Do you know the scene in the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark when Harrison Ford is teaching a class and some girl student in the front has a crush on him, and when she closes her eyes she was written “I Love You” on her eyelids? The previously fearless Indiana Jones finds himself stuttering and distracted. Today something like that happened to me.
One of the students in Mr. Hayashi’s class has taken a liking to me lately. She makes a point to say hello when she comes through the teacher’s room, and although she is shy she will always try to speak English. She has a small group of girlfriends and today they were sitting there analyzing my every move. I would see all four of them staring at me from my peripheral vision, and when I looked over they would all giggle and compare notes.
Whenever it was my turn to read passages they would watch me carefully, and I was starting to get distracted, much like Indiana Jones did. Mr. Hayashi was his normal self, and didn’t seem to notice.
I only had two classes today, and they went smoothly. The day was full of other fun experiences, though. The history teacher had to pay $850 to replace his windshield (that’s a lot pricier than in America!), and he’s trying to get me to go to another guilt-relief dinner for all the time that I’ve spent chatting with him.
Our ESS meeting was fun today. We had the whole gang show up, and we played Jenga, and did an inside-the-classroom hunting puzzle that two of the students had thought up. It’ll be our last meeting for a while, since next week is the week before finals, and no clubs are supposed to meet then.
After school I went over to Tsuji-san’s place for my lesson, and we talked about her upcoming stint as a STEP test interviewer. I think she’ll do fine, but she’s very nervous. She’s been practicing hard, and is taking it very seriously. It’ll be a good experience for her. She also gave me chocolates to share with Kuniko when I have a chance. She had some with her boyfriend and said that they were really good.
On the way home I got a cheap haircut, and the guy there remembered me from last time. We talked for a little while in Japanese, and it went really smoothly. It was a fun conversation – since we both were stuck at the barber’s chair, there was no reason to hurry it along.
This was a big contrast to the next conversation I had in Japanese. When I got home I had a package slip in my mailbox. I called the number hoping they could get the guy to come back out tonight. The conversation didn’t go nearly as well. The poor lady working there was in a hurry and spoke rapidfire Japanese. I did my best to figure out what she was saying, but by then she was already on to the next question. I think that the conversation ended with a promise to attempt a delivery tomorrow evening.
The whole time I could imagine what it would be like for me in America with some person on the phone that can only speak a few words of English. I would be really frustrated – this guy lives in my country and doesn’t speak the language? I ask the same question five ways and he still doesn’t get it? What is this country coming to?
I’ve got to say that everyone in Japan is really patient with foreigners – nobody gets upset (at least to my face), and that’s a relief.
I took the history teacher’s advice tonight and had a roast beef sandwich for dinner. Actually, his advice was to eat some meat, so this was the best non-greasy thing I could come up with. It was delicious. My appetite is slowly coming back, just in time for a trip to Mary’s Pizza in March.
