Another post of several days...not all of it newsworthy

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06/7/4
Happy Independence Day!! One of the teachers from Britain surprised me while I was eating lunch to congratulate me, and I had been surrounded by quiet (in the kitchen) for so long that I about jumped out of my skin. Charming guy, really. From Nottingham. I have to say, not celebrating the fourth didn't bother me a bit. Mainly because I never got really excited about it to begin with.

I saw a Japanese guy wearing a beret the other day!!! It was so funny. His facial structure was very similar to someone else who used to wear a beret, too. If his skin tone hadn’t been so decidedly Japanese I’d have done a doubletake. But seriously, you don’t usually see things like berets. American culture is quite admired here, but French culture is a little more rare. It amused me, overall.

06/7/5

This morning I cooked fish and nasu (Japanese aubergine—quite smaller and narrower than American) for breakfast. Nothing terribly exciting there. What was exciting was that I cooked them in dashi instead of just using it for soup. Inspired!! Dashi and cumin, while unconvential for Japan, is quite delicious. Mmmmm.

Also, it is raining cats and dogs again. Rainy season needs to end, because I only have so many pairs of pants to change into when my first pair gets soaked walking to work. Maybe today it will quiet down before I leave.

So, there are these little things—knickknacks and keychains mostly, one some of the tea and water bottles in the convenience store. I have no idea why, but I think it’s cute. So far I have a bulldozer and a panda/bear thing (can’t really identify it) who is cheering at a soccer game. One is going to my sister. The other, I don’t know yet, but it’s going somewhere. I thought about collecting them, but there are so many cool things I think I could collect that I think I’d rather share these.

I was supposed to cover classes for someone today—someone who sprained her ankle therefore making it hard to commute, and I ran into her at the station today! She told the big boss that she only needed one day, but he decided that she had said two. This might seem nice, except we get docked pay for every class (not day, class) we miss. And somehow he got ahold of her cell number, which she never gave him, so it bothers her. I think we’re both leaving. Hah! Anyway, I thought that was funny, running into her. She’s a pretty cool chica.

06.7.6

What a crazy day! So, Japan is a pretty small country with lots of people crammed into it, yes? Yes. So anyway, I was at Higashi Okazaki Eki (train station), and I ran into a gaijin I’d met briefly the summer before. I didn’t recognize her, but she had an awesome sarong on, and I told her so. She said thanks and asked how my twin was doing. WTF??? So, that was hilarious. The not so great part in that I ran into creepy guy at Higashi Okazaki as well. Now, Higashi Okazaki is no Shinjuku, but it is one of the busiest in this area. What are the odds? And he offered to buy me a coffee drink (I said I was tired and despite the fact that I clearly had money in my hand…and I had to refuse about 5 times before he gave up!), gave me his number again, and suggested I meet him at the station on the 16th at 11AM. He pulled out a calendar to make sure I knew the day and damn near followed me onto the bus. Also, he used Japanese so simple that I couldn’t even feign ignorance. This all just seems shady to me. The last guy who bought me stuff was just trying to get laid, to put it crudely. I’ll admit, I am naturally frightened around guys, and a big FUCK YOU to all of the men in my life who have instilled this fear. FUCK YOU. But I digress. I think this guy is just shady.

One of my kids started crying before class today, and I had no idea what was wrong. He didn’t really want to talk about it, but I know he hates English, so we just played Guess Who? today. I taught him some new vocabulary (things like bald, moustache, etc) through it, so I think it was good. And he was relaxed at the end of class, so I think he felt better. Maybe he'd gotten a test back with a bad grade on it, or something. It wasn't really my business.

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