Sloshing

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

I did my self-introduction lessons again at school. I'm sure you're sick of hearing them. I did calculate that by the time I finish, I'll have done over 20 hours of these lessons. It was my first time teaching with Ottawa-sensei. He used less Japanese than any of the other Koko teachers, but it worked fine. I had worn my hair up in two buns, kind of anime-style, and while I didn't get any more reactions than usual, I did have teachers and students say that the hairstyle was cute.

I graded some more papers for the second year students. I enjoy these so much. It's interesting to read them and see what mistakes students are making and try to guess why. My favorite line of this batch was “Tennis is the best sport because I am a member of the soft Tennis Club.” Being Japanese, “because” wasn't the word she intended there. It seems multiple students want me to listen to GReeeeN! (which is a Japanese band.)

Mama collected my homework from other classes, so I got those and started grading. Many were very good. My students are adorable. Yes, grading papers does take a lot of time, but I also found it fun time. I don't know what my teachers complained about.

I ended up staying pretty late at work because of grading papers. I don't want to lug them home and back again (that's how papers get lost and Japan is really strict about student privacy, so many people said that they never bring anything form work home that might have a name on it. A self-introduction would obviously have a lot of personal information on it. Plus, if I work at home, I don't get “credit” per se for it.

I talked with Ottawa-sensei for a while about Japanese men and what Americans would consider feminine acts, like carrying a fan, wearing pink, or carrying a pink floral fan in public. This led on to metorosexual European men and homophobia in America. It was an odd discussion.

I ended up leaving school at 8:30 when Mama told me to get out or she'd get yelled at by Kyoto-sensei.

I stopped over at Elizabeth's before actually going upstairs. She invited me in for wine and conversation. Having eaten nothing since the white-bread sandwhich I had for lunch 9 hours earlier, the wine certainly buzzed me. We talked about school and lessons and what's working and what's not. She was also kind enough to write out the kanji for “Osaka” for me so I could buy train tickets from the discount machine the following morning. She also loaned me a small duffle that her predecessor had left for her. My suitcases are quite big, so this was a more managable size for my weekend trip.

Elizabeth insisted on sending me home with a glass of wine, so I tried not to slosh it as I made my way to my own apartment. I got home from work to find a postcard from Canada. It was a nice surprise!