(no subject)
I just turned on the TV, and it seems that an elementary school student committed suicide due to bullying. Her suicide note read something like this:
"Dear everyone in the 6th grade,
Why do you hate me? Was I mean to you? Was I coldhearted to you? I feel like I did something to you.
(I don't remember the next few sentences, but the letter ended with)
That's why I'm contemplating suicide."
---
One regret that I have about my trip to America was that I didn't get to tell enough anecdotes. I guess I should've written them down beforehand. I'll try to tell more of them here.
For example, when I was at Tanoura Elementary two weeks ago, something funny happened in the afternoon. In elementary schools here, the first graders leave around the period after lunch, and the second graders leave not too long after that. At about 3:00 pm, a group of three second graders was leaving. As they ran out the front door, they spotted me and gave their goodbyes.
"Goodbye!"
"Goodbye!"
"Good morning!"
It was pretty cute, if I do say so.
---
Last year, I noted how my town is different than the Japanese standard in terms of age at marriage. I should note another big difference, as it has been staring me in the face since the second term started last year. This is probably the case for rural, not-so-rich places around the world, but the people here have a lot of kids. I think the average in Japan is 1.2 kids per woman, but a family with two kids is below what I assume the average is here. I can name many families who have three or four kids off the top of my head. In Tanoura JHS, every student but two has at least one sibling in an elementary school who will later go to that JHS (yes, they have a chart for that).
One thing that I didn't notice, but Drew pointed out recently, is that there are lots of kids whose siblings are in the grade directly below them. What I mean is that they're about one year or less apart in age. That's quite a long time to spend pregnant!
One way to sum up the conversation is with Drew's question: "Is making babies all there is to do there?"
---
One final thing. I went to a moon-viewing party with some people from my neighborhood last Saturday. Both the parents and the children ate together, and there were games and stories for the kids after dinner. They had a game where you stick your face in water, then try to grab a marshmallow with your mouth from a pan of flour. I purposely rolled my face around in the flour, and it was good fun. Also, towards the end of the night I taught Ayano, one of my 3rd year students at Matsuyama JHS, the "blow it up" handshake. So, if you ever travel here by a fleet of dirigibles and want to make sure you're in the right place, you don't have to know Japanese. Just initiate the "blow it up" handshake, and hope the person you're talking with doesn't think you're trying to punch them!
"Dear everyone in the 6th grade,
Why do you hate me? Was I mean to you? Was I coldhearted to you? I feel like I did something to you.
(I don't remember the next few sentences, but the letter ended with)
That's why I'm contemplating suicide."
---
One regret that I have about my trip to America was that I didn't get to tell enough anecdotes. I guess I should've written them down beforehand. I'll try to tell more of them here.
For example, when I was at Tanoura Elementary two weeks ago, something funny happened in the afternoon. In elementary schools here, the first graders leave around the period after lunch, and the second graders leave not too long after that. At about 3:00 pm, a group of three second graders was leaving. As they ran out the front door, they spotted me and gave their goodbyes.
"Goodbye!"
"Goodbye!"
"Good morning!"
It was pretty cute, if I do say so.
---
Last year, I noted how my town is different than the Japanese standard in terms of age at marriage. I should note another big difference, as it has been staring me in the face since the second term started last year. This is probably the case for rural, not-so-rich places around the world, but the people here have a lot of kids. I think the average in Japan is 1.2 kids per woman, but a family with two kids is below what I assume the average is here. I can name many families who have three or four kids off the top of my head. In Tanoura JHS, every student but two has at least one sibling in an elementary school who will later go to that JHS (yes, they have a chart for that).
One thing that I didn't notice, but Drew pointed out recently, is that there are lots of kids whose siblings are in the grade directly below them. What I mean is that they're about one year or less apart in age. That's quite a long time to spend pregnant!
One way to sum up the conversation is with Drew's question: "Is making babies all there is to do there?"
---
One final thing. I went to a moon-viewing party with some people from my neighborhood last Saturday. Both the parents and the children ate together, and there were games and stories for the kids after dinner. They had a game where you stick your face in water, then try to grab a marshmallow with your mouth from a pan of flour. I purposely rolled my face around in the flour, and it was good fun. Also, towards the end of the night I taught Ayano, one of my 3rd year students at Matsuyama JHS, the "blow it up" handshake. So, if you ever travel here by a fleet of dirigibles and want to make sure you're in the right place, you don't have to know Japanese. Just initiate the "blow it up" handshake, and hope the person you're talking with doesn't think you're trying to punch them!