Tsuitachi: First Day Funk - Part 2

Previously, on Tsuitachi:

It was my very first day at work in high school. A group of students observed me and talked with each other, obviously spreading the gossip that the alien has landed in their hometown. I couldn't help but act like a total newbie, for in fact, everything going on before my eyes was new. My JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) welcomed me and showed me to my table. I was still clueless, my eyes bulging in both curiosity and fear. And there he was. That guy in one corner, with a mysterious look on his face.

When the bell rang, we all gathered together at the sports gym, as the teachers formed a line on a corner. After a few minutes of the Kochou-sensei's (principal) greetings, all the teachers were called to the stage.

みんなーさん "Minna-san,"  

京極は素晴らしいです. 楽しいです.

"Kyogoku wa subarashi desu. Tanoshii desu."

Training for the first day

I was asked by my JTE to prepare for my introduction to the students on Wednesday. Fortunately I was able to prepare a Powerpoint presentation for that. I gave her my file and she immediately asked me to do a demonstration! (Well, did I have a choice?)

We proceeded to a classroom for her to evaluate my introduction. Then she told me to wait a bit because she would call for another teacher to witness me do the demonstration. Then guess who came in---

(...Oooh, yeah. This is my perfect day!)

Of course it was my chance to finally know his name.

お名前は何ですか。　　

"What is your name?" I asked.

高原です。

A very typical look of a Japanese classroom.

Goodbye, see you tomorrow!

Soon it was time for me to go home. But it has been said that it's impolite to leave the campus (or any workplace) at the exact time. So I stayed for a few more minutes and pretended to be busy by writing on my journal. Not later the clock struck at 1:30pm. I guess this was the perfect time to go. My JTE instructed me to stand at the front door and say the magic word.

And as I stood up and awkwardly walked towards the door to face everyone, all heads turned to me before I even spoke a word. They were probably expecting me to impress them with another Japanese sentence.

お先に失礼します。   

”I will go ahead.”　I uttered in uncertainty.

All of them returned a smile, except for him. He never looked back, but only focused on what he was doing. I guess he didn't really care at that time, or probably didn't want to see me look at him!

And was that the end of the story?

"So you're Jennifer, right?"

It was another guy, probably the same age as mine (or younger), but having this cheerful look. He wore a beige trench coat that covered his suit, and stood by the exit next to me. 

I replied in Japanese because I wanted to practice my 日本語. I also asked his name for politeness' sake.

"It's 想万."

He still displayed that friendly look that definitely gave me the comfort. I think he's a nice guy. Oh, and he's quite cute, too!

And so, the first day finally ends here. This experience may be simple for the locals here, but for me, the feeling was totally like in an anime or J-Drama. I still can't believe this is happening. It still feels like a fancy dream. But here I am now, and there's more to come!

Read Part One here!