One of the expressions that originated in English has made its way to Japan – “monster” parents. Kuniko currently has one going now, and they are a serious source of stress for teachers. Kuniko’s situation is complicated by the fact that in working at a private school parents are also customers. This particular parent has had a lot of problems with her daughter, and is taking out her frustrations on whoever may take responsibility. Unfortunately, this time around it is my poor wife.
But Kuniko is holding up well, and I’m doing my best to support when she comes home. We pour a glass of red wine, talk about her day, and take a bath together to wash her troubles away. It is interesting to hear about this otherwise rational and intelligent parent totally losing her shit and looking for someone – anyone – else to blame. I’d like to prescribe her a week of introspection, but I don’t think she’d be very interested in my opinion.
Anyway, other than that things are going fine. My students are doing pretty well getting back into the swing of things with English, and I’ve just about distributed all my omiyage from the trip. It is getting good reviews from my students – sunflower seeds haven’t really caught on in Japan yet. I got honey roasted ones, and with the sugar they are pretty user friendly.
OK, off to work. Lately it is dark when I walk to the station, and the few cars that pass have their headlights on. Winter is really here.
