Bad Times

I was doing the greeting in my 2 nensei chugakko class (7th grade) when I looked over at one of my favorites students, Takuma (not to be confused with Takuma, the badass). He is a sweet boy who talks to me, doesn't cause a lot of trouble, and even plays with the special ed students during lunch breaks. He might be considered a little bit of a dork because he mainly hangs out with the girls but other than that he seems like an OK kid. When I looked at him I saw that his whole face was swollen, he had bruises all over his face and he had an ice pack on his cheek. This really made my physically ill. I was just thinking the student that did that to him is written off in my book. After class I asked what happened to him. This is where the Japanese culture bit comes into play. Ito-sensei told me that Takuma said his mom did this to him. First difference being, if he said that in America the mom would get in terrible trouble. Second difference, they will probably take this as the reason and not look into it further. Of course all the staff know it was a lie. It probably happened during club activities with the badasses. I think the really bad Takuma did it, but who knows. I over heard them saying a bunch of students names in the staff room but I couldn't make a conclusion from that. All I know is it put me in a terrible mood for the rest of the day.

Other bad news. I am not coming home this summer. Airline tickets are ridiculous, not to mention the salary I won't get for a month and all the various things I will spend my money on while I am home. This most upsets me because I was supposed to be in my best friend's wedding and I was really looking forward to meeting my brother's fiance. I guess I am off to Japanese camp this summer.