Last Day of Class and Farewell Enkai

So, Thursday was my last day of the year at TJHS. Since I'll be returning to that school in the new school year, classes were mostly business as usual for me, but it was the last day I'd see S-sensei at school since he's being transferred. I was working on a poster in the hallway and got to overhear one of his last classes; he gave a very long speech to the second graders. I couldn't understand much of it, but the other teachers were kind of making fun of him for it later. I thought that was a bit mean. It's his first year of teaching, and at that school it's basically impossible not to get attached to the kids, so I could see why he'd be giving them a very serious talk about responsibility and the future and whatnot. I hadn't noticed because I wasn't really looking up, but apparently he also cried some as well. Which is another thing I wouldn't hold against him, since I'm sure to cry my face off when it's time for me to leave.

Anyhow, for most of the day I didn't get to talk to him, but a bit before it was time for me to leave he came over to my desk. He sort of knelt down by my chair to talk to me. He had a surprise; it was a late White Day present. He really didn't owe me anything since I hadn't given him a gift individually (he just got two chocolates from the box I brought in for everyone), but he decided to give me a gift anyway. It was a tin of sakura (cherry blossom) scented bath salts. I thought it was really sweet of him, and a fairly bold move on his part. He didn't know it at the time, but I'd also brought a gift for him that day. I had put a little box on top of his sports bag in the teachers' locker area, which also happens to be the supplies closet. I gave him a small box of chocolate and an Idaho pin. I also attached a note explaining that it was a going away present, and wishing him good luck at his new school.

When the taxi came, S-sensei followed me to the school's entryway. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but another teacher was there, so he didn't. So I told him that I'd see him at the farewell enkai, and we said goodbye. He hung around in the genkan (entryway) and watched me leave. I waved as the taxi was driving off, and I could see that he stayed there at least until we'd left the school grounds. Although I'm hopeful we'll meet again outside of school, it was a little sad to think that was the last time I'd see him at TJHS.

Friday was my last day at YJHS, and it was a fairly unemotional experience for me. Although there are students I'll miss, for the most part I'm fine with leaving that school. I felt like kind of a jerk for not bringing goodbye presents for the English teachers, though, because two of them gave me gifts. The third one likely would've as well, but she hadn't been told that I was being transferred to another school. Go figure. Anyhow, at the closing ceremony I got to go on stage with the other teachers who were leaving the school, and the principal may or may not have said that I was going back to America. I'm not sure if he understood that I'm staying in Kochi for another year. But I didn't really get to say anything to the students, and I doubt that my leaving meant a whole lot to the teachers who didn't work with me directly. So after a long day of sitting around without much to do, I was quite ready to leave for the last time. Maybe it still hasn't really sunk in that I'm not going back.

The funny thing was that on Friday morning, the YJHS teachers invited me to that evening's enkai. It was the first time in my entire two years that they'd invited me to an enkai. But just the day before I'd been invited to the TJHS enkai, and since I thought I had no plans, I'd accepted. No regrets there, though. I'd much rather spend an evening with the TJHS folks and get to send off the departing teachers than hang around awkwardly with the YJHS staff for the first time. In any case, as soon as I had been invited, I'd begun looking forward to the enkai. Apparently S-sensei was looking forward to it, too; he'd asked the English teacher whether or not I could come, and noting his high level of interest, she'd made fun of him for it. He's gotten teased a fair amount on account of me, since we've started interacting more. But it doesn't seem to bother him much.

So, after work on Friday I scrambled to get home and change clothes before leaving for the enkai. There was basically just enough time to drop off my backpack and put on a skirt and some jewelry before I had to head out. The enkai was at quite a nice restaurant which seems to cater to group parties; we had a small room all to ourselves. The food was very good, although due to Y-sensei's generosity I ended up having to eat a variety of things I would've rather missed out on. The worst must've been the squid. I really don't like that stuff. In any case, I enjoyed talking to everyone, and felt very included. Later in the evening S-sensei came over to sit by me and talk. T-sensei (social studies teacher, married and in his 40's) of course did not miss out on the opportunity to make fun of us. Pretending to hit on me, he grilled me as to what type of man I like. He was attempting to convince me that I would be interested in him, but I could tell he was doing it more on behalf of S-sensei. The most interesting part for me was when T-sensei asked me if I'd be interested in a man, say, 20 years older than me. When I said in English, "I think my parents might object to that", S-sensei started laughing. He had understood! His vocabulary is a lot better than I had realized. Although I almost never hear him speak English, his listening comprehension is apparently quite good.

After a while, T-sensei lost interest in making fun of us and left us to our own devices. I had a nice conversation with S-sensei and learned a lot of things about him. Apparently he hasn't traveled much outside of Kochi and doesn't have a passport, but his dream is to go to Europe someday. Of course, that's not terribly likely now that he's a teacher. He also has a younger brother and sister. He and his sister still live at home, which is fairly typical, I think. He doesn't like dogs much, and doesn't have much experience with animals.

Eventually it was time for the enkai to end. I opted to join five other teachers for the nijikai. The group was interesting in that it was comprised of some of the oldest and the youngest staff members. We went to the same bar we'd been to for the graduation enkai, and there was more karaoke. Because there were other people already at the bar when we arrived, the six of us ended up sitting in a row at the counter. S-sensei was at the far right side of the counter, next to me, and the other four teachers were to my left.

Knowing that it was the last time I was guaranteed to see S-sensei, I decided to be a bit nervier than usual. When the other teachers weren't paying attention, I told S-sensei (in Japanese and again in English) that I liked him. The words I used only meant "I like you", but it's generally implied that you're saying "like" in the sense of romantic interest. His reaction was, needless to say, amazing. He completely spazzed out. Maybe it was because he was so drunk that he didn't know what to do, but for the next five or ten minutes he couldn't talk to me, or even really look at me. He would put his head on the table for a few seconds, then sit back up, mumbling something to himself and wringing a napkin in his hands. He was smiling and mostly seemed embarrassed, but it was a pretty strange sight. He was kind of in his own world, I think. I felt a little bad for springing it on him when he was at diminished mental capacity (seriously, he was really drunk), but I wasn't sure I'd get another chance. After a while he more or less returned to normal. He thanked me and said that he was glad, and that he liked me too. From then on out things were slightly awkward, but not in a terrible way.

By the end of our drinking time at the second bar, I was pretty tired and ready to go home. There didn't seem to be any plans for a sanjikai, thank God, so after paying our bill we all split up. S-sensei attempted to pay for my share of the check again, but this time I was faster than him, probably since I was significantly less inebriated. The other four teachers went in a different direction from the two of us, so S-sensei and I walked together to look for taxis. We talked a bit more. At first I was a bit alarmed because he was talking as if he wouldn't see me again until the Genki performance, but then he said that we should get dinner sometime, so that came as a relief. I'm hoping we really will get a chance to meet up again soon. Just when it was time to say goodbye, I gave S-sensei a kiss on the cheek. It seemed like he was starting to spaz out again, so I caught a cab and left him to sort himself out.

All in all, the evening went about how I hoped it would. It was a lot of fun and I think I more or less accomplished what I had set out to do. In the morning S-sensei sent me a text message thanking me for staying out late the night before and wishing me luck at today's rehearsals, so it would seem that I haven't managed to alienate him with my directness. I'm hoping that now that he's had a bit of advance warning, he won't be so alarmed the next time I show an interest in him. With any luck, maybe we'll meet again soon. That's what I'm hoping for, in any case.