Thursday Afternoon Post

I'm not the "new guy" at work anymore. Over the past week, my branch has hired two new teachers. One is a transfer teacher from near Tokyo and is an estimated 31 years of age and from somewhere in British Columbia. The other is a fresh-off-the-boat guy from western Louisiana of an estimated 27 years of age. He speaks with a very thick accent and makes frequent references to things like "cajun shrimp" and "Mexicans". They both seem fairly boring, but I can be a little quick to judge people.

I thought, before I came, that the majority of teachers here would be in the same boat as me: fresh out of university and looking to make some money in an exciting place for a year or so before either continuing with more education or choosing what to do with the rest of their lives. I was wrong. Although my Orientation group had a number of people around my age, most of the teachers here seem to be dangerously old. At my branch (branch=school), out of all nine or so teachers, I'm the only one under 25 and I think there's only one other "80s kid". A few of them are well into their thirties and I have to wonder... what did these people do with their lives? Not that there's anything wrong with teaching English, but these people,in their thirties and with university degrees, seem to be in the same place in life as I am. I just find it a little confusing that they haven't mustered up enough initiative to move onto something else with more of a future.

Back to new people, as I said in my last post, "February in Osaka", my roommate Chris left and we were awaiting word for the arrival of our new roommate. Well, word has come: we've been told to get the apartment clean and ready for "British Adam", scheduled to arrive in a few weeks. I did a background check on him and I'm so far not impressed. I had done a background check on my roommate Will before I moved in and I think I got it wrong because I came up with some guy in Kansas who participates in hunting competitions and I'm pretty sure that that's wrong... Will told me last night that he was heading to the mountainous wilderness today to indulge in some legal Japanese hallucinogens - doesn't sound like the same character to me.

Sometimes I complain to my students about the foods I miss from home. On Monday I was complaining in voice about how I can't find any whole wheat bread in Osaka. Tuesday, a very pleasant student named Hisako showed up with a gift for me: a loaf of whole wheat bread that she had purchased from an international grocery store in Umeda. The students here are really generous. We (the teachers and staff collectively) often get gifts like chocolates or candies - often enough that we have an area of the table where we just put the gifts to share and everyone eats them without question. One time a student brought in nachos and salsa... very delicious. I find that students are especially generous when I complain. Once when I was complaining about the cold, a student brought me a "magic heating pouch" to keep me warm. After talking endlessly about the variety of foods that I like, one of my students went through the trouble of getting me a map to a "delicious Thai restaurant" (unforunately I lost the map). Anyway, I'm going to try to keep up with the complaining. It's a little upsetting, though, that they seem to remember a lot about me and what I have told them in the past, while I struggle to even remember most of their names. Maybe I should start keeping files on everyone I meet again...