On the way to work today I bumped into another one of my old students. She is also going to Hyogo University down the road from Nozaki sensei’s place. She was really brave to stop me and say hello, because I didn’t recognize her at all. She confused me a little because she said that she is studying nursing in Japanese, but then she added in English that she is studying dance. Not sure what the final answer is, maybe both?
I had one student acting up in my second class today, a little boy named Kohei. He was goofing off with one his friends – they were busy grabbing each others testicles and spanking each other. I didn’t want to delve into the psychology behind that, but I did want them to stop disrupting the class. I explained the “no snack” rule that Nozaki sensei implemented, but he didn’t seem to care. So, when everyone was diving into the snack bin I told that he didn’t get one, and looked startled that there were actually repercussions. We’ll see if it has any lasting effect next week.
After my classes ended I went to do a private lesson at a student’s house. Her mother had asked me if I would do it through Nozaki sensei, and I could use the money so I said sure. The mother picked me up and drove me there, and her daughter, a high school student, took me upstairs to her room and we set up to chat.
It wasn’t really much of a lesson, more of a way for her to get used to listening and communicating with native speakers of English. I enjoyed talking with her, and we stuck to English the whole time. At the end of the chat the mother came up with some cake and coffee, and we all talked and ate.
I was working on my cake during the conversation, and the bottom crust was all sticking together, so I decided that I’d have to gulp it in one swallow. I got it in my mouth, and just as it went in the conversation stopped. The mother asked me if I hadn’t just swallowed the paper on the bottom of the cake.
As it turned out it was paper that I had just eaten, but I had figured that it was better to go ahead and swallow it than to spit it back up on the plate in front of them. What would Miss Manners do?
Anyway, we got a good laugh out of that, and then they drove me back to the station and I went home from there. Kuniko and I had an easy dinner of cheese and crackers and then went to bed on the early side. I’m fighting off (another) cold, so the more rest the better nowadays.
