I would have posted this earlier, but I haven’t had access to a computer the past several days, and the computer forwarding my keitai-mails bit the dust.
Wednesday night one of the PTA members invited me to eat and drink at his restaurant. As this is Japan, of course the emphasis here is on drink. This same PTA member had originally chatted with me at what I think was the official public farewell for the teachers who left in March. Like quite a few others around this area, he has a stable full of motorbikes and rides on a regular basis. His restaurant is quite possibly one of the highest-class establishments in Nakaniida.
So he invited me, and told me to walk there (not drive). When I arrived, he was nowhere to be seen, but I sat down at the table provided. The server brought out a beer and some snacky food, and I waited. The only other people in the restaurant were a married couple in their 40′s; the woman kept glancing over at me as if she wanted to talk to the foreigner, so I nodded and said a little greeting. As it turns out, her English pronunciation was fantastic. She works at a sushi restaurant in town, which I guess I’ll have to try to find one of these days. We chatted for a few minutes while the waitress brought out more and more food before she and her husband eventually left. But the conversation was a nice surprise.
Afterwards, the PTA guy came out and we sat at the bar. He whips out this shrink-wrapped stinky fish he’d gotten as a gift, and asked if I wanted to try it. So I figured, what the hell, I’ve tried pretty much every weird food in this country. He handed the wrapped package to his assistant, who came back shortly with a fish on a plate that reeked of manure. Apparently it’s a delicacy. Um. I just took another swig of beer and turned the other nostril.
Somewhere along the way we had a conversation about what each of us would do with a million dollars. I think it came from some TV show that was playing where the “contestants” tried to see how close their dream was to a mark (100 million yen, about a million bucks). I got to thinking, and I figured that I wouldn’t really change much about my life. I wouldn’t quit my job or change jobs or do anything totally drastic… although I guess some people would consider moving to Japan drastic. I guess I’m a pretty happy camper overall.
