I forgot to mention in the last blog about my little adventure last Wednesday night. The weather has been incredibly beautiful here, so I decided to take my bike out for a spin after work. I wanted to time myself to see if I could start riding my bike to work on Tuesday mornings since I have to go from my house to the BOE to both nursery schools, and then the JHS. I knew that it only takes ten minutes to ride to the BOE, but I was very surprised that it only took me five minutes to ride from there to my first nursery school and about seven minutes to the next nursery school. Except for rainy days, it looks like I’m going to ride my bike to work every Tuesday! After timing myself to those places, I decided to try the Kumagawa cycling road. It’s a pedestrian/bike path that runs from Yunomae to Hitoyoshi, and it’s like a Greenways trail. Ian and I knew it was here, but we just discovered it a few weeks ago. It’s a nice paved pathway, and I rode all the way to the other side of Taragi, but due to the sun going around, I had to turn back. I really enjoyed it because it parallels the river on one side and the train track on the other side. Don’t get too excited…the only trains ever on the track are the Kuma 1 and 2—a private line that connects Yunomae to Hitoyoshi.
On Thursday I found a new way to hang out with my students during break time….go to the library! I usually stroll the hallways or end up in a classroom looking for buddies who actually are willing to speak to the foreigner, but on Thursday, I ended up in the library. Most of the students were already reading or looking for a book. (There were a few goof-offs, but it seems like every library no matter where you go there are at least a few.) I went down to the teacher’s room and grabbed my third Hunger Games book to read. I’ve been spending my break time in the library ever since!
Thursday afternoon Ian had an interview for the job I previously posted about. Well….it wasn’t so much of an interview as a meet and greet. I called him around 2PM to wish him luck, and he was nervous. I really didn’t understand why. If Ian Reed can do one thing right it’s talking to people. He’s got the gift of gab, and knows how to smooze. I’m socially awkward in a lot of situations, but not Ian! He’s just as comfortable talking to one person as he is talking in front of a room full of people. Besides, if he got the job… good, but if not….it’s no big deal. It’s not like we’re counting on this job so that we can have insurance or something. Ian said that the guys were extremely nice and just wanted to chat with him about anything and everything. They talked to him about Golden Week plans, showed him the factory, and introduced him to the lady that he would be working with. Although they didn’t say if Ian got the job or not, Ian felt VERY positive about it. Since that wasn’t the official interview, they asked Ian to come to the city for a formal interview on Monday. (More about that in coming blogs.)
It had threatened rain allllllllll day on Thursday, and it finally started pouring down about thirty minutes before me leaving work….meaning that I’d have to ride my bike home in the rain. 
Since Ian was in Nishiki for the interview, there wasn’t even the remote possibility of him picking me up. It’s only a short five minute ride from my school to my house, but still. It stinks getting soaking wet in that short amount of time! As I was riding home, a bus passed me. It’s strange to see a bus on that road because it’s not a very populated road, and generally there are more pedestrians than cars on it. Regardless, I could hear it approaching me and waited for the inevitable puddle to splash up on me from the bus tires. However, the bus actually SLOWED down as it passed by me to avoid that situation. Only the Japanese would be courteous enough to do such a thing! I know that the scene would play out quite differently in the States: driver maintains speed, huge puddle splashes on biker, passengers of the bus press their faces against the glass and laugh at the poor biker. Try and tell me that’s not what would happen! 
Since Ian was in Nishiki when I got home, I put sweats on and curled into bed to read my book until time to go to my Thursday night class. I was enjoying my last Cadbury egg when there was a knock on the door. I contemplated not answering it (You honestly never know who’s behind that door or for what purpose. It could be kids wanting to play, a door-to-door salesman, neighbor trying to tell you…..something, or even a Jehovah’s Witness. We’ve had each of those and more.) I decided to answer it and was pleasantly surprised to see the delivery man holding out two packages for me. As soon as he left, I tore into them to find TWO WHOLE BOXES of Reece’s eggs courtesy of my mom, sister, and brother. Literally, TWO. WHOLE. BOXES. 
I should have taken some for the teachers at school or given some to my Thursday night class, but instead I hoarded them. We gave a few away to our friends, but the rest we ate like two big fatties.
Ian wasn’t back in time for my Thursday night class, so I went to it alone. I knew that I was going to have new students, but please bare in mind the horrible, HORRIBLE stories I wrote about from my prior Thursday night kids, so I had no idea who I was getting, how many, or what they’d be like. I prayed for the best, and guess what? I GOT IT! I have four girls in that class, and they are AMAZING! They all love me and actually WANT to learn English. No more penis drawings….yay!!!! Even though they know me from school, I gave them a self-introduction, showing them maps of Kentucky and Paducah, my scrapbook, wedding album, and other random pictures from home. That lasted about thirty minutes, and after that we took a break in which they wanted to play with my phone. I showed them the Talking Tom app, and they all loved the high pitch echo that the app spits out. That might be very conducive to learning English, and I might incorporate that into lessons later. After break time, they each gave their self-introduction by learning the phrases “Hello. My name is _____. I like ______. I can play ______. Nice to meet you!” Whenever it was time to go, they helped me pick up the tables, and we left without anyone running around, tackling, slapping, screaming, or flipping the lights off and on. I’ve got a feeling that this is going to be a spectacular class, and now I won’t have to dread Thursday nights as much!
Not a lot happened on Friday. I will tell you that I realized that I’m starting to speak Japanese English. lol. Things that I NEVER said on a typical basis at home I find myself saying all the time. For example, the kids are taught that Americans say “Hello.” Not hi, hey, what’s up, or anything else. Just hello. That’s what I find myself saying all the time. They’re also taught that Americans say “good morning” up until noon. While it is technically still morning until then, at home I usually stopped saying that around 10:30 or 11AM, but now I’ll say it right up until noon. Another thing that they’re taught is “oh no!” whenever someone drops or spills something, and I definitely have picked that up! Sometimes I even find myself pronouncing words like a Japanese student would. Please try hard NOT to make fun of my English when I visit home this summer! It might have been premature since we didn’t TECHNICALLY know if he had it or not, but we celebrated Ian’s job on Friday night with a pizza, Coke, and movie. Plus, I FINALLY finished my flower bed. All the horrendous rocks are gone, and the only thing left to do is buy seeds to plant and to keep the weeds at bay….which is a never ending process!
Okay, I’m done for now. I have the rest of the afternoon and most of tomorrow free, so hopefully I’ll get completely caught up! Only five days to write about!
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