While at Shogen Higashi JHS, I worked with a librarian and helped supervise the cleanup in the library that the students did. I got a chance to get to know Mrs. Moriya who was more of a helper but I have gotten to know her as Moriya Sensei. This causes her some concern. We worked together for 2 years and she was an easy person to talk to. I didn`t connect so well to the English teachers at the JHS but did with Moriya sensei. We had met when I came back and her little girl was in JHS then. Yesterday, Momo, Megumi and I met them at the Sendai Station and we found a donut shop where we could talk. Her little girl had really grown up and she was now 24 (Miyuki) and beautiful!. Megumi and I were in shock. We talked about old times, my bike trip, songs, the upcoming France trip and my general impressions of Sendai, 10 years later. Her oldest son had gotten married and Miyuki`s twin now lived in Toyko. Poor Momo had to sit and listen to our boring conversation but was a real trooper. They told me that when I sent New Year`s cards, they had to translate them with an app. My written Japanese collapsed long ago so I am forced to write in simple English. It was so nice to talk to them face to face and to find that they had made it through the disaster ok. I told them I`d see them in another 10 years.
Megumi, Momo, and I had a quick sushi lunch before we separated and I went to meet Hayasaka (Masahiro) Sensei. We worked together my very first JET year in japan and I was stunned by his limitless energy and enthusiasm for teaching. It was a great start. He was also one of the more fluent teachers and had no trouble carrying on a conversation at full speed! He just looks a little older and says he is slowing down. I got to eat Tempura Soba which I love and we got caught up. He is now down in the south of Miyagi Ken in a place called Shiroishi. He is developing the new cirriculum which requires that teachers speak the majority of the time in English. His students are pretty smart so he enjoys teaching there.
Inevitably, our conversation turns to the tsunami. You cannot meet a person and not somehow work your way toward it. I especially worried about him because I had been to his house in Ishinomaki and visited his parents in Shiogama. They were very kind to me. I was happy to hear that his parents were not affected too severely by the tsunami. Hayasaka sensei however, had to live for 5 days at the school and was completely cut off from the news as there were no phones, electricity, or gas for cars. He also was hearing about the nuclear reactor going to pieces just about 50 kms from where he was. We talked about how strange it was that I was across the world yet I knew more than he did from the news. Luckily, he was able to get up to Shiogama and find out his parents were safe.
We headed to the south end of the station which was never really developed before and found a bar of his called the Half Penny. It was an Irish bar and felt very comfortable. It had a very warm feeling to the place and we continued to talk. He had spent some time in the UK before coming back to Japan to teach. Most times now, he hardly goes near Sendai anymore which he blames on getting older and slowing down. I didn`t want to get home too late so I got his email so as to not fall out of touch with him again. He treated me to dinner and a beer and I was lucky enough to sneak one towards him while he went to the washroom. I think a person could travel here without spending anything other than train fare! We walked back to the station and I told him once again how happy I was to hear that things worked out for his family. I feel very fortunate that I havent known anyone harmed in the tsunami.
Megumi, Momo, and I had a quick sushi lunch before we separated and I went to meet Hayasaka (Masahiro) Sensei. We worked together my very first JET year in japan and I was stunned by his limitless energy and enthusiasm for teaching. It was a great start. He was also one of the more fluent teachers and had no trouble carrying on a conversation at full speed! He just looks a little older and says he is slowing down. I got to eat Tempura Soba which I love and we got caught up. He is now down in the south of Miyagi Ken in a place called Shiroishi. He is developing the new cirriculum which requires that teachers speak the majority of the time in English. His students are pretty smart so he enjoys teaching there.
Inevitably, our conversation turns to the tsunami. You cannot meet a person and not somehow work your way toward it. I especially worried about him because I had been to his house in Ishinomaki and visited his parents in Shiogama. They were very kind to me. I was happy to hear that his parents were not affected too severely by the tsunami. Hayasaka sensei however, had to live for 5 days at the school and was completely cut off from the news as there were no phones, electricity, or gas for cars. He also was hearing about the nuclear reactor going to pieces just about 50 kms from where he was. We talked about how strange it was that I was across the world yet I knew more than he did from the news. Luckily, he was able to get up to Shiogama and find out his parents were safe.
We headed to the south end of the station which was never really developed before and found a bar of his called the Half Penny. It was an Irish bar and felt very comfortable. It had a very warm feeling to the place and we continued to talk. He had spent some time in the UK before coming back to Japan to teach. Most times now, he hardly goes near Sendai anymore which he blames on getting older and slowing down. I didn`t want to get home too late so I got his email so as to not fall out of touch with him again. He treated me to dinner and a beer and I was lucky enough to sneak one towards him while he went to the washroom. I think a person could travel here without spending anything other than train fare! We walked back to the station and I told him once again how happy I was to hear that things worked out for his family. I feel very fortunate that I havent known anyone harmed in the tsunami.