Poker Face

Last week, I asked one of my semi-bilingual students to bring her favorite Japanese comic book to class. I figured we could go through it and she could tell me the story. So yesterday, she arrived and, after telling me about her preparations for her first in year highschool (the Japanese school year starts in April) she excitedly pulls out her comic book.

She flips to page one. A young girl is sitting on a bed, with a man standing over her.
"This is a story about a girl who is...a..." She pauses and says the word in Japanese. "Do you know?"

I shake my head. "She's a what? Can you tell me what she does?"

And that's when I look over at page...two, which in absolutely no uncertain terms, shows me exactly what she does.

"Oh! She's a...prostitute?!" I say, trying my best to control my face from contorting into any number of shocked expressions. My student nods eagerly and moves right onto page three, while I sit there wondering if she even knows what she's looking at and what parent would let their 14 year old have something like that.

She happily left her books with me and within 15 seconds of her leaving class, I raced over to Dawn's room, turned to page one and waited for her reaction. Luckily, she was allowed to react the way I wasn't. I believe it went something like "What's she doi-OH MY GOD..." and then side splitting laughter.
Sometimes, if you don't laugh, you'll cry.

Anyway...things are going well. It was 60 degrees this weekend. I went out without a coat and almost wept with delight. But the temperatures have dropped back down to the 40's. Bleh.

Two weeks from today, I'll be just returning from Korea! Ah, the countdown begins. Anyone have any suggestions for our tour of Seoul?