Procrastinating
Third Big Test tomorrow. I am suddenly astounded by the rate at which we are covering material. We are halfway through our *second* book, and we only have two weeks left... in which we will finish the second book. As all the grammar on tomorrow's test is brand new for me, I'm a little nervous. So why am I blogging at a time like this? Because I'm a little nervous and thus reluctant to confront the task at hand. But don't worry, I won't be completely unprepared. I already reviewed the grammar and readings. I'm just taking a little break now.
I complain a lot (to Deepa in particular) about the quality of work/classes here, particularly people's lack of perception or, well, interest. Now, I don't consider myself very deepthinkful or perceptive but...
For example, in class the other day, the reading was about a survey done of 500 men and women working in companies in Tokyo and Oosaka concerning "waiting time" (i.e. how long they are willing to wait, how long before they get annoyed, etc). The conclusion was that, in general, women are more patient than men. Suzuki-sensei went around the room asking everyone to say something about the graphs, and, for the most part, people just read straight from it, like "people are willing to wait an hour for their significant other" or "men wait longer in such and such case." When she got to me, I pointed out that women in companies in Japan are almost always ranked lower than men and therefore are probably forced to wait more often and as a result are used to waiting, and, as they only surveyed company employees, it's likely the results aren't very representative. Suzuki-sensei then blinked at me, speechless for a moment, in that way she has when I make some sort of unexpected remark/observation and said "this is Indrany-san's analysis." (Another thing that pissed me off about that particular reading was that it never actually said how many men and how many women were "surveyed.")
What else? Oh, yeah, just... their *approach* to class. Today, after reading a not-so-interesting article about the difference between "ghosts" and "phantoms" in Japanese folklore during second period with Coumatsu-sensei, Suzuki-sensei came in for third period and asked us what we thought about the reading. As usual, everyone answered, "I thought it was interesting" and that was about it. I get really tired of this, so I said, "When I read it last night, I didn't think it was so interesting. But when Coumatsu-sensei comes in and talks with us, it always becomes interesting. For example, she told us the guy who wrote this has a funny hairstyle." I mean, come on people, class would be much more interesting (and useful) if we actually said interesting things.
Another time (and this has more to do with Japanese culture, I think), we were practicing an expression that means "doing ~ without doing ~." Everyone was making sentences like "I went to bed without turning out the light" or "I went to bed without taking out my contacts," so, just to liven things up, I said "I tried to jump out the window without opening it, so now I'm injured." Ezaki-sensei at first had *no idea* what I was talking about, and then, well... everyone else in class was laughing, but she just looked at me with that troubled look on her face (more troubled than her usual countenance, I mean) and said, "I don't think you can say that. That's a little strange." But the grammar was correct, as far as I can tell, so why can't I say it?
Because most of the time I can't tell if joking in class is okay or not. Somewhat near the beginning of the term, the first time we met Ninomiya-sensei, she told us (on "the downlow") that Suzuki-sensei was good at and liked drinking. Well, wouldn't you know, that day we practiced the expression "I heard from so-and-so that ~." So when Suzuki-sensei came in the next hour and asked "What did you hear from Ninomiya-sensei?" I just couldn't resist.
"I heard from Ninomiya-sensei that Suzuki-sensei likes sake," I said, with what I'm sure was a mischievous look on my face. My classmates were *shocked* ("You're going to get Ninomiya-sensei in trouble!") and Suzuki-sensei was quite surprised, but she recovered quickly enough. But since my classmates responded so negatively, I made sure to apologize to Suzuki-sensei after class for teasing her (she said it was okay and that it was true and not to worry about it, but I never know what to believe in Japan).
Ah~ culture clash. I can go out for drinks with Ueda-sensei, discuss juggling with Bob Dondero or Brian Kernighan, even be a *former* preceptor's groupie, but I tease my language teacher once, and I'm suddenly freaking out about being misunderstood and her having a bad opinion of me. It's an exciting experience, to have to deal with these issues, but it'd be nice to be able to relax with them... though of course the language barrier is a big part of the problem. After all, we haven't really learned *how* to joke in Japanese.
But while we're on the topic of Suzuki-sensei, I do feel a special connection with her. Even after the teasing incident, she once spent an hour after class helping me fill out forms for the ITO Foundation, and she helped me answer notices about my bank card and even called my bank for me to ask about it, and today in class... (this is kind of embarrassing) during last period we were reviewing for tomorrow's test, which meant we went through each lesson and asked questions. So at some point, she was in the middle of an answer (something like "however, in this other case...") and she looked *right at me* just as I was putting my leg on my desk.
Now, if you've never been in a class with actual desks with me, you won't understand what this means. I used to do it more in high school, but basically, I can only take so much sitting ladylike, 8:50am to 3pm everyday, so to stretch without leaving my seat, I sit with one leg lying flat across my desk - knee to one side, foot on the other - while the rest of my body remains upright. Okay, so it's hard to explain. The point is, even in America it looked strange and awkward. I don't do it *often* here, this was maybe only the second or third time this year, but because she looked at me right at the instant I was actively putting my leg on my desk while she was trying in earnest to explain something, I suddenly felt *really* self-conscious and quickly removed my leg from my desk. Suzuki-sensei promptly stopped midsentence,
with her jaw hanging open, cartoon-style,
and I said, having succeeded in doing exactly what I was trying to avoid doing, very embarrassed, "I'm so sorry." I may have even blushed. Suzuki-sensei took quite a while to recover, though I think what actually threw her off was my quick-foot-removal and not the actual foot-on-desk, and the people sitting next to me were like "What? What happened? What did you do?" as a result.
You suru ni [in short], Suzuki-sensei may not like me much or think I'm a very "good" or "nice" girl, but I hope I at least make her life more interesting. ^_^
I complain a lot (to Deepa in particular) about the quality of work/classes here, particularly people's lack of perception or, well, interest. Now, I don't consider myself very deepthinkful or perceptive but...
For example, in class the other day, the reading was about a survey done of 500 men and women working in companies in Tokyo and Oosaka concerning "waiting time" (i.e. how long they are willing to wait, how long before they get annoyed, etc). The conclusion was that, in general, women are more patient than men. Suzuki-sensei went around the room asking everyone to say something about the graphs, and, for the most part, people just read straight from it, like "people are willing to wait an hour for their significant other" or "men wait longer in such and such case." When she got to me, I pointed out that women in companies in Japan are almost always ranked lower than men and therefore are probably forced to wait more often and as a result are used to waiting, and, as they only surveyed company employees, it's likely the results aren't very representative. Suzuki-sensei then blinked at me, speechless for a moment, in that way she has when I make some sort of unexpected remark/observation and said "this is Indrany-san's analysis." (Another thing that pissed me off about that particular reading was that it never actually said how many men and how many women were "surveyed.")
What else? Oh, yeah, just... their *approach* to class. Today, after reading a not-so-interesting article about the difference between "ghosts" and "phantoms" in Japanese folklore during second period with Coumatsu-sensei, Suzuki-sensei came in for third period and asked us what we thought about the reading. As usual, everyone answered, "I thought it was interesting" and that was about it. I get really tired of this, so I said, "When I read it last night, I didn't think it was so interesting. But when Coumatsu-sensei comes in and talks with us, it always becomes interesting. For example, she told us the guy who wrote this has a funny hairstyle." I mean, come on people, class would be much more interesting (and useful) if we actually said interesting things.
Another time (and this has more to do with Japanese culture, I think), we were practicing an expression that means "doing ~ without doing ~." Everyone was making sentences like "I went to bed without turning out the light" or "I went to bed without taking out my contacts," so, just to liven things up, I said "I tried to jump out the window without opening it, so now I'm injured." Ezaki-sensei at first had *no idea* what I was talking about, and then, well... everyone else in class was laughing, but she just looked at me with that troubled look on her face (more troubled than her usual countenance, I mean) and said, "I don't think you can say that. That's a little strange." But the grammar was correct, as far as I can tell, so why can't I say it?
Because most of the time I can't tell if joking in class is okay or not. Somewhat near the beginning of the term, the first time we met Ninomiya-sensei, she told us (on "the downlow") that Suzuki-sensei was good at and liked drinking. Well, wouldn't you know, that day we practiced the expression "I heard from so-and-so that ~." So when Suzuki-sensei came in the next hour and asked "What did you hear from Ninomiya-sensei?" I just couldn't resist.
"I heard from Ninomiya-sensei that Suzuki-sensei likes sake," I said, with what I'm sure was a mischievous look on my face. My classmates were *shocked* ("You're going to get Ninomiya-sensei in trouble!") and Suzuki-sensei was quite surprised, but she recovered quickly enough. But since my classmates responded so negatively, I made sure to apologize to Suzuki-sensei after class for teasing her (she said it was okay and that it was true and not to worry about it, but I never know what to believe in Japan).
Ah~ culture clash. I can go out for drinks with Ueda-sensei, discuss juggling with Bob Dondero or Brian Kernighan, even be a *former* preceptor's groupie, but I tease my language teacher once, and I'm suddenly freaking out about being misunderstood and her having a bad opinion of me. It's an exciting experience, to have to deal with these issues, but it'd be nice to be able to relax with them... though of course the language barrier is a big part of the problem. After all, we haven't really learned *how* to joke in Japanese.
But while we're on the topic of Suzuki-sensei, I do feel a special connection with her. Even after the teasing incident, she once spent an hour after class helping me fill out forms for the ITO Foundation, and she helped me answer notices about my bank card and even called my bank for me to ask about it, and today in class... (this is kind of embarrassing) during last period we were reviewing for tomorrow's test, which meant we went through each lesson and asked questions. So at some point, she was in the middle of an answer (something like "however, in this other case...") and she looked *right at me* just as I was putting my leg on my desk.
Now, if you've never been in a class with actual desks with me, you won't understand what this means. I used to do it more in high school, but basically, I can only take so much sitting ladylike, 8:50am to 3pm everyday, so to stretch without leaving my seat, I sit with one leg lying flat across my desk - knee to one side, foot on the other - while the rest of my body remains upright. Okay, so it's hard to explain. The point is, even in America it looked strange and awkward. I don't do it *often* here, this was maybe only the second or third time this year, but because she looked at me right at the instant I was actively putting my leg on my desk while she was trying in earnest to explain something, I suddenly felt *really* self-conscious and quickly removed my leg from my desk. Suzuki-sensei promptly stopped midsentence,
with her jaw hanging open, cartoon-style,
and I said, having succeeded in doing exactly what I was trying to avoid doing, very embarrassed, "I'm so sorry." I may have even blushed. Suzuki-sensei took quite a while to recover, though I think what actually threw her off was my quick-foot-removal and not the actual foot-on-desk, and the people sitting next to me were like "What? What happened? What did you do?" as a result.
You suru ni [in short], Suzuki-sensei may not like me much or think I'm a very "good" or "nice" girl, but I hope I at least make her life more interesting. ^_^
posted by Bibhatsu at 08:15
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