I cleaned out my mail last night. About 900 messages, blasted into digital nothingness. I kept the important ones, of course.
A rainy Saturday in Okayama. This morning was the last morning in March for my new private class, which seems to be advancing well. Mr. Masuda wants to concentrate on the TOEIC test (although because the T in TOEIC is “Test”, “TOEIC test” is redundant, isn’t it?). I don’t think anyone has taught a TOEIC-specific class through the Family Center, so we’re forging a new trail with this one.
Mr. Masuda lives with his wife and daughter (who attends Tsushima Kindergarten) in a many-storied apartment building in the center of the city. The view from the tenth floor, where their apartment is, is quite impressive. Today it was gray and a bit foggy, but still nice. (Ack, I spelled “gray” with an “e” a few seconds ago…that can’t be a good thing.) Mr. Masuda works for the Sales and Promotion department in the local Kirin Beverage Company office. He and his family have been transferred at least twice over the last several years.
Transferring to a different place in the country for work-related reasons is quite common in Japan. We’re in the peak of the transfer season right now, as the school year has just come to an end (school goes from April to March in Japan). For us this means we lose Kimiko after this Sunday, a strong member of the church who lends her cake-baking talents to every Music Cafe. Christina has also reached the end of her stay and will fly back to Brazil next week.
Of course it goes the other way, too. Many people are transferring to Okayama right now, so we’ll probably see some new faces on Sunday and in English classes starting in April.