June Bug Joke

Last night, in an unexpected twist of events, Jun Sensei and John joined me for dinner. Jun, Mayumi and I are the youngest teachers at my high school (all in our twenties) and although Jun can't speak much English, the 3 of us joke around in between classes and lesson-planning. At the beginning of the year, before I knew Jun's name, a dead June Bug ended up on my desk after cleaning time. Suspecting a student placed it there as a "gift," and wanting someone to laugh about it with me, I tapped Jun on the shoulder and pointed at the insect. "June Bug," I said, and smiled. Looking confused and serious, Jun promptly disposed of the dead bug by dropping him outside the window, handling the matter like a mature father looking after his young. It was only afterwards, when Mayumi told me his name was Jun, that I realized why he was so confused when I said "June Bug" over and over. That day we called him "June Bug" and the name has stuck ever since. Jun has an odd sense of humor and is always cracking jokes in Japanese (that Mayumi has to translate for me), but often they're so off-the-wall that even Mayumi doesn't understand them. So usually, Jun will rattle something off, and Mayumi will look at me and shrug, "June Bug joke." And then the two of us crack up.

Anyway -- last night, Jun came over for dinner. I made Japanese curry and salad, and it turned out to be the best I've cooked so far. Also, thanks to Mom's decorating help, my apartment now looks fabulous. While I wasn't initially thrilled about having guests, it turned out to be a fun evening. Somehow we laughed a lot even though I know Jun and I have a lot of trouble communicating. I was impressed he would attempt a dinner with two foreigners who can't speak Japanese. Yay for June Bug.