And the timing? Perfect!
I went out for an Indian food tonight, a sayonara to our little Kotoen school, with Ruben, Julian, Sanae and Kumiko. Kumiko brought me pink flowers as a goodbye present even though I will see her before I leave to teach me how to wear my yukata. A dimwit Japanese guy who worked there and I kept calling Superman because he was wearing a black sweater with the Superman logo on it, took our picture, but he’s a terrible photographer. Everyone ate everything from Set A which gives you tons of food for only 1500 yen. I am so full. But on the way home, I needed something sweet and I chose M&M’s which I normally don’t like, but they were so good.
I have a Monster Ballads playlist on my iPod that I can’t stop listening to.
My last day at Kotoen was on Wednesday. Chiaki, the university student who told me I was her favorite teacher, faxed a letter to me from somewhere and it was so sweet. Tomoyo, a junior high school student who takes hours to produce a sentence, also wrote me a letter and got me a really nice bracelet that I would so wear as opposed to the ugly picture frame Mariko gave me. I went to thank Mariko for the gift and she told me I could put a picture in it and give it me dad. “Good idea!” I faked through a huge smile. As if! I couldn’t give the frame as a serious gift. It’s THAT bad. When she was saying goodbye to me, I thought she was going to cry which was a bit annoying and would have been really awkward because I wasn’t feeling too sad. Aki came to see me on my last day, but I’ll be hanging out with her soon against Nova regulations. Crazy Hiroshi with a wife and a girlfriend didn’t know it was my last day, but on Thursday when I was at Takarazuka, he showed up with a present for me, a Gaspard et Lisa stuffed dog toy that’s quite cute. He went out of his way! And a different Mariko showed up at Voice today to say goodbye and to give me information about a store we talked about ages ago. Awww. My students love me.
My weirdo roommate says the most retarded things ALL THE TIME at work. The other day this girl walks in and says hello to everyone and Jessica goes, "Long time no visual confirmation of your existence," like it's totally normal. And randomly she'll bust out with, "I ate a liter of ice cream last night. What do you think of that?" And she comes into work like AN HOUR before she has to. And because I'm going to hell, 2 weeks ago after telling her ot clean up her detergent from the bathroom floor like normal human beings, I cleaned the entire bathroom to sparkling status and left a note on the mirror, "This is what a clean bathroom looks like!" Take THAT!
On Monday we went for Mexican in Osaka for Grainne’s birthday with Rei after watching movies and having blueberry pancakes with ice cream for breakfast. We snuck in a chocolate cake and a guitar player who sounds just like James Taylor sang her Happy Birthday. We’d had margaritas and daiquiris and when I suggested karaoke, everyone was game. We walked in the rain and found a too expensive place, so we decided to go to the cheap one by our house, but by the time we took the trains all the way back, the buzz had worn off and we were just tired. I’d already declared it cheesy 80’s music/Madonna night, too! Another night, we said.
Tuesday, after going food shopping and watching Gilmore Girls and going stir crazy, I saw Crash in Kobe for 1000 yen Ladies Day. In Japan, you can bring whole meals into the theater, so while Grainne got McDonald’s, I got some Bolognese sandwich from a Doutour coffee shop. I have refused to eat anymore McDonald’s (even though I did slip a few fries) because I’ve eaten more McDonald’s here in a year then I have in the past 10 years of my life, I’d guess. And Crash, wow. Is the world really like that? Now I understand why the Japanese think America is dangerous and all Americans have guns.
A student was TOTALLY flirting with me on Thursday. It was the last lesson of the day and he had a tennis racquet. We just introduced ourselves in the beginning, both claiming to like tennis, and I tried to do a lesson, I really did, the What’s Important To You lesson, but he just kept changing the subject and asking me questions, and when it was all over, he asked if I wanted to play tennis with him sometime. Now that I write it out, it doesn’t sound like flirting, but I assure you, it so was. And it was kind of nice to remember what that’s like.
In Voice today, we spent most of the 40 minutes talking about my allergies. The Japanese are always so shocked that I can’t eat fish or soybeans. I start off by nonchalantly saying I don’t eat fish. They’re thrown off-guard by this, naturally, but then I say I have an allergy. So what about sashimi? No. Sushi? No. Takoyaki? NO! They love it though.
I had a group of older men pissing themselves laughing today in a lesson. One of the guys was telling me I need to visit Mt. Fuji because right now it’s beautiful with snow on top of it. I kept nodding throughout the whole thing and then I simply said, “I don’t like snow.” The timing? Perfect. The reaction? Laughs all around. Damn, I’m good. But as much as I like making them laugh, I also hate feeling like I’m their entertainment. I don’t get paid enough for that.
Do you ever feel like sometimes you’re too nice to someone, like, you’re nice, and you just know they don’t deserve it?
Monday I’m going to see sumo! Tuesday I’m getting a haircut and hanging out with Yuuko, one of my students! And then I begin my last full week of work. It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming.
I have a Monster Ballads playlist on my iPod that I can’t stop listening to.
My last day at Kotoen was on Wednesday. Chiaki, the university student who told me I was her favorite teacher, faxed a letter to me from somewhere and it was so sweet. Tomoyo, a junior high school student who takes hours to produce a sentence, also wrote me a letter and got me a really nice bracelet that I would so wear as opposed to the ugly picture frame Mariko gave me. I went to thank Mariko for the gift and she told me I could put a picture in it and give it me dad. “Good idea!” I faked through a huge smile. As if! I couldn’t give the frame as a serious gift. It’s THAT bad. When she was saying goodbye to me, I thought she was going to cry which was a bit annoying and would have been really awkward because I wasn’t feeling too sad. Aki came to see me on my last day, but I’ll be hanging out with her soon against Nova regulations. Crazy Hiroshi with a wife and a girlfriend didn’t know it was my last day, but on Thursday when I was at Takarazuka, he showed up with a present for me, a Gaspard et Lisa stuffed dog toy that’s quite cute. He went out of his way! And a different Mariko showed up at Voice today to say goodbye and to give me information about a store we talked about ages ago. Awww. My students love me.
My weirdo roommate says the most retarded things ALL THE TIME at work. The other day this girl walks in and says hello to everyone and Jessica goes, "Long time no visual confirmation of your existence," like it's totally normal. And randomly she'll bust out with, "I ate a liter of ice cream last night. What do you think of that?" And she comes into work like AN HOUR before she has to. And because I'm going to hell, 2 weeks ago after telling her ot clean up her detergent from the bathroom floor like normal human beings, I cleaned the entire bathroom to sparkling status and left a note on the mirror, "This is what a clean bathroom looks like!" Take THAT!
On Monday we went for Mexican in Osaka for Grainne’s birthday with Rei after watching movies and having blueberry pancakes with ice cream for breakfast. We snuck in a chocolate cake and a guitar player who sounds just like James Taylor sang her Happy Birthday. We’d had margaritas and daiquiris and when I suggested karaoke, everyone was game. We walked in the rain and found a too expensive place, so we decided to go to the cheap one by our house, but by the time we took the trains all the way back, the buzz had worn off and we were just tired. I’d already declared it cheesy 80’s music/Madonna night, too! Another night, we said.
Tuesday, after going food shopping and watching Gilmore Girls and going stir crazy, I saw Crash in Kobe for 1000 yen Ladies Day. In Japan, you can bring whole meals into the theater, so while Grainne got McDonald’s, I got some Bolognese sandwich from a Doutour coffee shop. I have refused to eat anymore McDonald’s (even though I did slip a few fries) because I’ve eaten more McDonald’s here in a year then I have in the past 10 years of my life, I’d guess. And Crash, wow. Is the world really like that? Now I understand why the Japanese think America is dangerous and all Americans have guns.
A student was TOTALLY flirting with me on Thursday. It was the last lesson of the day and he had a tennis racquet. We just introduced ourselves in the beginning, both claiming to like tennis, and I tried to do a lesson, I really did, the What’s Important To You lesson, but he just kept changing the subject and asking me questions, and when it was all over, he asked if I wanted to play tennis with him sometime. Now that I write it out, it doesn’t sound like flirting, but I assure you, it so was. And it was kind of nice to remember what that’s like.
In Voice today, we spent most of the 40 minutes talking about my allergies. The Japanese are always so shocked that I can’t eat fish or soybeans. I start off by nonchalantly saying I don’t eat fish. They’re thrown off-guard by this, naturally, but then I say I have an allergy. So what about sashimi? No. Sushi? No. Takoyaki? NO! They love it though.
I had a group of older men pissing themselves laughing today in a lesson. One of the guys was telling me I need to visit Mt. Fuji because right now it’s beautiful with snow on top of it. I kept nodding throughout the whole thing and then I simply said, “I don’t like snow.” The timing? Perfect. The reaction? Laughs all around. Damn, I’m good. But as much as I like making them laugh, I also hate feeling like I’m their entertainment. I don’t get paid enough for that.
Do you ever feel like sometimes you’re too nice to someone, like, you’re nice, and you just know they don’t deserve it?
Monday I’m going to see sumo! Tuesday I’m getting a haircut and hanging out with Yuuko, one of my students! And then I begin my last full week of work. It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming.