IrishOboe

Wednesday was another day at school. If something interesting happened I’ve forgotten it. It was, however, the first day that I was itching to go home and couldn’t wait until the clock struck 4:15. Hey, it happens to everyone. During the day I’d got an email from Fred suggesting that we go out to dinner again tomorrow evening so that he could give me back my umbrella. I had plans to go out with Mie and her students (which was later canceled) so I suggested tonight instead. He agreed, and that was great for me because I knew I didn’t have much time after I got home from school so I used it very efficiently. I finally cleaned up all of my kitchen table (it had amassed all kinds of things that don’t belong on a kitchen table) and tackled some of the cupboard mess that my pred. had left me. I made some good discoveries and made room for my stuff so that the floor was no longer necessary to use for my groceries. Don’t ask me why some things have taken me this long . . .

Fred didn’t come until 6:30 so I had a good 1 ½ hours to get a good amount of stuff done. He picked me up and we went to the Thai place he’d showed me before. It was a lovely little place and the food was so, so, so tasty. I have to go to Thailand! It was again a lovely (suteki in Japanese) night of food and conversation (the topics were mostly different save the topic of school) until the very end when we got dessert. As Fred described it, it was tadpoles with yogurt, coconut, and sweet corn, and I had two bites and decided I’d be rude and leave it be. Fred braved it for much longer, but seemed to regret the decision afterwards. Even a nice coffee afterwards couldn’t cleanse the mental palate and we both began dreaming of any and every kind of dessert we were used to. After leaving the restaurant we went on the hunt for a bakery or coffee place that was open to satisfy our cravings. We saw a lot of closed places and a Japanese man speed walking in business attire (which might have been worth the drive by itself), and we never really truly got lost, but we sure went every which way. We ended up at a Jonathan’s quite near my apartment. Supposedly Jonathan’s is an American chain, though I’d never heard of it. Its food is more American than a sushi place but it is nothing like what you’d have in America. It feels like a Denny’s-type diner, but the food is a strange mix of Asian and American. They had a few strange desserts, too, but they had some good old American sweets and we enjoyed good food and company for a little longer. I have to mention this part because it blew me out of the water and Fred didn’t properly appreciate it. He ordered pancakes and they came with real, pure Maple syrup! That never happens in America! I wonder if they make Maple syrup here or if it’s imported. I hear it’s expensive, so I was floored to discover their generosity. I’m thinking of Sunday morning breakfast at some point . . .

So, maybe it wasn’t the wisest use of my time, but it was a great evening and I still managed to get a semi decent amount of sleep.

Thursday is my three classes in a row day, and it went pretty well. I’m used to my lesson by now and I know how to avoid certain pitfalls. I feel bad for my first classes since they are always my guinea pigs. I’m excited that (with a lot of encouragement) they are starting to use the classroom English I taught them. I had a bit of a hard time getting some JTE’s to insist that the students use the English they learned, but we’re getting there. The rest of the day I worked on a pretty involved handout for next lesson and planned for the lesson and the upcoming exams, which I have to write. I’ve never really done this before (save a few times in ASL, but I never tested my tests out, as it were), so I’ll feel bad for the kids if they have problems because I’ve never taught a sequence and had a test on it. Each class was different and I didn’t have a long term plan and I think tests are stupid anyway! Oh well, they hired me to do this job so they must think that what I’ll do is good enough. No use worrying! I’m still managing to be pretty stress free on the job and out. It’s a great feeling! Of course, there are always those things that I feel guilty about, but I’m trying to give myself a little space.

So, the adventure of the day happened when I tried to go running for the first time since Mt. Fuji. I went right after school and it felt great to get out again. I’d given myself a two week break since I was tired and I wanted my knee to heal. It had felt fine the whole time so I wasn’t too worried about it. Oops. So, I went running up the nearest little hill and came upon the restaurant that Niko had taken Mark and me to on Sunday. There was a nice view and it was nice to make a connection but I failed to remember that uphill is fine for this knee problem but downhill stinks pretty badly. Even so, I began to feel the pain while going up the hill and had to walk a bit. I wanted to see the view so I took a nice walk around and that was nice until I started to run back again. The pain was so sharp I really couldn’t run at all. I’d irritated it so it was also hard to walk. Plus it was now downhill. So, I limped and skipped and half galloped on one foot and one toe (that must have been fun to watch) and got myself home in any manner I could. I think I might see a doctor and see if I can get some acupuncture or massage therapy, and while I’m at it they can work on my arms and back which still haven’t recovered from music school. So, a 30min run turned into an hour ordeal and I was quite famished when I got back. I made some pasta, had some tomatoes, cabbage and carrot salad with sesame dressing, giyosa, and fruit. I took a shower and a bath for my joints and decided I better start writing updates more frequently.

That’s it in the life of Janet for now!