Mirrored with permission from Outpost Nine and Azrael


Japanese Teachers Say the Darndest Things

The insanity isn't just limited to kids. No no, the teachers get in on this as well.

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One of my English teachers was this really nice lady, a mother maybe in her 40-50's. She had one of those infamous books of (apparently) colloquial English expressions, and she liked to hit me with things from it at random times. I think the very first one was when I asked for a day off, and she said "Oh, yes yes, of course. Oh! (thinks about it for a second) ....No problemo!" She seemed really happy she was able to incorporate colloquial English into her speech, and I didn't have the heart to tell her we stopped saying "No problemo" sometime in the 80's.

The next time, I was leaving for the day, and she said "Goodbye! See you tomorrow! Oh! (thinks about it for a second) ....Hasta la vista, baby!"

Another time, she was thumbing through the book, and randomly turned to me (we sat next to each other) and said "It's hotter and muggier than a sweaty dog's fur today, isn't it?"

I'd really like to meet whoever it is who writes these books. I'll bet good money they speak neither Japanese or English. They're probably French or something.

Sadly, this teacher was transferred to a new school last March. I really miss her. Hasta la vista, baby.

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A teacher who used to be at the ghetto school, she was another nice lady who had most of the little bastard ichinensei boys in her English class. In December, a bad flu rolled around and a lot of students were out sick. Even teachers were catching it...myself included. Bah.

So I was talking with this teacher about the flu, and she said "But you know what? Those little monsters, they never get sick! It would be so nice if they got sick and missed school. When I'm sick, I try to cough on them, but they still don't get sick! Maybe being a little monster protects you from the flu."

You know though, she does have a point. If only I'd known during my school days...maybe my grades would have suffered, but I would have been incredibly healthy.

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At the ghetto school, they often send the teachers who have a free period on patrol in the hallways to make sure kids aren't randomly walking around or generally causing trouble. Hey, I don't call it the ghetto school for nothing. So one day, one teacher comes into an ichinensei English class. Although the kids weren't causing problems, I guess he found the lesson interesting enough to stay for awhile. This guy is pretty eccentric, and that's an understatement. The lesson we were doing was "What do you have for breakfast?"

So anyway, I was at this school again *TWO WEEKS LATER* (emphasized for emphasis) and there was some kind of school-wide sports competition. I was standing outside, and the teacher from before wandered over to me. He then said something to me completely unintelligible, in Japanese or English. I did manage to pick out the word "sunny", so assuming he was talking about the weather, I responded that yes, it was a sunny day, but clouds were moving in and it might rain later. He gave me a weird look and walked away.

After the activity ended, he pulled aside one of my English teachers. She then came over to me and, with a strange smile on her face, asked if I remembered the conversation I'd had with the other teacher. I said yes (since it'd happened less than an hour ago). She then said "Well, he asked me to explain that he likes sunny-side up eggs for breakfast, I guess that was a lesson you did two weeks ago."

......Wow. Don't get me wrong, I'm really, really, really happy he was willing to not only talk to me, but try it in English no less. But who just randomly walks up to a person and says "sunny-side up"? Two weeks later no less? He must have been waiting for me to come back so he could say that.

Well, if we ever end up having breakfast together at least I know what to buy him.

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I have quite a few teachers who are young girls, first years, in the 21-24 age range. One of them, at the ghetto school, is really nice. A bit quirky, but still just a good, awesome person.

Anyway, we went out on a "date" once (just between friends...she has a boyfriend and at the time I had a girlfriend). During the date she was telling me about her boyfriend, so she showed me a picture she had on her cell phone. "Oh, he looks pretty cool." I said.

Her face turned completely serious, as she said "Not really. His head is too big." And I can't stress how serious she was here, as if this pained every waking minute of her life. To prove her point, she showed me another picture and said "Look! See? Way too big."

I already feel bad for this guy. I mean, nobody likes to get hit with break-up lines, but I can just see her one day coming to him and saying "I'm sorry, this just isn't going to work. Your head is too big."

Another time, we were talking about marriage or something, and I said "Well, you can marry your boyfriend, right?" She shook her head and said, "Maybe. But, if I marry my boyfriend..." Here she paused to think of how to say what she wanted to say in English, and in the interval my mind finished the sentence for her - "...our children will have big heads."

I'm not even sure of what she really said because I was too busy internally stifling my laughter.

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I think I mentioned one of my teachers before, she's really Americanized and her English is pretty good. I hear her using slang and cursing all the time, and it never fails to floor me. You'd think I'd get used to it at some point, but nope, each time she finds a new level of shocking.

The last time, we were talking about my (sort of) ex-girlfriend, and in frustration, she said in earnest "Man! I hate it when bitches like that get laid and I'm not getting laid!"

I would like to remind you that this is a Japanese girl speaking English as a second language. I don't hear that kind of stuff often from American women. I couldn't believe it. Later that day, I was still reeling from that when she showed me she was capable of upping the ante.

She came by my desk to talk, and we were talking about being single, and I said that it seems like when you are actively looking for someone people don't want you. Her face lit up in agreement, as she said "I know! It's like I've just got this aura around me that tells everyone 'I just want to fuck!'"

Maybe she was trying to tell me something.

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