(Can anyone tell me if that's Spanish, Portugese, or just gibberish?)
I like contradictions. I like them in me, in other people, and between people too. The contrasting things that exist that make you go, "Why??" and then smile about it.
Yesterday I had to say goodbye to a few kids. Not an uncommon thing for me since I see most of my students anywhere from 1 to 10 times total. These were somewhere in the middle, about 5 times over the past 2 years. They're in their last year of elementary school now and I won't be going back there before they graduate. I let myself get a bit carried away I guess, talking about Reborn! and other anime, telling them to work hard and not be scared even if the person coming to teach them English wasn't me for a while. I let myself forget for a minute that kids are like rubber bands, and they're pretty good with out-of-sight-out-of-mind. They forget you and they're fine.
But there was this one kid....
This one kid whose name I'd remembered since the first time I went to the school. He's that noisy, smart, "look at me, I'm good at stuff!" kind of kid that only knows how to show he wants your attention by being mean and making jokes when you first meet. Luckily, I used to be (?) that kid too, so I know how to win them over. Ever since my first visit he's done nothing but hang around the meeting room where I stay between classes. To the point that teachers come and try to chase him away. They still don't get that it's boring sitting there all by myself....
This kid is a bit of a contradiction I suppose. Loud and annoying, but thoughtful and in need of affection.
So yesterday as I was leaving the principal and other semi-important adults lined up around the doorway to say goodbye. (This also happens a lot, but I'll never get used to it. It fees like overkill. It's not like I'm going off to war or something.) They'd chased the kids off and though I wanted to go home, I didn't really want to leave. I let myself get carried away. So they said goodbye, and thank you (about 9 times) and I put my shoes on and walked out into the courtyard. And just as I was turning away I heard a little voice shout, "Goodbye!!" and I looked back, back into the school, behind the teachers, up onto the staircase, and there he was waving sadly and even from that distance I could see the look in his eyes.
Maybe I'm just being dramatic and imagining things. Kids forget about you as they grow up. They only think they're attached when you're there.
But still, I said, "Goodbye S******-kun!" and waved. And then walked quickly out the gate telling myself I'd be an idiot to cry over something like this. So I sent a text to my 3 guy friends begging for something to cheer me up. (And here comes the real point of this......5 paragraphs later.......)
Me: "
Remind me why I don't need to cry over never seeing a certain kid again?"
Friend A: "it's ok! you might see him again. unless.......is he moving away or something? what happened?"
Friend B: "because when he becomes a jrhs kid you won't like him anymore & when he's a salaryman he'll get drunk, stare at your tits, & take a picture up your skirt to beat off to"
Yes, these 2 are actually friends with each other, not just me......Friend C didn't answer, but I was ok by then so I guess I can forgive him....
And here we see two different ways of....of what exactly? Of looking at life? Of dealing with a whiny girl? Who knows.....the one looking through rose colored glasses perhaps, and the other a little bit ridiculous but perfectly candid. While both the answers made me smile, especially they way they came with the quickness (5 minutes after I sent my message) it's the contrast that I really find entertaining.
So I thought, "hmm.....what a nice contradiction we have here....." and I put the question to my girlfriends.
(aren't they cuuuute??)
I didn't explain the whole story, just asked them hypothetically, "if you said this," (didn't mention to whom it was said either) "which answer would you rather get? A or B?"
Inevitably, because they're girls, and relatively normal, they both said "A". The younger one quite resoundingly, as if there was no possible way anyone could ever want to hear anything else. The older a bit more reservedly, "I guess......A.....", but I think she's reading my questioning a bit and can guess where I'm going with this.
As for me, I much prefer "B". (Not because I'm still slightly infatuated with that particular friend or anything like that....) Because along with contradictions, I like distractions. I might have been sad, but now I'm laughing my ass off imagining S******-kun getting older. I remembered that kids get older. They forget about you, not because they didn't care, but because it's the experience that counts when you're growing up, not the person.
"We may meet today but we may not meet tomorrow. Time never repeats itself"
