No, I’m fine, I’m not really torn, but I am going to talk about awkwardness, and Natalie Imbruglia’s song “Torn” just happens to be a part of the awkwardness.
Last November, when I came to my current (East) school for the first time (I switch every two months with the other ALT in town) they asked where I wanted school lunch. I commented that over at West JHS, I had lunch with the students. I don’t know why, I guess I figured the way I was not asked but told at the other JHS that I would eat with the students, that it was maybe tradition for the ALTs. Anyway, the head teacher completely pounced on the idea and I’m afraid I have doomed all future ALTs at this school to eat with the students forever more.
What so bad about eating with the students? There’s nothing really “bad” about it, but several factors contribute to it being “not good”. Lunch break is short, technically 25 minutes, but it takes forever to serve up the food and for every kid to stand in line and get their tray (there’s no cafeteria, so the food is served and eaten in the classrooms; this is pretty much the norm in Japan). In the end, students only have about 10 minutes from the “Itadakimasu” (let’s eat) until the bells rings.
Lunch is also not really the “social hour” that it is in America. Since there’s no time, the kids have to eat quickly. They also have to sit at their desks, rather than sitting where they want to, so they’re usually not close to their friends. There’s a little talking and occasionally laughing, but on the whole lunch time is really quiet. Combine that with my poor Japanese, and there’s not a lot of conversation to be had.
All this means that school lunch is one of the more awkward times of my day. But this week, it’s been topped off by the school playing some orchestra versions of Western Songs over the PA, including Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”. I’m not sure if I can convey the strangeness of being in Japan having school lunch with a bunch of vegetables I can’t name, and hearing flutes play the bars where “I’m all out of faith, this is how I feel” would be in the song. But I assure you, it’s strange.
