End of the School Year

So my contract is up in about 21 days, though I plan on renewing. Miyako's definitely got its charm, and while I'd love to get back down to Tokyo, I've developed something of an appreciation for my students and coworkers that I'd like to see at least one class off after having taught them for a full year. Plus, I've decided to use Miyako as a training ground - due to its lack of anything particularly exciting (at least on a regular basis), I have developed a 3-part plan to complete before my resurgence in the Tokyo Underground. I've mentioned the money saving aspect, and previously mentioned a daily exercise routine I'm still on, and I've also mentioned the studying thing. So, in a nutshell, I'm going to get relatively rich, relatively cut, and relatively really fluent at Japanese over the course of the next year, so that when I actually do return to the city, it'll be totally obvious to even yet-unborn children that, indeed, my arrival heralds the second coming.

In essence, I will nuture my ego to a hitherto unknown, indeed unknowable, excess. Lets get cocky.

Moving on to more serious topics, yesterday was the graduation ceremony for Miyako HS. It was different. In the place of the beach balls and laughter I remember experiencing at my own High School graduation, it was a bunch of rather polite speeches and sleeping seniors. Mundane, sure, but also possessing a heavy element of austerity. Pristine, I think I'd call it, that is up until the end when 3 students donned some weird kind-of-octopus-looking hats and started screaming at their classmates whilst waving flags to a drum beat on top of a stand. Bad-ass is what I'd call that, bringing to mind the kind of arrogant but self-assured, and totally rousing, attitude of Toshiro Mifune's various samurai roles. Banzai for real, yo.

We had a party for us teachers later in the day at 530, and since I get off work at 4 and didn't want to be exercising way late into the night, I booked it home from school, did a mildly abridged version of my regular Tuesday regiment, showered, and re-dressed all in about 1.5 hours. The party itself was a bit pricey, 6000 Yen, but they are usually worth it - a spread of sashimi (mostly Maguro and, my favorite, Kampachi); Sukiyaki; prosciutto with lemon, tomatoes, and spinach; Chawanmushi (a kind of custard with fish and shrimp in it); an Oyster gratin; and, most notably, some fried stuff on a stick with barbeque sauce. And of course beer, sake, shochu, and uronhai were flowing freely - its incredibly important to learn how to pace yrself at these events because you will ALWAYS have a full glass, due to the custom of refilling each others glasses, ad infinitum ad nauseum. Even if youve literally taken 1 sip from yr full glass, people will offer to top you off, and of course you can't refuse. And if the bastards are feeling especially sneaky, they'll offer you an entirely new drink, which, once again, you can't refuse. Oh, and of course you also have to participate in this beer-tiquette, so not only do you have to keep an eye on how much you've drank of your own drink in order to ward off further attempts at refills, who hasn't yet refilled yr glass (as they are all wont to do), and which of yr glasses you've actually drank out of (in order to appease the pourer), you also have to play the part of server. Its exhausting, especially being a foreigner so that they are much more likely to wander by with the ubiquitous liter bottles of beer. I mostly succeeded at sticking to beer, but by the end of the party (around 830) I had 4, largely untouched, different drinks in front of me. Talk about a waste.

Anyway, it was a good time. I still haven't met probably half the staff here, so I'm always glad to attend these parties for the chance to get to know more of my coworkers. Except for one woman I work with (GOD DAMN is she cold) all the teachers I work with here at MHS have good senses of humor, and generally rather bright demeanors. Its strange that a lot of teachers are still surprised when I start speaking their language, considering I've been here for 4 months, but then again I don't know their names. Too bad. The night was passed with a whole bunch of pretty funny speeches, exchanging ideas for in-class as well as out-of-class lessons/interactions, and, of course, questions about America. Afterwards, I went home and watched The Wire.

Have you SEEN The Wire??

Oh, and starting next monday at 6 pm, I'll be teaching a wicked cute 27 year old nurse (hehehe) and her dad (...) english at their house on a weekly basis. So its a part-time job, and while I can always use more money, I'm mostly looking forward to the opportunity to get close to this family, which seems to be relatively affluent, as a way to squeeze myself in with the local crowd, as opposed to retaining my distinct foreign-ness/culturally-imposed distance. Plus I'll probably get a few home-cooked meals out of it.