Melor Mejor

Wednesday was pretty dull at school. All my classes were canceled so that students could prepare for the school festival, so I basically alternated my time between saying hi to the kids, studying Japanese, and staring into space. Then around two an English teacher walked by my desk and said "the typhoon will be at midnight," and then kept on walking. This was the first I'd heard about this, so I was a little surprised to say the least.

At three the principal announced that students didn't have to come to school Thursday. My American mind immediately went "oh, I don't have work tomorrow. Pajamas and video games, here I come!" This is so predictably American, in fact, that a teacher turned to me and said "the students won't come, but the teachers still come to watch the school. In America, this is strange, isn't it?" So I resigned myself to another day of sitting at my desk--or perhaps holding up trees that were about to fall or repairing roof leaks or whatever else the purpose of having teachers at school during a typhoon is supposed to be.

It's rainy and windy now, but I guess it headed east so we haven't had it that bad. Just seems like what would be called a regular old storm in the Bay Area.

On a semi-related note, at the end of the day a teacher I've never spoken to before came up to me and said in impeccable English, "Do you understand tomorrow's schedule? It is because of the typhoon. In America, this is called a hurricane, isn't it?" This is my first secret English speaker encounter. I'm sort of hoping all of the other teachers are secret impeccable English speakers too, and they will slowly reveal themselves to me, as my Japanese doesn't seem to be improving at all. We've finally signed up for classes, though!

Scene from a Japanese classroom

Me: Who is your favorite singer?

Student: I like pornography!

Thursdays: the best/worst day of the week

Somewhere, somehow, the rumor got started that Japanese kids are intensely studious and well behaved. I am here to tell you that this is mere myth. While the few top tier schools might have those stereotypical students, I've discovered that the rest of the schools consist of students attempting to avoid drawing any sort of attention to themselves. It turns out that in Japan a passing grade is 30%, something you can pull off just by showing up. There's not even a need to stay conscious. On Thursday I have what is by far my worst class. There're some really wild kids in it and I'm technically not allowed to discipline them so it's completely out of control. I leave exhausted and hating my job and certain I can't do this for more than a year.

But then I go to Sogo Yogo Gakko. It's the special needs high school I teach at on Thursday afternoons. The school is split into two groups: physical and mental disabilities. At first I was a little alarmed that kids who are perfectly capable mentally have to go to a separate school just because they're in a wheelchair, but the school is so wonderful that I'm pretty sure I would have preferred it over a "regular" high school. It's enormous, (it serves the entire prefecture), beautifully designed building just erected a few years ago. There are more than 150 teachers there, and they're all young, friendly, and care deeply about all of the students. The teacher to student ratio is something like 1:3. My largest class has five people and the smallest has just one student. I adore them. They actually talk to me. They want to talk to me. The first year students exceed the level of many of the third year students at my base school. It's so dramatically different from the class I have in the morning that I don't want to leave when the day is up, and I imagine I could do this job forever.