First day back at work

Today I had my first day back at work. My alarm went off at five (FIVE!) and I crawled reluctantly out of bed. After my second cup of tea I felt more or less human, and headed off out the gate.

The commute felt longer than it used to. That's what happens when you haven't done it for a while. It stretches. It will get shorter later, I'm sure.

Once I got to my station I went into a coffee shop for breakfast. (I do this rather than breakfasting at home so as to avoid the HIDEOUS rush hour on the Osaka Loop Line.) I have about 40 minutes for breakfast, which is enough time to get three cups of coffee down me. After this I feel REALLY AWAKE. Then I head off to work.

I still have half an hour for prep after getting to work, so I generally spend this time... prepping. Today I found the teachers' room door was locked. I was the first one there! I heard a cough, or fart, or something, from the boss' room, but didn't disturb him. I checked the other door to the teachers' room, and found it was open, so went through and opened the main door. I sat down and started going through my things, wondering if my plans for the first classes of the semester were adequate. I hadn't left too much time for ad libbing, had I?

After a few minutes I thought it was odd that nobody else had arrived yet, and went through to see the boss. I knocked on his door.

"COME IN!" he shouted.

I went in.

He offered me coffee. I hesitated, remembering the three I'd already had, but then reasoned that they were SMALL cups, and not very strong, and accepted.

We sat and chatted for a while. What we did in the summer vacation, what kind of chaos to expect from the stupid new system where students are moved around in the second semester so we'll have mostly old students but some new ones in our classes, why so many teachers do not speak Japanese, what the gossip is at the university, blah blah blah.

After a while I checked my watch. It was 8.55. Class started in five minutes!

"Where IS everybody?" I asked.

"Er... you do realize that classes start tomorrow, don't you?" said my boss. He snorted. "I thought you'd come in early to prepare."

"NOOOOOO!" I wailed. "DO YOU MEAN I GOT UP AT FIVE THIS MORNING SO I COULD HAVE A CUP OF COFFEE WITH YOU???"

He sniggered, and pointed at the schedule, which was pinned on the bulletin board.

"But I copied the dates from this schedule!" I said. "Were they changed at some point?"

"No," he said, and sniggered again.

"You shouldn't snigger," I informed him. "It's unattractive and undignified. So is snorting. And anyway, my summer was MUCH more interesting than yours. Nah nah!"

"AND YOU WROTE DOWN THE WRONG DATE! NAH NAH!"

He laughed and laughed and laughed.



(Message to The Man, if you are reading this. YOU, TOO, CAN STOP LAUGHING RIGHT NOW.)