My old boss Yoshida Shu, from way back when I first came to Japan, called me before I went to New Zealand, to ask if I could teach him English. Odd, I thought, but agreed. We are having the lessons at Groovy, the cafe where I taught lessons when I first came here. It's a jazz club, with a tennis court and the best ice chocolate!
Shu is planning a trip to New Zealand, where he has all sorts of amazing things planned. Sometimes I think my job is not to teach him English, but to teach him common sense - No, you can't walk the Milford Track alone, in the middle of winter. You must start training now. You cannot take fossils out of New Zealand. We do know the value of dinosaur bones, you're not going to be able to find one sitting around in the dust that no-one had any idea of the value of, and take it back to Japan and become a millionnaire selling it. No-one is going to give you a bed and food in exchange for teaching them geological and palaontological Japanese. Nobody on Stewart Island wants to learn Japanese. And please, please come back to Japan to your long-suffering wife and daughter!
Meanwhile I picked up a new lesson. A private, about three times a month, on various days according to her schedule. I hope I don't get too annoyed with this one, I suppose if I do, I can always declare myself 'busy' on the days she chooses. How did I get into this? I am just not very good at negotiating in Japanese yet, plus I am hamstrung by my desire for the cash! I went into it intending fully to offer her ONLY Wednesday nights and Monday mornings, but she got me to offer Friday mornings too. I suppose I should put more little squiggles in my diary, if I really want to bargain hard!
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