Work and Tea

I went to Japanese this morning, in which we covered about half the grammar points, which are not too difficult. Most of us have been using them for a long time now, but I guess it is good to clarify the grammar points – make it explicit. Not much interesting happened, though. However, Watanabe-sensei has an uncanny ability to make time run at about half the speed that it normally does. No matter how long you spend studying kanji, thinking that surely there will be no time left to study anything else, there always is, with some left over. It is mind-boggling, but also incredibly boring.

I had my curry rice, as normal, before heading home. Ikema-sensei went through, and corrected, my speech, though he changed the word “cuisine” into “science” for some unknown reason. I am not sure about that. I shall run it by somebody else, next, to see what they think. Maybe Seb, as he often has good ideas about these sorts of things and more-often-than-not knows of some little Japanese grammar quirk that will give the whole thing a lot more power.

I had an email from one of Ikema-sensei's students, who are all emailing us in English - to practice their computer skills, I think. I had already replied to him, though he sent me an email with the subject line reading "hurry up" and the message body consisting solely of "please reply." I wrote a slightly snotty email back and copied him my original reply back. I have not heard back from him yet.

In the afternoon, I went to teach for Noriko. There were only two classes today, unbeknownst to me, as the third class was taking a practice English exam in preparation for the real thing on Sunday. I am not sure why she never tells me, though. They were both fine, though. I enjoyed the second class, as we interacted possibly the most we ever had. It was fun. I have them once more, in two weeks time.

Once I got home, I went straight to tea ceremony. Maki-san was the only one that was already there, as well as the teacher and Oh-san, but they do not count! We did a different setup today, without the kettle in the ground, but on one of the tatami mats. It was fun, though, and interesting as it was different. The four other new girls turned up in pairs as well. I did a normal tea, and then one on a plate, as that it what I can do most easily when I am back in England.

We finished at about 10.30, which is the new norm, after which I came back upstairs. Ciarán’s dad and uncle, who arrived yesterday evening, were sitting with some of the others eating cheese & crackers. I sat with them whilst my pizza cooked, though afterwards, I still needed a little more dinner, so I made a toasted tuna and cheese sandwich.