Thursday.

I've started going to the local indoor pool for a spot of much-needed exercise and escape from the winter chill. Like most things in Japan, the swimming pool is a sanitized little happyland, where everything that could conceiveably be different from its Australian equivalent is different.
My first trip on Tuesday was taught me all this and more.
First of all, after enquiring about opening hours and establishing that yes, I could swim right now, I motioned to pay, but the office lady pointed me to a vending machine a few feet away. I buy my ticket, give it to her, and go in. Somehow I think that that vending machine was a few thousand dollars poorly spent.
The pool itself is very shallow (1m all over) and very warm (31 degrees!) As I would at home, I bring my towel and glasses into the pool area. I notice a single chair in the entire hall. I claim said chair for my towel and glasses. I also realize that everyone wears those annoying locker-key-on-a-wristband things whilst swimming. I wear shorts, but soon notice that everyone wears proper swimmers, like speedo-shorts. When I take a breather after a lap, I see a lifeguard running towards me in a panic. He reaches me and thrusts a rental swimming cap in my hands. So apparently, swimming with an uncovered head is forbidden in Japan. Can’t risk any renegade hairs getting in the water!
There’s a class of elementary school kids in the pool whilst I’m swimming. As I leave, I put on my glasses; suddenly, they gasp; “It’s him!” “Robahto-sensei!” “Robahto-sensei!” No hello, no konbanwa, just the yelling of my name. Nothing out of the ordinary, then. I wonder for a moment why they didn’t notice me earlier, but then again, with a cap to cover my non-black hair, goggles to cover my non-Asian eyes, and stripped of my teacher’s uniform (unironed shirt and trousers), there’s not much to go by.
On a completely different topic, I am stuck (once again) wondering what to do with tomorrow’s kid’s eikaiwa. I had had a few good lessons in a row, working on the alphabet, phonics, and beginning reading, but last week two new students came unexpectedly. A brother and sister, five and six years old. So now I have to cater to one kid who’s still at kindy, and others who could skip the first term of junior high English. It sounds mean, but I would rather these new kids (or their mum) decided the class was too difficult and they didn’t come again. Furthermore, the class is now up to 15 students, and I am still not allowed to split them into two classes based on age. Back to Karuta, I suppose.