Feb 2, 2005

COLD AS HOKKAIDO

Yesterday we got snow. It was the first time I've seen snow in the almost 3 years I've been in this country. It was real snow, too, not that rooty-poot flurry BS-- at least 2 or 3 inches of it, enough to make me bust out my old leather Timbs. I was impressed. I was happy as well, because snowfall meant the trains were going to be running slow, which would make me late for work. The Nagoya area is totally unbuilt for snow, and public transportation and highways virtually shut down even when it rains hard. When I got to the station, the times weren't even being displayed on the marquee; they were just blank. It was like you catch one when you catch one. That was cool with me. I was more than happy to have an excuse to be late for work; I'm at JHS this week.

The trains were ridiculous. More folks were riding because the roads were jammed and too crappy to navigate, so the cars were packed. People were cramming and squishing each other onto those trains in a silly fashion. I had to grab the first seat I saw, because I was afraid somebody was gonna shove me too hard which would provoke me to elbow them in the face. Unfortunately, the trains weren't as late as I was hoping, so I only ended up about 20 minutes late for school. But I was early compared to most of the homeroom teachers. Some of them came straggling in over an hour late. In 2 years I've never seen a teacher arrive late to school, but yesterday I saw about 10. The principal jokingly cursed some of the younger teachers aloud who'd called in saying they might not be able to make it. He kept saying "Baka yaroo," which is about the equivalent of calling someone a "dumbass" in English, and won a few chuckles from the other teachers. He's a funny dude.

I'd love to call one of these teachers baka yaroo, some of the kids too for that matter. The needle on my Japanese B.S.-Tolerance Gauge has been dipping in the red lately. I stopped caring about trying to be friendly with any of the teachers at JHS. My empathy for them has been deactivated for quite some time now, and I could give a damn less about most of them, honestly. This school can pretty much kiss my Black, foreign ass. My feelings are lighter towards the students, but recently I've been wanting to go upside some of their heads, too. Maybe its because I've been under higher levels of stress recently, but it seems like I'm not getting the respect I deserve as a teacher and a adult from some of these junior high kids, particularly some of the girls. Most of the kids are pretty respectful, and if they get out of line, usually one of my "do I look like I'm playing with you?" stares mellows them out real quick, but some of those girls just speak in a very rude manner, in ways I know they wouldn't talk to their Japanese teachers. I've become familiar with the language well enough to know what proper and impolite speech sounds like, so I'm not having it.

Sometimes I wish I could turn back the Japan clock about 10-15 years, back when teachers were still punching kids in the mouth. Nowadays, Japan is so PC, not only can't teachers hit students, but students can get physical with teachers with no serious repercussions. I know this, because I've witnessed it. I once had to pull a skinny 14 year-old boy off the science teacher--and didn't even get an "Arigatoo" from the sissy afterwards. I should've let him slam him against the wall again.

Anyway, let me focus on less violent things. I only have one month left before the school year ends and I get transferred to a different school. I'll try not to choke anybody before graduation.

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