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Visiting sensei sitting across from me is wearing leather pants and a cravat.
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Just got hugged by my favorite JTE. Twice. Was this uncomfortable because a) living in Japan for 8 months has made me unused to human contact, b) because the hugs lasted about a minute in total, or c) both?
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Just watched as one of the teachers woke up from the nap he was taking at his desk (at 9am), and then realized with panic that he was late for a faculty meeting. Drool dribbling down the side of his mouth, he leaped up, tripped over a trashcan, and then the cord to the space heater, sending things flying. Not bothering to set anything to rights, he raced out of the room.
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[Shortly after Whitney Houston died:]
Very macho baseball coach is absent-mindedly humming, "And I Will Always Love You."
-----
Second years are working on a commercial or advertisement for a product of their choosing. "Madam Donut" features a collection of leopard print, tofu, and collagen donuts. Thinking this was a mistranslation by an electronic dictionary, I asked what they thought "collagen" meant. "You know, it makes you young and beautiful." When I argued that collagen can't be ingested, they blinked and replied, "It's a magic donut."
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Realized today that I can get my students to do pretty much
whatever I want if I pretend to cry. One of my students has come to class unprepared two weeks in a row for a presentation he has to give. Finally, I told him that I wouldn't give him any more time. He had to do it that day. He told me, "No." Instead of being overly positive and encouraging him or yelling at him, I put on an incredibly hammish crying face and told him he was making me so sad, would he PLEASE do his presentation. And then I waited, looking at him with the sad face. As the minutes passed, the whole class became very uncomfortable, until finally, one of the other male students said, "Hey, she's being so cute. Do the presentation." The peer pressure worked, and he gave his speech without further ado. I tried a similar tack with a class that had forgotten to do their homework. Last year, I'd ask students to give me their work the next day, and I'd be lucky if they gave me the assignment by the end of term. This time, the students lined up at lunch the next day to give me their worksheets. GUILTING VICTORY.
-----
While playing the Game of Life board game in ESS club, we had a small crisis. [If you've never played this game, it's a bit like a Candy Land and Monopoly mashup. Each player has a game token of a car, into which they can insert an androgynous plastic person that is either blue or pink. If you get married or have children during the game, you can add other figures to the car as well.]
The club, made up of all girls, literally screamed when one team landed on the "get married" space, and a girl accidentally handed me a pink person to join another pink person in the car. I took this as an opportunity to ask them their feelings about gay marriage, thinking it could be a great segue into a conversation with them. However, the question could not have made them more palpably uncomfortable. They stood there, glancing at each other nervously, shifting from foot to foot and doing a nonverbal hot potato of "You say something." Finally, the club captain spoke up and said, "I think love is the most important thing." We ended up leaving it at that.
-----
My third years were doing a project this week where they had to pretend they were cartoon characters who had been wrecked on a Pacific island, and there was only enough food for some of them to live. The group had to decide who would live and who would die based on information I gave each of them, and then explain their decision. Overheard in one group of girls:
“Anpanman, you will die. And then we’ll eat your face.”
-----
My kids enjoy asking me how old I am, and are always surprised by my answer. Yesterday they sat there, shaking their heads.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"So sad. You are almost misoji [thirty]."
Thanks, guys. I can feel the pall of death on me already.
------
In a conversation with one of my [female] students:
"Eri-sensei, you are so melty."
"What does that mean?"
"You are so cute, you are melty. Like Melty Kiss!"
Just got hugged by my favorite JTE. Twice. Was this uncomfortable because a) living in Japan for 8 months has made me unused to human contact, b) because the hugs lasted about a minute in total, or c) both?
-----
Just watched as one of the teachers woke up from the nap he was taking at his desk (at 9am), and then realized with panic that he was late for a faculty meeting. Drool dribbling down the side of his mouth, he leaped up, tripped over a trashcan, and then the cord to the space heater, sending things flying. Not bothering to set anything to rights, he raced out of the room.
-----
[Shortly after Whitney Houston died:]
Very macho baseball coach is absent-mindedly humming, "And I Will Always Love You."
-----
Second years are working on a commercial or advertisement for a product of their choosing. "Madam Donut" features a collection of leopard print, tofu, and collagen donuts. Thinking this was a mistranslation by an electronic dictionary, I asked what they thought "collagen" meant. "You know, it makes you young and beautiful." When I argued that collagen can't be ingested, they blinked and replied, "It's a magic donut."
-----
Realized today that I can get my students to do pretty much
whatever I want if I pretend to cry. One of my students has come to class unprepared two weeks in a row for a presentation he has to give. Finally, I told him that I wouldn't give him any more time. He had to do it that day. He told me, "No." Instead of being overly positive and encouraging him or yelling at him, I put on an incredibly hammish crying face and told him he was making me so sad, would he PLEASE do his presentation. And then I waited, looking at him with the sad face. As the minutes passed, the whole class became very uncomfortable, until finally, one of the other male students said, "Hey, she's being so cute. Do the presentation." The peer pressure worked, and he gave his speech without further ado. I tried a similar tack with a class that had forgotten to do their homework. Last year, I'd ask students to give me their work the next day, and I'd be lucky if they gave me the assignment by the end of term. This time, the students lined up at lunch the next day to give me their worksheets. GUILTING VICTORY.
-----
While playing the Game of Life board game in ESS club, we had a small crisis. [If you've never played this game, it's a bit like a Candy Land and Monopoly mashup. Each player has a game token of a car, into which they can insert an androgynous plastic person that is either blue or pink. If you get married or have children during the game, you can add other figures to the car as well.]
The club, made up of all girls, literally screamed when one team landed on the "get married" space, and a girl accidentally handed me a pink person to join another pink person in the car. I took this as an opportunity to ask them their feelings about gay marriage, thinking it could be a great segue into a conversation with them. However, the question could not have made them more palpably uncomfortable. They stood there, glancing at each other nervously, shifting from foot to foot and doing a nonverbal hot potato of "You say something." Finally, the club captain spoke up and said, "I think love is the most important thing." We ended up leaving it at that.
-----
My third years were doing a project this week where they had to pretend they were cartoon characters who had been wrecked on a Pacific island, and there was only enough food for some of them to live. The group had to decide who would live and who would die based on information I gave each of them, and then explain their decision. Overheard in one group of girls:
“Anpanman, you will die. And then we’ll eat your face.”
-----
My kids enjoy asking me how old I am, and are always surprised by my answer. Yesterday they sat there, shaking their heads.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"So sad. You are almost misoji [thirty]."
Thanks, guys. I can feel the pall of death on me already.
------
In a conversation with one of my [female] students:
"Eri-sensei, you are so melty."
"What does that mean?"
"You are so cute, you are melty. Like Melty Kiss!"
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