|
I might have told you this, but it was so cool, that it can be told again. There is a student in the 3rd grade that I thought was mute. I'd never heard hime speak, or even open his mouth. He is very shy, and trembles when the teachers ask him to do something. The only time I saw confidence in him was when he was playing the piano or alone with his friends. Every 3rd grader had to have an oral exam given by me. I got really nervous when he came into the room, because I figured he couldn't speak. So I asked the questions, and to my surprise, he actually answered a couple of them. He trembled the whole time, and when he did answer, it was alsways in a whisper. After the test, I commented to the teachers about this, and they told me they were jealous. None of the 3rd year teachers had heard him speak all year long. They said I was very lucky, that he only talks to his friends. So that was a moment of truimph for my life in Japan. The not-so-cool stuff is about something I saw on the TV. There have been a lot of suicides recently due to the economic crisis. Not a week goes by when I don't hear about a suicide involving a businessman who was in financial trouble, or a finance official who'd been involved in a bribery scandal. So I saw on a program that last year, there were 3,025 suicides because of the bad economy. I suspect that the US and many other countries can't boast such a large #. I don't understand why suicide is so attractive. Another not-so-cool thing is happening in my school. There seems to be a lot of bad feelings. The principal isn't very well liked by his underlings. Apparently, he used to be a PE teacher. He organized a huge sporting event for the ken, and things went without a hitch. To honor him for this triumph, he was promoted to principal, a huge step in the eyes of all his co-workers. But everyone says he was "just a PE teacher." the stigma is still there. There are communication problems between him and his co-workers. They complain, but it hasn't helped much. One of the teachers told me that he really doesn't do much. I was told he spends a lot of time playing on the computer and looking at nudie magazines. Most of the time he's lost in his office. There's no hope of him moving soon because he brand new to the school, and most people don't get moved until their 5th year (but there are always exceptions). Valerie Straayer |