A Small Pang in my Heart

March 28 Sunday

Today I had dinner at Tama-chan`s apt. Her mother had came all the way from Kutchan to visit her and made a crap load of food, so she invited all of us over to eat. I was a little tired this day, but it was free food, so I had to go. Her mother made delicious karaage, okonomiyaki, ramen-salad, cheese eggrolls (incredibly bad for you, but yummy), and flan. It was so damn good!!! Wraah. *o*

And at this time, since I wasn`t talking very much and the other girls were having a merry conversation, I decided to text Mr. Wonderful to see about dinner next week. I asked Yuki, beforehand, if she wanted to have dinner too, so that it would be a friendly get together with people of the same age. Remember, I`m not aiming for his love anymore, just aiming to be friends. However, the text didn`t work properly, so I had no choice but to call him. I stepped outside for a minute to call him. I was actually surprisingly calm about the call. I just directly asked him, "Hey! I was wondering if you`re free to eat dinner next Tuesday with Yuki and I?" "Ah....Yes! I am free that night!" "Alright then! That`s great! I`ll talk to you more about that later. Oh, and, sorry, but could you send me your cell mail address? Because I wasn`t able to get through to your inbox so I had to call you instead." "Yeah, sure." And we then said our goodbyes and hung up. I was proud of myself. hehe.
I went back to the party, but at around 9pm, I went back home, happy.

March 29th Monday

Today was the ending ceremony/graduation at my nursery....Yeah, at the nursery. You heard me right. My little 6 and 7 year olds had a graduation ceremony from the nursery. A really formal one, with alot of bowing and diploma receiving....All the kids wore their best formal clothes, so little suits and dresses that you would normally see at a wedding ceremony. It was very cute, though. And the kids looked so adorable, but there were such formal procedures that they had to go through to get their diploma and stuff. It was a little too much in my opinion. But cute, nonetheless. I spent the rest of the day after the ceremony at the nursery, playing with the babies. heeee. >U<

March 30th Tuesday

So today, since the school`s on spring break there are no students. But unfortunately, the teachers still all have to come to work throughout the break. >.< ugh. But we`re allowed to wear more relaxed clothes like jeans. I don`t really understand why, but in schools in Japan, track suits and sportswear are considered a higher level or above jeans. o.O I`ll never understand why, but we`re not allowed to wear jeans during school time. But sweats are totally okay...

I was helping the teachers clean up their classrooms and organizing things. But at the same time I also decided to go and see if Mr. Wonderful was in his room to talk to him to see if he remembers the dinner tonight. Cuz he tends to forget...I guess. But, now because I think of him as just a friend (well, i still have feelings for him) it feels easier to talk to him than before. So I was able to really speak casually with him. I was like, "Hey. So for dinner tonight, it will be at 6:30. Is that okay?" When he said yes I told him to meet me in front of Seico Mart. I was walking out of the classroom in the hallway when I heard my name being called by him. I turned around to see his body half out the door. "Theresa-sensei, are we going by car? Or what are we doing?" "I`ll drive!" And smiled at him and turned to walk back down the hall.

I was actually busy helping organize and clean the 1st grade classroom that Yuki and I didn`t finish until 5:30. So we had an hour to get home, chill, and get ready for dinner. At 6:30 I went to Seico Mart to pick both of them up. Mr. Wonderful was looking as good as ever in his hot clothes. We got in the car, took a little bit to decide where we wanted to go eat and decided on Shuraku, my favorite izakaya.

We had a pleasant conversation in the car driving there, but I didn`t talk very much because I wasn`t exactly sure what they were talking about. So I would just nod and keep my eyes on the road, but have the occasional response. When we got there, the only room they had was at the bar. So we all sat at the bar. Mr. Wonderful sat in between Yuki and I. We ordered food and drinks and sat around talking. I didn`t really talk too much because of lack of understanding, but he was sweet enough to try and help me understand our conversation. I also finally retold him about my interest in flowers and stuff, which is opposite of him because he has more interest in birds and none in flowers. But he found it interesting because we share the same passion. Camping too.

Well, at around 9pm we left and went home. I dropped him off at his apt. But before he left my car I told him, "If you ever want to practice your English or talk about camping and hiking, you can email me. And is it okay if I message you for this stuff too?" To which he replied, "Yes. I will and you can. Alright then, thank you very much Theresa." And then he stood outside to wait for me to leave before going back into his apartment. *sigh* I could`ve done better. But, ah well, friendship. Friendship.

March 31 Wednesday

No classes again today, so donned on my jeans and went to the middle school. At 10am, though, I went to the elementary to help with desk moving. So, a little about the Japanese school system here. Every new school year, the teachers change the grade levels they teach. And they`re allowed to be the homeroom teacher for each ascending grade for 2 years. After that they have to be assigned to another class. So my 5th grade teacher last year, is now the 6th grade teacher. The 6th grade teacher last year is now the 5th grade teacher, the 4th grade teacher is still the 4th grade teacher, the 3rd grade teacher is someone new to the school, the 2nd grade teacher was the helping teacher last year, and the 1st grade teacher was the 3rd grade teacher last year. Along with changing grades, the desks in the faculty office change places as well. I used to sit in the middle, but now the moved me to the back corner with the 5th and 6th grade teachers. The 1st-4 grade teachers sit in the middle of the room while the nurse, nutritionist, and the OLs and OMs sit on the other side of the room. It`s not so bad becaue I can see everyone in the room and I face the door, so I can see my kids walking in and out. But yeah....I don`t really get this system.

Actually, I realized that my seat is next to where Mr. Wonderful used to sit. And it gave me a little pang in my heart. If Mr. Wonderful was still here, I`d be sitting next to him. But he`s not anymore...so it`s a little sad. But I was able to see him one last time when I went to his apartment with the other teachers to help him move out. And his apt was how I imagined how a single man`s apt would be like. lol It was kinda dirty lol, and he likes to cook, but doesn`t really clean well, and his bathroom was just terrible...lol Well, we all helped him to move out his stuff and everything and clean his apt. I was impressed with the amount of things he had and what he had. He had a snowboard and ski set, a keyboard, weights for lifting, and a bunch of other cool things. Of course, he`s an ex-bartender. That explains his coolness. haha. @.@

Anyways, as I was helping the other teachers clean stuff, I went into one of his storage rooms which, apparently, also doubles as his closet of sorts. And his clothes were awesome! They were very oshare, but in a mature way. It was all very sexy mature clothes. I was quite enamored by the clothes just hanging there, that I imagine I`d be even more awed when they`re worn. lol I`m a little off my rocker these days.

So after all that, I went back to the middle school to get things settled, but totally forgot to say goodbye to him. I slapped myself later about that and decided to go back to the elementary after work to say goodbye to all the leaving teachers. At 4pm I went back to the elementary to say goodbye to Winnie-the-pooh sensei (my fav) and ran into Mr. Wonderful as I was coming out of the bathroom. Good timing. But all I could say to him was "Thank you for everything. I enjoyed our talks in English. They were fun. If you want to practie more English, just message me. Goodbye!" And then I left school. I didn`t give him any more than that becauese 1)just friends policy at the moment and 2) I forgot what I wanted to say to him.... Ah well, I hopefully will be able to see him again, one day. Until then, I will hold on to hope and go on with life with no regrets.

April 2nd Friday

Today I introduced myself to all the new incoming teachers. It was an assembly at the BOE and all the new teachers and principals/vice principal introduced themselves. The BOE people introduced ourselves also. Everyone did it in Japanese, obviously, so I did mine in English. haha. All the new teachers were confused, and the BOE people said I was pretty cool. =P Not a single hot teacher was there though. sad face.

In the evening was the welcome party for the elementary school. I was lucky enough to sit next Ayumi, the new helper teacher that replaced Yuki. I miss Yuki very much. She`s leaving the next day for a town 3 hours away from here. School just wont be the same without her. My kindred spirit. But Ayumi is the same age as I am and very sweet and easy to talk to. She doesn`t have the same humor as Yuki, but cute nonetheless...However, she`s married. 22 and she`s married...geez...I was like, wow. That`s young. haha. But I liked talking to her and we have the same interests. So I look forward to becoming better friends with her.

Our enkai was delicious and quite fun. I`ve been able to talk a lot to the teachers recently, so it`s a good thing. The new principal`s pretty funny. A little perverted, but funny. He was born on leap year, so even though he`s quite old looking, he`s actually only 14 because of the leap year thing. My first time meeting someone with a birthday on leap year. It`s an interesting phenomonen.

After that, we went to the second party. That was fun too. Drank lots, sang lots, and conversed enough. We then all went home at around 11pm or so. It was a good and tiring evening. And I have to prepare for heading off to Muroran the next day...

Otsukare for reading!