Today there were only adults. Children are cute, but it’s nice to teach someone who does what they’re told. My adults smile and try their hardest. They do not ignore me or show me their backsides. I like adults.
As a bit of a treat, one of my students today was quite advanced and mainly wanted to chat rather than stick to the material in the book. She told me about her upcoming trip to Los Angeles. She then expressed a desire to see famous people but said she was a bit concerned that she wouldn’t know if they were famous or not because “Well, all foreigners look the same to me.”
Should I be insulted? I’m not. I merely take it as a green light to stop feeling so darn guilty about the fact that I usually can’t tell Japanese apart from Koreans and Chinese. After all, I’ve been mistaken for British or Australian so many times since I’ve gotten here that … oh, just, thank you, Keiko.
And then:
“Do you know?” she asked, doe-eyed. “Do Westerners ever think all Japanese look alike?”
AWESOME.