I was sitting here alone in the teachers room, when the lady in the office, who I have known for years, popped in to drop off a parcel and noticed the Sony tape deck on my desk.
I said that I preferred it to using an MP thing for recording listening tests, that the quality of these machines was excellent, that journalists over in the UK were using them for years, and she was agreeing, saying they were super quality and so on, and then out of the blue, and quite unrelated to our little sycophantic drool over Sony, she sighed then said,
'You're great, Maria. I like how you think. If I could be born again, I'd like to live and think like you do. I think you really understand what life's about and I admire your approach to it'
I was very surprised and totally didn't expect such a personal reflection, so out of the blue, so out of character for the people I work with, where there's a distinct separation between private and public, and even in private interaction with my Japanese friends in the past, nobody really gets too deep about things like this.
She then went on to confide that her husband died suddenly two months ago - at the age of 64 (so young) - and she was now on her own, albeit she has children, but they've moved away.
I felt so sad for her. I used to teach English to this lady because she was looking forward to traveling once she and her husband had retired.
I tell ya, this little conversation with her brought tears to my eyes.
I said that I preferred it to using an MP thing for recording listening tests, that the quality of these machines was excellent, that journalists over in the UK were using them for years, and she was agreeing, saying they were super quality and so on, and then out of the blue, and quite unrelated to our little sycophantic drool over Sony, she sighed then said,
'You're great, Maria. I like how you think. If I could be born again, I'd like to live and think like you do. I think you really understand what life's about and I admire your approach to it'
I was very surprised and totally didn't expect such a personal reflection, so out of the blue, so out of character for the people I work with, where there's a distinct separation between private and public, and even in private interaction with my Japanese friends in the past, nobody really gets too deep about things like this.
She then went on to confide that her husband died suddenly two months ago - at the age of 64 (so young) - and she was now on her own, albeit she has children, but they've moved away.
I felt so sad for her. I used to teach English to this lady because she was looking forward to traveling once she and her husband had retired.
I tell ya, this little conversation with her brought tears to my eyes.
2 comments:
Sounds like my future.
:*(
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