Yesterday I made a speech in Japanese to the other teachers at the regular morning meeting. These meetings happen every Monday and Thursday and largely I just listen. I've had to speak around five or six times total, usually when some event is coming up and I need to tell the other teachers. The last time this happened was in October, when I was part of the International Beach Clean-up and was searching for some volunteers.

Speaking off-the-cuff in front of twenty teachers makes me nervous, even when I've prepared something before hand. However, sometimes there is no preparation time. By now, though, I typically know when I'll be expected to say something. I have some prepared phrases that I looked up especially for those circumstances. Not for this one, though.

Here is what I said:

今回は、急な出来事があってみなさんにご迷惑かけたにもかかわらず、あたたかいみなさんの急力があり、無事帰って来ることができました。本当にありがとうございました。

konkaiwa, kyuuna dekikoto ga atte minasan ni gomeiwaku kaketa nimo kakawarazu, atatakai minasan no kyuuryoku ga ari, buji kaette kuru koto ga dekimashita. hontou ni arigatou gozaimashita.*

"At this time, there was a sudden disaster and it caused trouble for everyone. Regardless, with the warm support of everyone, I was able to return safely. Thank you truly."

Chaiki-san, who works at the board of education, helped me prepare this statement. I wanted to get it right since everyone was so supportive when my father died.

*Since I did not use romanjii when I learned japanese, I'm not sure if this is the proper way to transcribe it.