Influenza Panic
Japanese people are insane. Don't get me wrong, I mean no disrespect, but they are insane.
This week, we have been hit by a major wave of the common flu. Being in a school, the disease spreads like wildfire with every play wrestling in the hall, koncho, inappropriate massage, or hand-holding.
But, Japanese people do not approach a cold the same way I do, nor, the same way anyone does. For example, CASE 1:
K-sensei was obviously sick. She was doing that walk that looks like you are drunk, where you stagger from side-to-side from fatigue. The woman could barely hold her head up and her eyes were glazed over and yet, she still comes to school. Call me crazy, but the only way I know of to treat a cold or flu is to go home, drink lots of clear fluids and sleep. But no, K-sensei showed up to work everyday, despite the fact that she was entirely (and understandably) unproductive, and only making herself worse. After three days of this absolutely silly behavior, she came into the office exclaiming that she was feeling much better, and in fact, she did appear to have recovered much of her energy levels. Halfway through the day, however, she took her temperature, a random action if I do say so myself, and it turned out she had a slight temperature. Despite the fact that she looked and felt better, and despite working for the past three days even though she looked like hell, she shouted, "OH, NO!!!" grabbed her things and sprinted home. I guess she didn't believe she could be sick until the thermometer told her so.
CASE 2:
R-chan (student) missed my 2nd period English class. I didn't mind too much because my coworker was out sick and I was thankful to have smaller class. Later that day, however, R-chan strolls into the teacher's office bright and bubbly as usual. I looked at her and said, "R-chan, you missed English today."
"Yes."
"Where were you."
"Oh, I had a flu. I'm in Nurse's room."
"I was in the Nurse's room."
"Yes. I was in the nurse's room."
"But, why aren't you there now? Do you feel better."
"I am not sick now."
"But you were sick 2nd period?"
"Yes. Only sick for 2 hours."
"I see, it was the 2-hour flu."
"Yes."
This may be a sign that my class is a bit dull, or that she doesn't like English, but the truth is, after further investigation, R-chan came to school with a fever. When the fever broke, they sent her back to class, as, obviously, she is no longer sick.
CASE 3:
There are 40 students in a class here at Nishiki, and there are 3 classes per grade, meaning there are 120 7th graders and 120 8th graders for a total of...You guessed it...240 students. Now, class 2A (an eighth grade class) had 12 students absent today. TWELVE. They all apparently have the flu or cold or some variation. So, what would you do if 30% of the class were absent. Well, here at Nishiki, we send that one class home. The other 5 classes had to stay, and rather than teaching just the kids who came, or distributing them to other classes, or just realizing that there are 28 students still here ready to learn, we just sent them packing.
Yes, sir. Japan is a strange place.
