Kelly in Japan

Thank You

// February 19th, 2010 // Uncategorized

Today is Saturday, and I’m in between the last two weeks of classes. I said goodbye to some of my ninensei (second-year students) last week since I won’t have them in class when they become third-year students next semester.

In each class, I made a little speech before dismissal, reminding them that this was the final class and thanking them for being good students. As they turned in their homework afterward, many of them came up to me to say thank you.

In one class, the smartest, most cheerful boy approached me. “Thank you,” he said, as his peers had, but then he stuck out his hand to be shaken in true Western fashion. I was very surprised and not a little touched. As we shook hands, the rest of the students laughed and “ehhhh”‘ed.

A group of the smartest girls gathered, whispering, to watch, and when they came to turn in their homework, the first girl repeated his action. “Thank you,” she said, and I shook her hand, too. Then she added, with a twinkle in her eye, “Hug?”

I laughed. Japanese people do not hug as casually as we Westerners do, though I have seen teachers hug students on rare occasions. So I gave her a big hug. Her request was repeated by the rest of her group, and they all seemed quite pleased with themselves.

Some of the more shy students, emboldened by their classmates, came up for a handshake, though it was only the cheerful girls that asked for hugs. It was nice to see, though, that even the shy ones wanted to make the effort.

These students are the ones I will have spent the most time with during my two years in Japan, since I taught them for two semesters as ichinensei (first-year students) and three semesters (all year) as ninensei. In most ways, I’m not a very sentimental person, but this particular episode warmed my heart. I’ll be sad not to have them during my final semester in Japan.