A couple of weeks ago, a former student here at Tamano Commercial Public H.S. came to visit her former teacher. After about a minute of conversation, the teacher commented to this 20 year old girl that she had ちょっと太った！ or gained some weight. To add insult upon insult, my JTE walks by her and makes the same comment! Wow, poor girl. This in the US would be very unPC.
I asked my JTE about this later. She said that in Japan it is perfectly acceptable as part of daily conversation to talk about one's and other's weight as small talk, just like Americans talk about the weather. She didn't believe that there were any repercussions to telling a young lady that she looked fatter lately. I replied to my JTE, "Okay, whatever you say, fatty." This got me a severe and unappreciative stare. "What? I thought you said it's okay to talk about weight?!" Put a check in the sarcasm retort column for the JET on that remark.
And my word of the day today has to do with the next brief scene. Eri, a favorite second year of mine, asks me if I just woke up. I looked at her confused and she said I have 寝癖 or morning hair. When your student asks you why your hair is so messy and all over the place, it's a sure sign that you need to get a haircut.
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