Part time teachers' dinner

I didn’t do much in the beginning of the day, just getting ready to go to the part-time teachers’ party. That was late in the afternoon, so before then I was just sitting at my computer and just reading up on news and doing some research on some topics that I have been studying. We were having a party to see off two teachers. They seem very nice and even though I haven’t talked to them all year, it was nice to finally do so. One of them was a science teacher, but I didn’t know her name and I still don’t know her name. The reason for her leaving is because she just got married. The other teacher, Ms. Hashimoto was just leaving. I’m not sure of the reason for that and not sure what she teaches. I’m guessing that she taught Japanese. How horrible I am for not even knowing these people even though I’m a part-time teacher.

We were set to meet in Ginza at 5pm, but since I didn’t know the location, I was going to meet another teacher at 4:45pm at Yuracho station by Bic Camera. Since this was a location that I knew because of MTka, since she works near there. I got there fairly early since I think it would be bad to get there late. I had really dressed up to go, even though it was a casual affair. I’m more comfortable dressing up to go to these things because I don’t want to appear under dressed for these things. We went to a nice izakaya where most of the teachers were drinking it up. I got sit next to another English teacher that I was working with this year. She’s also a first year teacher and actually joined the school when I joined the school. She’s very nice and extremely pretty. She used to be a flight attendant before she worked at my school. I guess she didn’t like that deal and decided to put her English to another use. Her English is pretty good compared to the other teachers even. But it was nice to sit next to her and chat. I found out that over the spring vacation she will be going to a European tour to France and Italy. I asked for a souvenir and I will give her a souvenir from San Diego when I go back. I also found out how she got a job working at Yakumo. She knew another teacher that introduced her to the job. I didn’t even know they were friends outside of school. But it was Ms. Arai that brought her in. They will be going on the Europe tour together, which was another shock to me.

I also learned that I was an asshole to another teacher. It was the other day that I had ran into a teacher while I was going to school. It was convenient for her because that day, she had to cook for all the students since she’s the home economics teacher and the cafeteria staff doesn’t work in the month of March. She wanted me to go help her carry some things to school with her as she was going to go shopping at the Tokyu store. But I had really misinterpreted what she had said; I thought she told me that she was going to get lunch. In fact that was the truth, she was. I just didn’t understand the part of me helping her out. Since it was all in Japanese, I think that she could have gotten that I just misunderstood and that I wasn’t purposely avoiding work. I really felt bad because she was laying it on thick too. She had told everyone that she got a cold afterwards too. It’s not because of me not helping her, but she just conveniently added that at the end of the story. Well, I really need to study Japanese better so I don’t get into this situation again. She’s a nice teacher too and she understands that I don’t really know much Japanese.

We had two parties, the first for the all the teachers, and then a second party for the party-goers. I saw a side of some teachers that I didn’t know existed. Some of them liked to drink and drink a lot. They also had an extreme liking for Natto, which is something I really would rather not have seen. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for me because he was just way to drunk and his breathe smelled of Natto. I’m going to have nightmares for weeks because of this. All of the other teachers though were pretty good about the alcohol. They seemed pretty mellow. I had the opportunity to talk to the teacher who was going to leave the school. She seemed extremely nice and it was sad to realize that it was going to be the last time that I ever get to talk to her. But I guess it is better to have crossed paths than to have never met at all. I talked to another English teacher at this party too, which is something I haven’t done all year really. I think her English is pretty good, but there’s something that she’s holding back. I don’t think that it’s because I lack the ability to speak in Japanese, but she seems to want to stay away. I wouldn’t think that it’s her self-esteem about her English, but it might be something else. Anyways, we talked a little bit, which was good.