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I worked really hard to make myself a bentou to eat at work after yesterday’s lunch clarification. I even cooked it myself so it wouldn’t be like, “oh look the foreigner doesn’t know how to eat in Japan!”...and then I forgot it on the kitchen counter. Fortunately there’s a few omiyage reciprocity snacks and some fig newtons in my desk. Diet day! I’m sure I could go home and get it, or go to a conbini, but I kind of don’t feel like it. Luckily this is a school and so I can get some decent milk and juice from the vending machine.
The walk to work today was atrocious. I’d been lucky and had been able to avoid the rain for the last two weeks. It’s rained a lot but never when I’m outside, oddly enough. The whole walk was a battle with the umbrella, carrying heavy things that shouldn’t get wet. I got entirely soaked on one side and when I got to school I was an awful mess. Fortunately, though I was a few minutes late, no one was in the teacher’s office when I arrived. The vice principal came in shortly after I was settled and made a big old fuss about getting me some tea and making sure I didn’t get catch a cold. So I guess again, my misfortune is working out for me.
Mick-sensei was back from his time off, so we stood and talked for a while with the vice principal and then another teacher joined us. I’d noticed him before, but when he told the VP we’d met, I was a little baffled because I hadn’t remembered *actually* meeting him. We talked for a while and I felt like a grown up, chatting around the water cooler. I made the mistake of mentioning that The Pred just left a few nights ago, and Mick-sensei made a big show of being shocked and disgusted. I tried to be nice about my workload in cleaning the apartment by saying we had different standards for cleanliness, and he jumped on it right away, saying, “Yeah, she was just...ugh...*shakes head*. All the time she’d leave messes in the staff kitchen, y’know. It was awful, y’know.”
And it was that point when I made a mental note never to cross anyone in Japan.
Fortunately, the VP took me on a tour (best one yet, since he has keys to everything!) and we saw the mystery teacher “I’d already met” in the art room, and then it all made sense! I remembered we’d actually had an extensive conversation in his classroom before! I also got to meet one of the bio teachers, and it was awesome because he showed me turtles and leeches and this badass fish, along with all sorts of newts and things. And also a vial of fruit flies lol Literally, a vial with a rag stuffed in as a cork/feeding device. I also saw the principal’s office while he wasn’t in it, and it’s about the size of the first story of my house at home, with all sorts of fancy lacquered wood and office tables. It was “tots liek whoa!” I saw the sewing and cooking rooms, which are totally high tech, and I hope to God the teacher invites me to some classes.
I saw saki-chan again, of course, the girl I see everywhere lol Her and her friends were studying English in one of the classrooms we invaded. One of her friends was almost as tall as me!
Later after sitting at my desk again, I got bored and went down to visit badminton and handball. There are two badminton coaches, the first is one of the only women teachers - she’s tiny and young and cute but she looks like she could cut you, and the second is a painfully shy man who is not shy in a cute way but in a “I’m going to completely ignore you ZOMG” way. The students are pretty talented though. They share the gym with handball and I chatted up the managers this time because they’d been eyeing me with such intrigue last time we crossed paths. I always feel good when I successfully navigate a conversation so that the students don’t bury their faces in their hands with embarrassment and or spend too much time conferring with each other before giving an answer. This one was a great success, we actually broke out of the “what is your name?” “do you have a boyfriend?” trap lol It’s also getting easier since I can understand their Japanese better, now I know what they’re shooting for.
I bought some cupboard liners so that I can actually put food and clean dishes in my cupboard without making them toxic. In other household related news, you know you’re in Japan when it’s been hanging for over 24 hours and your laundry still isn’t dry.
The walk to work today was atrocious. I’d been lucky and had been able to avoid the rain for the last two weeks. It’s rained a lot but never when I’m outside, oddly enough. The whole walk was a battle with the umbrella, carrying heavy things that shouldn’t get wet. I got entirely soaked on one side and when I got to school I was an awful mess. Fortunately, though I was a few minutes late, no one was in the teacher’s office when I arrived. The vice principal came in shortly after I was settled and made a big old fuss about getting me some tea and making sure I didn’t get catch a cold. So I guess again, my misfortune is working out for me.
Mick-sensei was back from his time off, so we stood and talked for a while with the vice principal and then another teacher joined us. I’d noticed him before, but when he told the VP we’d met, I was a little baffled because I hadn’t remembered *actually* meeting him. We talked for a while and I felt like a grown up, chatting around the water cooler. I made the mistake of mentioning that The Pred just left a few nights ago, and Mick-sensei made a big show of being shocked and disgusted. I tried to be nice about my workload in cleaning the apartment by saying we had different standards for cleanliness, and he jumped on it right away, saying, “Yeah, she was just...ugh...*shakes head*. All the time she’d leave messes in the staff kitchen, y’know. It was awful, y’know.”
And it was that point when I made a mental note never to cross anyone in Japan.
Fortunately, the VP took me on a tour (best one yet, since he has keys to everything!) and we saw the mystery teacher “I’d already met” in the art room, and then it all made sense! I remembered we’d actually had an extensive conversation in his classroom before! I also got to meet one of the bio teachers, and it was awesome because he showed me turtles and leeches and this badass fish, along with all sorts of newts and things. And also a vial of fruit flies lol Literally, a vial with a rag stuffed in as a cork/feeding device. I also saw the principal’s office while he wasn’t in it, and it’s about the size of the first story of my house at home, with all sorts of fancy lacquered wood and office tables. It was “tots liek whoa!” I saw the sewing and cooking rooms, which are totally high tech, and I hope to God the teacher invites me to some classes.
I saw saki-chan again, of course, the girl I see everywhere lol Her and her friends were studying English in one of the classrooms we invaded. One of her friends was almost as tall as me!
Later after sitting at my desk again, I got bored and went down to visit badminton and handball. There are two badminton coaches, the first is one of the only women teachers - she’s tiny and young and cute but she looks like she could cut you, and the second is a painfully shy man who is not shy in a cute way but in a “I’m going to completely ignore you ZOMG” way. The students are pretty talented though. They share the gym with handball and I chatted up the managers this time because they’d been eyeing me with such intrigue last time we crossed paths. I always feel good when I successfully navigate a conversation so that the students don’t bury their faces in their hands with embarrassment and or spend too much time conferring with each other before giving an answer. This one was a great success, we actually broke out of the “what is your name?” “do you have a boyfriend?” trap lol It’s also getting easier since I can understand their Japanese better, now I know what they’re shooting for.
I bought some cupboard liners so that I can actually put food and clean dishes in my cupboard without making them toxic. In other household related news, you know you’re in Japan when it’s been hanging for over 24 hours and your laundry still isn’t dry.
