The Japanese school year starts on April 1st. Whenever I tell anyone my birthday, they go "REALLY????" and giggle incessantly. The way the age cut-off works...I would always be the absolute youngest one in my class, if I'd grown up in Japan. In any case, with the new school year fast approaching, I know that I should be excited to meet my new batch of genki [super lively] first year students. But all I can think about is the classes and students I won't be teaching any more!
Graduation was March 1st (I definitely need to try to do a post on that), so during most of March, I must come into the office (I'm contracted to work 20 days a month) but have absolutely nothing to do. I had to say most of my goodbyes in late February. The students that didn't graduate, still wander around the school, presumably in between being tested and tested and tested.
I did teach today, and will again next Tuesday, at my special needs school. Today there, I had to say goodbye to one of my classes. And I cried. And another class, I had to tell them that next week would be my last week with them. And I cried. !!! I need to pull myself together, man! But Muah ha ha, I got a couple of the students to cry with me.
Because I am on the subject of the special needs school, I want to briefly tell you about one of my students that just amazes me. This student is not deaf like many of my students there, but rather is there for what has best been described to me as "social awkwardness". He may have a type of autism? I'm unsure. But every single time I ask him a question, he manages to work a "train" into his answer. What did you do on Saturday? "I watched train on Youtube". What is your favorite subject? "I study about Shinkansen [bullet-train]." What did you eat for breakfast this morning? "Toast with a side of train." I'm just joking about that last one.
This kid loves trains. Only recently have I been coming to realize that he doesn't just love trains. He knows trains. He knows when each Shinkansen was put into commission. He knows all the lines. He knows exactly every difference between the styles of trains, the speeds, the timetables. That last part came up today, because I asked him "What did you do this weekend?" and he replied "I studied timetables" and stupid me thought that he was talking about multiplication.
I told him that I want to go to Yakushima Island, and asked him if there is a train that would take me all the way to the tip of Kyushuu to catch the ferry. And what rolled off of his tongue? Exactness. Which train I could take to Fukuoka. Which "limited express" I should transfer to. Which city I would have to transfer in again, and how long the wait would be at that station, and which train would finish my trip to the ferry. He told me exactly what time I would arrive in Kagoshima city, granted I followed his directions accurately.
I was wide-eyed in utter amazement. My co-teacher knew all about his genius. My co-teacher lives at a small station, totally not near the station where this student lives. He needed to be in Hiroshima by 6pm last Saturday, so on Friday, he asked the student what time he should leave. Out pops the perfect answer, tailored to my co-teachers exact train stop.
And now, I will never get to hear about trains anymore. :( I'll go bust into his new class just to say hi though!
Bye, wonderful students!
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