Nishi crew DO know how to have fun

Well as if just to prove me wrong the Nishi crew turned out to be pretty fun on Friday night! It started quite dubiously though with me waiting at Kurashiki station for about 30 minutes for everyone with the teacher who sits next to me in the staffroom. She isn't a real teacher, she doesn't have her own class but she helps out Shingaki sensei with the grade 4s a lot. She is one of the really really polite Japanese types who is always saying "please excuse me" when it really isn't necessary and it kind of gets on my nerves. Instead of just saying what she wants to say she will dance around the issue, bowing and talking so quietly and nervously that you can hardly understand her. It makes me want to shake her. So I got to have 30 minutes of quality time with her asking me how old I was and saying that her son is turning 20 next month and wouldn't it be good if he were a few years older... Umm, not really! Then she gave me a lolly and actually apologised for the fact that the wrapper was hard to open and again when there was no bin handy to put it in. Luckily the rest of the teachers started arriving before her meekness could drive me completely insane.

It seems that the meeting I snuck out of at 5pm on the dot ran until 6 so that's why everyone was late. A late meeting on a Friday? Yuck. It was all Hiroki's fault. He is the absolutely uncontrollable kid in grade 3 who it seems is wreaking havoc not only in my English class but everywhere he goes and they had to have a massive meeting to figure out what to do with him. Before I left they were getting each teacher to report what naughty stuff their kids had been up to and Outani sensei started crying when she was tyring to explain what was going on with Grade 3. Everyone just kind of ignored her and she just kept trying to talk while sobbing which I think everyone knows is pretty tricky. Obviously I left before they got to the bottom of it so I don't know what they decided to do about it. I guess I will find out next E-time!

So the result being that everyone was hungry as and ready for fun. We went to a little Japanese/Korean restaurant and got stuck into the beer. When you go to a restaurant in Japan if you order drinks they automatically bring out food too. Not a meal, just little bits and bobs but the thing is, you have to pay for it. So they just bring stuff out and even if you don't like it, can't eat it or just don't want it you still have to pay for it. So we just ate the food they brought out and didn't order anything. Well, someone ordered yakiudon later on and I found out that it is really really yummy. Everyone got quite merry and loud and it was a good night. I had a few good conversations about why Japs do some of the weird things they do and learnt heaps of new words. Of course the night ended with karaoke during which Yamamura sensei and I discovered we were the only 2 present who knew any music made before the early 80s. He kept saying "Why do you know this song? This was out before you were born!" So I had to explain how falling asleep listening to the Doors and Rodriguez and etc as a child gives you a certain affinity with them.

So the night ended with rather long taxi ride back to Kamogata. The driver was very nice though and switched off the meter as soon as we arrived in Kamogata and just dropped us all off at our respective houses without it costing extra. She did spent most of the time talking on the phone though which was a little dangerous considering it was raining and she was going at least 20kmph faster than the speed limit. But I have already discussed Japanese driving techniques I think...

So in the end the Nishi staff have just been hiding a delection for fun and alcohol under their busy busy exteriors all day at work. This discovery makes me look forward to the nomihoudai planned for Sunday evening after the school sports day at the end of May. The other great thing about the sports day is that to make up for the fact that I am working all weekend I get a long weekend in a couple of weeks. Better start formulating travel plans now...