Slime Mansion

On Thursdays I have English lessons with Namioka Hisashi, a dentist who happens to be, like, the second-in-command priest of the Buddhist Temple I'm residing at (that's him to the right of obaa-chan); the first-in-command being his sister-in-law, Hibino Ikuko. (I-I really don't know the proper titles. 9_9) Since I'm pretty much living in their annex apartment free of rent (only having to pay for utilities and insurance), these English lessons (along with my temple-cleaning duties) are supposed to make up for it. I never felt like I'm adequate as an English teacher to him though; certainly not enough to pay for what would otherwise be at least $700 worth of rent.

In spite of this, every English lesson with Hisashi-san, save for one, have been accompanied by a whole banquet prepared for me by their maid. In addition to the first feast the temple family treated me when I moved in, during our first tutoring session, I was treated to dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant on the top floor of the Yodobashi Akiba building (a ginormous electronics department store in Akihabara where I spend at least three hours browsing every time I happen to be in the area). After that, there was also sukiyaki, oden, BEEF, assortments of other Japanese dishes, t-tacos...? Clearly they seem to be paying me to live here.

Recently, Hisashi-san asked me if I would like another tutoring job; this time with his little brother, Namioka Shinzou--also a dentist--along with a friend of his. The difference, however, is that for this job, I am to be paid in cash. 8)

So far we've only had two lessons though; the first lesson was a little rough, since I was gauging Shinzou-san's English abilities (...um...not quite on par with his brother's >_>), and also at being kind of taken aback by the fact that his friend turned out to be a 20-something ladyfriend (whereas Shinzou-san looks to be in his 40's), and gauging her English abilities as well. The week following that, Shinzou was sick so that lesson was cancelled; and then the following week's absence I had already detailed in a previous entry.

Consequently, for this week's lesson, I had arrived early by half an hour and called Shinzou-san to confirm our meeting location. When it came time for the lesson though, I received another call from him telling me to go to this cafe, sit down and order a drink while I wait for them to show up. I followed his instructions up to the point where I was supposed to enter the cafe; it was some nice-ass place inside a hotel in Shibuya, and I felt awkward sitting in there on my own, especially considering I was wearing, like, lame cargo pants with a hooded sweatshirt. 6_6 So I sat on the lounge chairs outside and waited.

But 20 minutes went by and still no sight of him or his girlfriend. Another 10 minutes and I started getting paranoid. Like, what if this was all some sort of passive-aggressive revenge? Like, maybe because I sucked at teaching them English, and then had them wait 40 minutes for me last week to NOT SHOW UP, they decided, "Ha ha, wouldn't it be funny if we had him go into the super-expensive cafe and never show up LIKE HOW HE DID TO US LAST WEEK, and force him to pay for his drink himself??" I was just about to pat myself on the back for not following through with entering the cafe when Shinzou-san's girlfriend Sayaka-san finally arrived, with Shinzou-san following shortly after. Turns out they were buying new cell phones. ;o

So the lesson went fine. They had bought textbooks, but I needed some time to look through it, so we just did what I normally do with Hisashi-san; that is, we talked, and I taught them new vocabulary and phrases where appropriate. They treated me to a hot cup of milk that cost 850 yen (like I said, some nice-ass place in Shibuya), and afterwards Shinzou-san paid me the usual fee, even though I had feverishly tried to decline it this time to make up for not showing up last week.

I suppose I shouldn't be too self-conscious about my English teaching ability. I mean, there was a reason why Hisashi-san referred his brother to me, and not my flatmate, right? Like, I must be doing something right in my English lessons, right?? B-but still, I don't know if how I'm teaching them English now is actually effective or not, and at this point I really have no way of knowing either...?

Well.

BASICALLY.

WHAT I MEAN TO SAY IS.

IT'S A GOOD THING THAT I'LL BE GETTING PROFESSIONAL TRAINING TO BECOME A PROPER ENGLISH TEACHER.

SINCE I GOT HIRED BY GABA AFTER MY SECOND INTERVIEW WITH THEM ON TUESDAY, AND ALL.

In conclusion, I get to wear a suit to work! 8D