I love my students

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06/7/25
Well, one of my adult students gave me a gift today! Anpan (bread with red bean) and meronpan (melon bread). I don’t really know how to describe meronpan, so best to ask someone else. I was touched, certainly.

The Kariya manager and I have been getting a bit closer, and we laughed a lot today. That was nice. She was kind of stand-offish when we first met, but I think because I’m the only person around the same age as she is there (besides her fiancée) we’re getting closer.

Jenni was around for the last time today, which makes me sad, but she’ll still be in the area. This is very good news in case I need to squat somewhere for a few weeks. Cool woman, that one. She and I are sort of comrades in hating this company.

Chiho and I are going to go out for dinner to celebrate her getting a job! Jobs are ridiculously hard to get here. She’ll be working in Narita, so maybe I’ll get to visit her in the Tokyo area. I spoke on the phone with her tonight, in Japanese. It’s funny, because we e-mail in English and speak in Japanese. She speaks in more complex sentences than I do, and on the phone I keep thinking of how expensive it is that instead of trying to respond eloquently I rely on saying ‘sou desu ne’ (that’s so, yes, etc…). Amusing. Mmmm….gohan. We may go into Nagoya, but if Chiho can use her mom’s car, we’ll eat in Okazaki. There is a huge matsuri in a nearby town, so the traffic may be bad, and the trains may be crowded. Shiyou ga nai. Ijou.

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