There is a French man at the gym. When he speaks to me it's really difficult to understand. He's actually Japanese, not French. Once he explained his life story to me and what I could pick up was that he was married to a French woman and he learned to speak French, but now he's divorced. He speaks English to me, but in a French accent so it's hard to understand. When I speak Japanese to him he pretends that he didn't hear me and keeps speaking English in a French accent. He asks me the same questions every single time I see him, Where's your girlfriend? Are you getting married? Are you living together? Kids? And even though my answers are always the same and the conversation leads nowhere, he still asks the same questions the next day. Then he says something that I can't understand and sometimes I'm not really sure if he's started speaking French. It's possible that he never had a French wife, maybe he had a Japanese wife and they lived in France together for fifteen years and his wife died. I'm not really sure but I don't care enough to clarify.
I was riding back home last night and I rode past someone else on a bike and heard them shout "Hey!" after they passed me. I stopped and looked back and the person had stopped their bike and was looking at me. I rode over to the person and it was the French man, with a fag in his hand. I was really worried that he was stinking drunk because he was slurring his speech and talking about beer, but I soon realised that he was just speaking in his normal French accent. I did a really good job of looking happy to see him, but it was downhill from there. He asked the same set of questions he always does and I gave the same answers. About fifteen times I said "Well, ok..." and tried to leave but he kept talking and I could feel the fake smile on my face sinking. Eventually I managed to break away, having understand nothing he said.
The principal at my violent school used to come to the gym a lot. We would see each other and give each other pep talks and talk about general stuff. Being gym buddies with the principal made me feel powerful. The principal doesn't come to the gym anymore. I ask him at school if he's going, and recently he says that he's too busy because of basketball practice. So even the principal has to do after school activities with the students and can't have his own life. How many other teachers have lost their hobbies because of unpaid after school sports practice? I wonder if there is a teacher who used to go fishing with his son a few times a week, but now has to tell his son that he's busy with other kids at school, everyday. Sad face.
The staff member at the front desk always greets you politely upon entry. My response is dependent on how attractive the staff member at the front desk is; a man gets no response, the cute tiny girl who is maybe 4 feet tall gets a smile and the girl with the round face and dimples gets a smile and a verbal response.
Upstairs, every time I look at this one male staff member he is always looking at me. Is it that he is always looking at me, or does he sense me looking at him and look back at me every time? Either way I don't want us to look at each other at all because his head is too big.
I went to a one hour yoga class. We finished at 7:58 and the instructor apologised and started rambling about some hippy philosophy. It's really bad to finish things early in Japan, even when everything has been done. The yoga class had finished, it was over, but the clock said the class hadn't finished so we couldn't finish. This happens in lessons at school too. Me and the other teacher will finish a good fun-packed class, and there will be one minute remaining on the clock. I suggest ending the class and saying goodbye, and this is met with a look of terror, sometimes coupled with a slow, silent shaking of the head. What to do in the remaining minute is discussed for a minute, the bell chimes, the teacher breathes a massive sigh of relief and we end the class. Why couldn't we just finish a minute early?!
