turning in, turning up, turning down
I may have pissed off my "boss" at the Kids' English School but I'm not sure I care. I traded hours with the other teacher (my classmate) this week after she confirmed the schedule and my Monday lesson cancelled. With all the cancellations I've been getting lately, I've started to freak out about money when I really shouldn't. The long and the short of it is, I worked today (Tuesday) for two hours and it was hellish.

The first little girl I taught, I see quite frequently. Thankfully, I only have to see her 3 more times and I can be done with her for good. She's a spoiled, bratty crybaby who can't think for herself and depends on her mother for everything. This probably is only because she's four years old but her behavior is in stark contrast to the other 4-year-old girl student who is perhaps the most intelligent kid her age I've ever met. She might know more English words than an American four-year-old.

The little bratkins can't do anything without her mom. I don't blame her, as neither can the other 4-year-old, but the problem with whiney-poo is that she can't seem to use her head either. She's completely co-dependent on mom, whom she has realized already speaks some English and looks to for EVERY answer. If I ask her a question, even if I spell it out for her in JAPANESE, she immediately asks her mom what I said (in Japanese). Only by careful repetition and parroting through MOM will she even repeat phrases. She never remembers what she was taught for more than a minute afterwards and because mom helps so much, she hasn't learned a single thing since I've been working with her.

That's not to say mom hasn't been trying. She wants to leave the little snot alone for the lesson but when she tries, Bratleigh always whines and snivels until mommy comes with her into the room. The damage has been done. So today, when mom actually left the room but stood within visual distance outside the partition, what should happen but (of course), the kid starts whimpering and whining until she's a mess just saying "momma momma" over and over again. I get paid to teach her English, not try and play the clown so that she'll be amused by my very presence. I don't get paid enough, in my opinion, to merit exerting myself to comfort her. I'm not a complete asshole, so I tried all the classic tactics but because mom was RIGHT THERE and she knew she'd get her way or get to go home, she didn't quit until mom came in the room and then it was all the same all over again. Mom reminds her how she PROMISED this time to study good and try to do it on her own and the kid is still an absolute snot to me and her mom. She uses awful, slangy Japanese and refuses to even speak an English word unless practically forced to do it. Yeah, I guess I'd have hated learning a foreign langauage at 4 years old if I'd been forced into classes too, but it's not like it's bloody impossible to learn COLORS and SHAPES with minimal effort. GRAH. End rant.

I thought I might go see Cutie Honey tonight. But then, despite Chris's urging that it is maybe the awesomest movie ever, I decided not to go. Because I don't *really* care... and if it's as much camp as it looks, I'd much rather see it with friends than by myself. I can't comment loudly while watching a movie by myself, that makes me pathetic AND crazy. So scratch that one off.

And Roppongi. Right-o, what WAS I thinking? I'm getting frantic about leaving here. I don't think it's so much that I really WANT to go to Roppongi all night-- especially not alone-- but just that I think it would be an interesting experience to have and one that I might not get again. See, I'm an experience junkie. I do things just to do them and sometimes just to say, "I did it" or "I was there" and not because I really CARE. For better or for worse, that's just the way I am.

So I'll forget about the big plans and just get these projects done and go home. I do want to at least LOOK at the Park Hyatt, if not just so I can rant about how insanely rich the characters in Lost in Translation were and how I think it defeats any realistic relatability the movie might have had. [Then again, how entertaining would it have been were they to have stayed in a frumpy Asakusa hostel with no cash?] Did you know that after 8PM, you have to pay a 2000yen (US $20) cover charge just to BE in the bar when the live music is playing? Chee-ah, that's right. Didn't mention THAT in the movie, did they now?

So, right, whatever, I'll keep my addiction to experience moderated and just suck it up and finish here. As hard as that is, it's better than freaking out about whether or not I ate GYUUDON, for crap's sake. Frankly, the feeling that the next time I go somewhere or see someone may be the last is something that really puts me on end. I honestly cannot bear to think about all the places in this city that I visited recently without even mentally saying goodby to. I'm not a wreck BECAUSE I can keep this all remarkably under check. But when the music is playing and I'm watching the city fly by on the train, damn, I can feel the edges start to fall apart.

A lot has changed since I came here, except that now, just as when I came, it's the hot, rainy thickness of summer... and that means this city smells REALLY REALLY BAD.