snippets of school

my friday school is next to a park, and seems to be in a rather windy area as there's always a wind or draft of some sort in the corridors and classrooms. the windows of classrooms are also always open, and it was in the 3rd period today that i looked out of the window overlooking the park and was overcome by this sudden sense of calm. the students were doing their work and it was all quiet without; green and tranquil.

it was a similar sort of calm that i experienced yesterday, cycling along a side street from the supermarket in the early afternoon. for some reason, there was none of the buzz of children and their mothers or of office workers, and it was very peaceful.

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people in japan often form neat, long lines to board trains, and i always bring up this phenomenon whenever someone asks me what i found surprising about japan. as far as i know; of all the countries that i've been to and from talking to all the various JETs here - some of whom are very well travelled - japan is the only country where this occurs, but any japanese you mention this to will be extremely surprised that foreigners (might) find this surprising, as this is what's natural for them.

my teacher feels that this is something to be proud of, and asked what i thought about queuing to board trains in class. frankly, i do see its merits, but i certainly miss the mess of just standing around a train door; the 'strategising' of where's the best spot to place yourself so you can get through the doors first; the tingle of excitement when you've got your eyes on a seat, and the sense of satisfaction when you've actually got one*.

everything in japan is so orderly - at least on the surface, that is - and everyone so superficially polite that i cant remember when was the last time i tried rushing for a seat. i dont even bother to do so anyhow, since when you're in a line its pretty obvious that any of that would be a waste of time anyway.

maybe its the kiasu singaporean in me trying to assert itself, but writers to the forum pages always like to compare us to so-called 'more civilised societies' like the UK, and i have it on good authority that people push to enter trains in the UK too. the bottom line is, there's something about NOT queuing to board a train, and i dont really think that queuing is necessarily something to be proud of.

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chalk is a scourge that gets on everything, and students are surprisingly incapable of copying words from a blackboard accurately. 

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there's this teacher in my school who assists students with special needs, and she's this cute, petite lady. so it was somewhat surprising to see her today in a cardigan with prints of beetles, bees and cockroaches all over. wearing something like that probably indicates that she has an edge to her cuteness, which is nice, cos it makes her appear to have character, unlike quite a lot of her peers.

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my teacher also seems to be a rather interesting man. i suspect that he might be very funny in japanese, spewing dry one-liners, if the things he says to me in english are anything to go by. just today, i offered him some snacks which he declined, saying that he makes it a rule not to snack. when asked why, he gave me this:

"Your hobby is eating. My hobby is drinking. So I'm not interested in food."

what a gem :)

 

*: and the smugness when you've got one in a crowded train!