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I do believe in fairies! I do! I do!
Sep. 6th, 2007 09:00 pmNatsumi: Do you believe in Santa Claus?
Me: Umm.....when I was little. Do you?
Natsumi: ............well, the presents come from somewhere. (gives me a questioning look)
Me:*ohshitohshitohshit*..........Maybe if you believe, Santa comes.
Natsumi: Hmmm. Do you believe in fairies?
Me: Umm.....maybe? (looks outside the window for fairies)
Natsumi: I think I believe.
This was just about the cutest conversation I've had with a third year high student. She's not the only one who still believes either--I remember one of the first year boys saying he kind of believed last year. I bet the current crop of first years (who are nuts) have a few believers too.
Japanese kids--or at least the kids in my area--are such a strange mix of innocent and not-so-innocent. Generally, they're so much sweeter than the kids back home. Even the "bad" kids aren't really that bad, at least around here. They don't do drugs or pull fire alarms or bring weapons to school. They just, I dunno, skip classes and lie around the corridors and store moldy bread on school cabinets or whatever.
At the same time, you just know the little brats are reading hentai manga and peering at the dirty magazines at 7-eleven. Or finding their coach's stash of porn mags in his car (thank you for the TMI, baseball team).
I remember a few months ago when I met Natsumi's older sister Maya coming out of a bookstore and I asked what she had bought. She pulled out a shoujo manga and said something about wanting to learn more about adult stuff. Argh, sex education from manga. Oh well, I guess it's not any worse than learning it from the internet or friends.
In other news, I had an awesome, awesome lesson at one of my kindergartens today. And then the teacher gave me an English picture book and said, "since you're good at drawing things, and the kids like it, maybe you could redraw this story for them?" Eargh. I don't think she meant for me to redraw the entire thing, but it's going to be an assload of work no matter what.
Me: Umm.....when I was little. Do you?
Natsumi: ............well, the presents come from somewhere. (gives me a questioning look)
Me:*ohshitohshitohshit*..........Maybe if you believe, Santa comes.
Natsumi: Hmmm. Do you believe in fairies?
Me: Umm.....maybe? (looks outside the window for fairies)
Natsumi: I think I believe.
This was just about the cutest conversation I've had with a third year high student. She's not the only one who still believes either--I remember one of the first year boys saying he kind of believed last year. I bet the current crop of first years (who are nuts) have a few believers too.
Japanese kids--or at least the kids in my area--are such a strange mix of innocent and not-so-innocent. Generally, they're so much sweeter than the kids back home. Even the "bad" kids aren't really that bad, at least around here. They don't do drugs or pull fire alarms or bring weapons to school. They just, I dunno, skip classes and lie around the corridors and store moldy bread on school cabinets or whatever.
At the same time, you just know the little brats are reading hentai manga and peering at the dirty magazines at 7-eleven. Or finding their coach's stash of porn mags in his car (thank you for the TMI, baseball team).
I remember a few months ago when I met Natsumi's older sister Maya coming out of a bookstore and I asked what she had bought. She pulled out a shoujo manga and said something about wanting to learn more about adult stuff. Argh, sex education from manga. Oh well, I guess it's not any worse than learning it from the internet or friends.
In other news, I had an awesome, awesome lesson at one of my kindergartens today. And then the teacher gave me an English picture book and said, "since you're good at drawing things, and the kids like it, maybe you could redraw this story for them?" Eargh. I don't think she meant for me to redraw the entire thing, but it's going to be an assload of work no matter what.
