学生

The third year students had to ask me questions the other day. As a way to practice writing and speaking, they write down random questions, ask me them, then attempt to write my answer in English. This actually kind of sucks, though, since I get asked the same damn things every class. "What did you have for breakfast this morning?" (though it's usually more like "Morning breakfast did have?"), "Do you like Japan?", "What animal do you like?"

But one kid hit me with something out of left field the other day:

"Which do you like better, your mother or your father?"

Daaaaaamn. They've just learned the "Which do you like better, apples or oranges?" grammar point (and I got asked that exact question, too, by another student), but this was a use of it I hadn't seen before. I stammered out that I liked both equally. What did they expect me to say? Then I asked the kid the same question he asked me.

He replied, without hesitation, "My dad." "Why?" I asked. "Because my mom is scary." I couldn't get anything more than that out of him, and I keep trying to figure out what it means.

Another kid in the group replied, "My mom." Why? "Because she's scary." Okay. What?! "I have to like her more or else she will get mad and scary."

Ooooookay then. I'll just leave that issue alone, then.

Another kid asked me, "What's your boom?" In Japan, "my boom" (pronounced "mai buumu") is whatever you're really into at the moment. Like watching 24 or listening to 80's music or something. Basically, your own personal trend. I said, "Watching Japanese drama" (I'm ashamed of myself!). Another girl said, "Talking." Talking?! This is a recent trend for you? She literally does talk almost all the time, though. But it's not exactly a hobby, is it? Oh, well.

***

I had a lot of free time yesterday and decided to sit in on the first years' gym class. Today's topic was judo. The kids were divided into boys and girls, shown a move, then ordered to "go at it."

The girls, as expected, would delicately hold the collar of their partner, then sort of slowly and carefully lower her to the ground. Afterwards, of course, they apologized. The "throwing" of judo had become "gently nudging."

The boys, however, were another story all together. Most couldn't figure out how to do the correct judo move, and so simply began tossing each other all over the mat. One boy was standing a bit off to the side at first. He always sits very quietly in class and seems incredibly shy. He takes notes diligently, and is the only one who actually looks at the lyrics for the song "Imagine" anymore. I call him "Mr. Turtle" in my mind since he's so meek and has a very round face.

(Note: We've been listening to "Imagine" by John Lennon four times a day, every day, ever since September. I told the English teacher that if we listened to it one more time, I might just snap, but he refuses to change the song until December. I offered to find more contemporary music and help him translate the songs into Japanese, but it was a no go. The kids hate it, but there's no changing his mind.)

Anyway, he's always accosted in class by the kid who sits next to him. This boy is about the opposite of Mr. Turtle. He's just plain "Ostrich" (no Mr. for him) since he has a really long neck, spiky hair, and sleeps all class with his head down. He occasionally pops his head out of the sand just long enough to yell to his friends across the room and throw some papers or marbles at them. Then it's back to sleep.

Mr. Turtle just lets Ostrich copy his work and tries to stay out of his way. But in gym class? Mr. Turtle was letting the kids, including Ostrich, have it. I mean REALLY slamming them into the mat. And with the correct judo move, too! Any kid that approached him immediately found themselves lying on the mat and staring at the roof.

I couldn't help but clap and cheer when he did this, and I did the same when one of the girls finally decided to stop being a priss and completely destroyed her opponent. All the other girls stopped what they were doing and cried out, "That was so...unlady-like!"

The girl who did the throwing, instead of offering the usual apology, just said, "I know" and gave this evil little smile.

I think I need to go to gym class more often.