s maybe just a bit too much sometimes. Can I work with him for two more years? Sure, it’s like jousting with Jell-O.

I left the staffroom about 15 minutes early because I wanted to watch the baseball team practicing after school. One interesting ritual they have is when somebody walks to the field, they all say something I couldn’t understand and they take off their hats and bow. No matter what they’re doing, they stop and bow. Weird. I watched them practice for a little while and while I was watching, one of the managers gave me a glass of iced soda.

A baseball “manager” in Japan means the person that manages the equipment, keeps the players refreshed and happy, and generally cleans up after the team. There are two managers for the baseball team, both girls. I know them from my classes, so I chatted with them a little bit. Everyone was curious why I was out there, but it was fun to watch and see some of my students in a different context.

Back home I cooked up some sausages that I picked up a long time ago at Carrefour, and had some wakame (seaweed) rice on the side. I decided to take a night off of studying to relax and recharge – I don’t want to burn out.

After dinner the YMCA called and said that I was accepted for the Japanese class. They asked me to come tomorrow to the first class, and I said yes, and thank you, and hung up, before I realized that I had already made plans with Antoine. Oops. Well, it’s a free class, so I’ll catch up with them on Monday. I’m already cutting classes – can you believe it?