Another month, another teacher I know leaving.
Steve came out at the same time as me so it is a little odd to see him leave so soon - well it feels "so soon" at the moment anyway. I guess to him it is a long time.
The week after Paul left, was a relaxed affair with a bit of tidying and stuff. Some of my students even threw a little party for me, which was very nice[A]. They brought food in and we all ate and drank. I was told it was a "pot luck" party and this involved everyone bringing in a dish and then we all ate. Some of the lessons were moved around too so that we could have longer.
Anyway, Steve had a leaving "thing" on the Saturday as that was his last day of teaching. And, because he was in company accommodation, he HAD to be out of there on Sunday although his ticket was for later in the week. Anyway, the party was local at "Wara Wara" (an isekaya chain) and I went down after work. I went with one of the receptionists I work with who has lived in Koshigaya all her life. She didn't know where the place was and she had never walked from one station to another! It was nice to show a local around… I got taken to the wrong place and then we had no idea where to go. So I asked her to ask someone, what with her Japanese being a little more competent than mine. But she proceeded to ask a friend on her phone (and via email aswell) so I just asked someone. And we went the right way. It seems a common trait for Japanese people to not ask directions - I thought it was meant to be "men". Anyway, there were a fair few people at the restaurant and I met a few for the first time - they all seemed pretty decent. We stayed for a while and had a laugh but I had work the next day - a Sunday due to a "special campaign" that the school was running. Steve went off to a club in Shibuya, which was tempting but I had stuff to do the next day.
Steve came out at the same time as me so it is a little odd to see him leave so soon - well it feels "so soon" at the moment anyway. I guess to him it is a long time.
The week after Paul left, was a relaxed affair with a bit of tidying and stuff. Some of my students even threw a little party for me, which was very nice[A]. They brought food in and we all ate and drank. I was told it was a "pot luck" party and this involved everyone bringing in a dish and then we all ate. Some of the lessons were moved around too so that we could have longer.
Anyway, Steve had a leaving "thing" on the Saturday as that was his last day of teaching. And, because he was in company accommodation, he HAD to be out of there on Sunday although his ticket was for later in the week. Anyway, the party was local at "Wara Wara" (an isekaya chain) and I went down after work. I went with one of the receptionists I work with who has lived in Koshigaya all her life. She didn't know where the place was and she had never walked from one station to another! It was nice to show a local around… I got taken to the wrong place and then we had no idea where to go. So I asked her to ask someone, what with her Japanese being a little more competent than mine. But she proceeded to ask a friend on her phone (and via email aswell) so I just asked someone. And we went the right way. It seems a common trait for Japanese people to not ask directions - I thought it was meant to be "men". Anyway, there were a fair few people at the restaurant and I met a few for the first time - they all seemed pretty decent. We stayed for a while and had a laugh but I had work the next day - a Sunday due to a "special campaign" that the school was running. Steve went off to a club in Shibuya, which was tempting but I had stuff to do the next day.
My teaching the next day was a little frustrating because I was at a school I had never been to and will probably never go to again. The students were alright and I finished relatively early. Someone[B] came round after that and we watched "Battle Royale" - a good film.
I also managed to affirm that the "You're so cool" line in the subtitles is accurate. Like I thought.
---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---
A. This was with an afternoon class which was actually the very first class I taught (in Kawaguchi school) and was a group of students that I really liked and stayed in touch with each time I returned to Japan. They were all, apart from one, female and married (these were often called housewives' lessons) and they were all interesting and interested which made for a good start to the week. We discussed many things and one of my highlights was setting up a debate amongst them about the pros and cons of videogames (I did do other things as well). Apart from the subject matter, what I found interesting was that they were not used to the honesty and slight confrontation that debate brings and that they had never really spoken to each other like that - they said that this was very difficult to do in Japanese as it is so consensual. (I took this to mean more the native language as you are always restricted by your knowledge of the subtleties of certain words. In a language that you cannot quite capture all the subtleties of, it does not hold you back. I found the idea of this really enlightening. Incidentally, the non-female one was also married and was an academic who I got on well with and have seen once or twice, at least, per year since.↩
B. This lack of name is much more my style! Maybe this was where I became more natural (using names is not my style in spoken conversation either).↩
I also managed to affirm that the "You're so cool" line in the subtitles is accurate. Like I thought.
---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---
A. This was with an afternoon class which was actually the very first class I taught (in Kawaguchi school) and was a group of students that I really liked and stayed in touch with each time I returned to Japan. They were all, apart from one, female and married (these were often called housewives' lessons) and they were all interesting and interested which made for a good start to the week. We discussed many things and one of my highlights was setting up a debate amongst them about the pros and cons of videogames (I did do other things as well). Apart from the subject matter, what I found interesting was that they were not used to the honesty and slight confrontation that debate brings and that they had never really spoken to each other like that - they said that this was very difficult to do in Japanese as it is so consensual. (I took this to mean more the native language as you are always restricted by your knowledge of the subtleties of certain words. In a language that you cannot quite capture all the subtleties of, it does not hold you back. I found the idea of this really enlightening. Incidentally, the non-female one was also married and was an academic who I got on well with and have seen once or twice, at least, per year since.↩
B. This lack of name is much more my style! Maybe this was where I became more natural (using names is not my style in spoken conversation either).↩
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