March 5th, 2008
My Final “Normal” Hiroshima Day
I did the usual trip to Hiroshima this morning. When I arrived at the kindergarten, they showed me a scrapbook with a note written by last year’s teacher to the “graduating” kindergarten class and they wanted me to write one as well. I wrote out a brief note which they put away for future use and then it was time to get to class.
Today was Parent’s Day for the 3-year-olds. There were only ten students in class today, which is down from the usual 15 or so. Still, there were a bunch of parents there, and the kids performed better than I expected– better than usual even. The 3-year-old-class is the short one, at only 15 minutes, so it was over quickly. The second and third classes went about as usual. Next week will be the Parent’s Day for the 5-year-olds, the “big kids” of the group, and probably the most important appearance-wise; this one class is the reason I didn’t go home two weeks earlier, when Marc did.
I then rode the bus to the Culture Center (no mention of a car this time) and got everything ready to go. We talked about our weeks, and I told them about my decision to stay or go, and one of them already knew all; she reads the blog regularly. I didn’t really think it was going to be a surprise for her. I’m not entirely sure the others actually understood how close I came to being their teacher again next semester. They like me, but I suspect they’re eager for someone new; they have me broken in, so it’s time for some new energy!
You’re My Inspiration!
And then the same student who read my blog mentioned that she was starting courses to learn to teach the Japanese language to foreigners. I explained to her about TEFL and told her to look for something similar for the Japanese language. Is there such a thing as a TJFL? I bet there is! She mentioned that I was an inspiration to her. Whoah! First the old man in the evening class grows a beard and now another student wants to become a language teacher. I don’t know if they are learning English or not, but I am definitely making an impression!
Did The Repairman Die?
Eventually the subject turned to me leaving next week, and one student called a local Italian restaurant to make reservations for my going-away party. They know I like pizza and wanted to get me to get a Japanese pizza. There was a glitch though; the restaurant’s oven is broken. How lame is that? Does it take a week (or more possibly) to fix an oven? How does an Italian restaurant stay open without an oven anyway? Strange. Still, they have pasta, so we’ll be going there for pasta next week. I told them I could survive without pizza for a few more days. I have had Japanese pizza. I like it’s good, but it is also different from American pizza. I can’t quite put my foot on it, but there is something different.
On my lunch break, I walked over to Mos Burger again. Today will be my last time to go there, since I won’t need to get lunch anywhere next week. On my return to the center, I checked the computer room, and it was empty for once. I checked my email and read a few blog comments. There was nothing crucial, but it was good to be able to check in.
Yak, Yak, Yak-itori
Then it was time for the old folks class. It too, went smoothly, and we talked about all kinds of things. Our lesson for tonight was “personality types,” such as honest/dishonest, humble/bigheaded, optimist/pessimist, and so on. When we got to the point of deciding what we would do next week, we all agreed that next week we would get yakiniku. I’ve never tried yakiniku; at least I don’t think I have. It’s some kind of spicy grilled meat thing. It sounds pretty good. I have had yakitori, grilled meat on a stick; this is different, but probably related to yakiniku.
I did finally remember to take my camera this week, and got good photos of both Hiroshima classes. I’ll post them to the gallery as soon as I get the chance. I also finally remembered to get some vending machine snapshots. The machines all look pretty much the same, but the contents are all from different companies.
Tomorrow, I am back to Fukuyama. I am used to having Thursday off, so tonight “feels” wrong, knowing I have class tomorrow. Tomorrow’s lesson involves describing things that the students don’t know the words for. That ought to be interesting.
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