2001-08-04 - 2:37 p.m.
Thursday morning began very early. After a restless night of sleep, I woke up at 5 am to meet Sean (co-worker) to be picked up at 6am by our Boss to go teach a group of jr. high students preparing for homestays in New Zealand. After waiting until about 6:30 with no sign of Mr. Boss, we went back up to our apartments to wait until the school board office opened. At about 8:30 we biked to the school board office ("the center") to learn that Sean had misunderstood Mr. Boss -- the class was at 6:00 at NIGHT! Nonetheless, the early start made for a productive day.
Two men from the office took Sean and I out for lunch at a sushi restaurant with a rotating bar. You yell out "Kappa maki, kudsai!" ("cucumber roll please!") and the chef makes it and sends it out on the little conveyer belt that circles the bar. Once again, my vegetarianism was met with much concern, but to everyone's surprise (except mine) there was plenty that I could eat. I am learning the little customs that go along with everyday routines, one by one. For example, even though it was obvious that our lunch was paid for because we were taken out by superiors, Sean and I both took out our wallets at the end in an attempt to pay, so that the superiors could tell us to put them away and we could thank them profusely for the meal. I now know to always take out my wallet at the end.
After lunch, Sean and I went on a most exciting excursion to the Hyaku Yen shop (100 yen shop). Like an American dollar store but a million times better (and also, less than a dollar w/ the exchange rate). We took a train one stop to Kisarazu, the closest city which is bigger than Kimitsu. I stocked up on everything from dishtowels to bowls to stickers to bandaids, all for 100 yen each. The stuff is really cute. It's a dangerous place. Afterwards, we biked home with the stuff we'd bought stashed in the baskets of our bikes -- a throwback to Amsterdam shopping.
Finally, it was time for the class with the students going to New Zealand. A man from the center picked us up and drove us way out into the country side to a school about 45 minutes away. It was beautiful drive as we left the overdeveloped and highly populated center of Kimitsu where we live. We drove through green hills which faded into black and gray towards the horizon, just (as the Kimitsu tourist brochure assured me) like a Chinese painting. Once at the school, we took off our shoes, put on green school-issued slippers, and met the English teachers. They explained the day's lesson to us -- Sean and I were just to correct letters which the students had written to host families and practice conversation.
When it was time for the class, Sean and I gathered with the other teachers outside the classroom. A student made an annoucement in Japanese, and we filed in to a round of applause from the students, who were seated. We sat in the front of the room until called up by the English teacher to introduce ourselves. Then the students broke up into groups and Sean and I worked together with about 4 students at a time. I was very impressed with their English ability. This group however, was specially chosen to attend this trip because of their language ability. We practiced conversation -- a big stumper was "How was your flight?" It was a challenge to explain without knowing any Japanese. At the end of the class, we lined up in front of the students again and a girl rose to read us a thank you in Japanese. More thank yous, more bows, and we were given a round of applause as we filed out of the room. Afterwards, we met in the staff room to discuss the lesson (or, I sat and listened to everyone else speak Japanese).
Boss then took Sean and I out to dinner at a nice restaurant in Kimitsu near the train station. I tried a new kind of bean, kind of like a lima bean, and had a grilled rice pattie and grilled eggplant with sesame sauce. While we were there, a couple of Boss' old students (he used to be a teacher) came up and said hi to him. I couldn't really understand the details, but it was a very familiar encounter -- the boys' surprise and laughter at running into their old junior high school teacher at age 21. we left the restaurant, making a motion to pay, which of course was refused. Boss dropped me and Sean back at our apartments at about 10:30, exhausted, and I had a wonderful night's sleep.
