Curses, Foiled Again!
...written on 2000-12-01, @ 10:03:22
Tales of Kim's Life in Japan
Fri December 1, 2000
Last night I went to the "X" branch. "Mr. X" drove me. On the way there we stopped at a Japanese fast food stand. I ordered yakisoba (fried noodles with cabbage and pork). Mr. X got okonomiyaki and 4 crepes (2 banana and 2 chocolate) that he would later divvy up among us all at the office.
We had a nice chat in the car and I found out that he was off on Friday as well. However, he had plans to go visit his mother, so any hope of us spending any part of the day together were dashed.
I had 4 classes that night. Two were with the 7th graders, two were with the 9th graders. The first two with the 7th graders were a lot of fun. This was my second time with them, and they gave me a warm reception when I entered. Mr. X and I had devised a pantomime game to play with them and they did very well. One of the boys got the word "dance". (I think that "dance" was the most dreaded word of the evening.) The young boy whined and hemmed and hawed, he didn't want to do it. It was too embarrassing for him. However, Mr. X was there next to him being very supportive and finally the young boy put his hands together above his head and spun around in a circle on his heels. The class ROARED! Both Mr. X and I were laughing hard as well. The class screamed the answer and the boy went back to his seat and put his head down on his desk as the classmate behind him consoled him. He was truly a hero and I gave him a shiny sticker of a dancing animal for his efforts. In another class, a girl got "dance" and again hesitated and whined, but ended up doing a very good dance and I let her pick her own shiny dancing animal sticker.
In the 9th grade classes I was to give them a listening practice exam. Fred had already written two exercises and then I wrote one about two characters, Mariko and Kenji. I told Fred and Mr. X that this was going to be a series. Mariko and Kenji meet on the playground, he compliments her on her necklace, she on his haircut,he asks her out to MacDonald's and she accepts. They both leave very happy. The next conversation will be at MacDonald's, then I'll have them go to the movies, a party, a baseball game, off to high school, college, marriage, kids and as I was explaining the scenario, both Mr.X and Fred said, "So then who will get the car in the divorce?" Men! Now why can't there be a happy ending?
I guess the most amazing thing of the evening was the transformation of Mr. X, the serious and staid employee at the Main Office, to Mr. X, the warm and funny teacher at his own school branch. He helped the kids out with the pantomimes, he made jokes as we went along, and he really got into playing "Kenji" opposite my "Mariko". He blushed and he stuttered and mimed that his heart was racing, and that was just in practice BEFORE the classes. In class, the kids ate it up (loved it) and after it was over asked me some personal questions like "Do you have children?" (No) "Are you married?" (No) "Do you have a boyfriend?" (No) . Mr. X piped in, that at this time, he was alone as well, but that he had decided that next year he was going to be happy. He made such a big show of this that I asked him in front of the students why he thought he was going to be happy next year. He said that his girlfriend (whenever he got one) was going to say "I love you, I love you, I love you" and that he would get married. I was very surprised at this display of his feelings and frankly, I think he was as well. His eyes were glittering and his face was flushed. It was obvious that he was absolutely giddy! The students then asked me if I liked Mr. X and I said "Yes". Mr. X then came bounding across the room and put his arm around me! He must have been absolutely LOCO! I was astounded! I recounted all of this later to Fred at the main office, and in the inimitable cool Fred style (almost Spock-like), said "Hmm, Surprising".
Before I left for work Friday, I rushed around cleaning up my apartment in case Mr. X were to drive me home, and I could invite him up for coffee or tea. Alas, this was not to happen as Mr. X asked one of the other teachers to drive me to the main office.
So it's the next day now and the morning is almost over. I have laundry hanging out to dry. As soon as I finish breakfast, me and "Red Rover" (my bicycle) are going for a ride. Tomorrow I have training with John and the other English teachers and after that I am going shopping with Iwamoto-san and his wife. Sunday a group of us are going to Kyoto to see the fall colors. My weekend is full!