"Drinking with Teachers"

Aki, a spirited young female teacher organized our evening to include an icebreaker. After the school day ended, we joined some Jr. High, Elementary and High school teachers at a local bar. I sat next to Mr. Tanaka, a Jr. high teacher who had traveled to the States with the Japan Fulbright Japan-US teacher exchange in April to learn about ESD in American schools. Sake, beer and a few shots of whiskey quickly overcame our language barriers, and we proceeded to deepen our understanding of each other. As you might expect, the next morning words and ideas were rather blurry, but the feelings of simpatico remained.