Somewhat unusually I found myself working in Yonezawa on a Friday a couple of weeks ago. One of the teachers had taken the week off from work so I got the assignment to cover his lessons. The last class of the day was an adult class made up of three students; two adults and a high school girl. That day, another class was combined with that one because a make-up lesson from another day had been moved to Friday and we needed a native English speaker to teach it. I was supposed to have two high school girls join the class I was going to teach but only one showed up.
This particular young lady has an odd habit of lugging around all a collection of text books. The bag she uses is the one she got when she first started taking lessons with our company when she was eleven. So, for starters, there are two kids lessons textbooks and their attendant workbooks in the bag. Next, there are the textbooks and workbooks from the classes she took whilst she was a junior high school students; 3 sets in total. Finally there are her current books; a textbook and workbook. That makes for a heavy bag...so heavy that the stitching attaching one shoulder strap to the bag is starting to unravel.
The next day, on Saturday, I have my class with two, now three, third year junior high school girls. On that particular Saturday, one of them was absent. I don't recall how we got around to it but the topic of weather, and in particular foggy weather, came up. At which point the two girls drew a blank. I walked out and retrieved two texbooks used in kids lessons to find the word with an accompanying picture. One girl pointed at one of the textbooks and remarked "I have a copy of that book but I didn't use it". Oh, okay.... Then I mentioned the student who lugs around that book...and a whole pile of other books. The other girl looked at me semi-nervously and asked if the person in question was Ms. So-and-so. I answered in the affirmative. Then came the surprise from the first girl when she exclaimed "Jo-oh!". Huh? Queen?
Yes, it turns out the "kohai" (lower class year) girls had given that nickname to this unassuming, saxaphonist in the brass band club, book lugging girl who certainly doesn't carry any regal airs. Actually, she keeps to herself mostly but will chat away somewhat endlessly, and half to herself, when engaged in a conversation. The one thing that gives her a bit of distinction is brains. My co-worker and I have taught both sisters, well...he's teaching the younger book lugging one now, and his remark about the two was the good old adage "One got the looks but the other got the brains"....
