Third Wheel

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31

Was a smidge late to school due to bicycle difficulties. I was shifting gears when something went wrong and the pedals stopped turning. I looked things over, couldn't figure it out and walked my bike the last two blocks to school. As it turns out, back pedaling sorted it all out.

The teachers room had ONE teacher in it and it wasn't Kyoto-sensei. Honestly, I seem to miss these “don't bother showing up today” memos.

I spent much of the morning working on my self-introduction powerpoint, as I'll be giving this lesson next Thursday for the first time and that's frighteningly soon. In the afternoon, I worked on typing up my lesson plan, changing a few words on my Wisconsin Vocabulary worksheet (cheese and milk have been combined into “Dairy”) with them each labeled still, and replaced with the words “snow” and “Harley-Davidson Motorcycles.” Students know Harleys here, and that's about the only Wisconsin thing that I think they might know.

I then spent several hours making a hanko sheet. Hanko sheets are used here to tally points and good behavior. If a student answers a question or their team wins, they're rewarded with a hanko point. Hanko points are stamped onto a sheet. I decided to make mine a little more complex and made it a map of Wisconsin with key cities labeled (and some like Sister Bay on there just to fill in empty spots) and students can get stamps for each city. I stil want to decorate the outside of the state's outline, but the inside map part is done.

I also need to get copies of my lessons to Mama, but when I went to photocopy this afternoon at about 5pm, the copy room had already been closed off. I took that as a sign they wanted me to leave, although I don't think they did and I wasn't the last teacher anyway.

Mama chatted with me for a while. She's asking Kyoto-sensei for permission to leave work early for kimono lessons on Mondays. See, as it is, she's expected to work until 7pm every night. Frightening how work-aholics abound.

I spent at least an hour talking to Mischievous-sensei in the afternoon. He's funny and his accent is decent, as he lived in England. I also have to remember that this guy is 14 years older than me. Honestly, if he were in the US, they would card him, without a doubt. He was telling me that in Japanese society, conformity is so strict that you have just one chance to get a good job out of school, which is during your fourth year of college. Businesses want all of their junior associates the same age. So, if you take a year off or go do something else first, you are different from everyone else and thus not conforming and Japanese companies won't take you. You then have to apply abroad. It's frightening. I'd be so screwed.

Talking with Mischievous-sensei meant that I didn't leave until quite late. I got home and bumped into Elizabeth, and we were eventually joined by Brian getting home from work. We chatted a while. Elizabeth had arranged a night out, but three boys had canceled, so it was just her, me, and Duffy. We ended up going out for sushi at this little place. Sushi is 105 yen a plate and you can either order it fresh or just take it off the conveyer belt. So weird! There was a little menu screen to order from. So, we never saw any waitstaff except the one who took our bill at the end and the one who sat us at the start. The menu screen makes a beep when the Sushi we ordered comes past on the belt.

I had a tofu one and a cucumber one, some edemamae beans, and a slice of chocolate cake. All I can say for the latter is that I got what I paid for. There's a little trap door at the end of the table (under the conveyer belt) and for every plate we put under, we got a point. After five, we got to pick a character and they would start boxing or go fishing or some such. If we won the game (and really,it's just chance, since we don't actually DO anything), a little ball rolls out of a contraption on top with a prize in it. Duffy won a Tigers baseball team mobile phone charm. And charms are huge here. You'll see kids with five or six. Even grown men with charms. I saw a girl on the train with a whole plushie hanging off her phone. That's one way not to lose it.

After dinner, we headed out to a nearby grocery store so the pair could point out brown rice to me. It's very expensive and hard to differentiate from the other rice with the little view windows and me not reading kanji. We then headed back toward home, stopping in briefly to pick up a few groceries each from the Heiwado. I got milk (for breakfast cereal in the morning) and more imitation maple syrup. I do have to live frugally this next week or so.

It ended up being a nice night, although I did at times feel like a third wheel. Elizabeth has her boyfriend back at home, but I think Duffy would otherwise be interested. He's just too friendly and, while he paid attention, answered my questions, and was helpful, Elizabeth really was the object of his attention. He also made a few offhanded comments about everyone coming to Japan with partners and then was teasing her affectionately all night. Elizabeth sees nothing there but friendship, but she told me later that they text all the time and even skype every night. Which is more than many people do dating. I can't say for sure, but I think he's interested. I do know that he's single. Elizabeth, however, seems to either not notice or pays no attention.

Got in and was tired. Chatted a fair bit with Alan, who's always a good chat. We also play argued, complete with dramatic faints.