Friday, 10 December 2004

"No."

Well, last week Carmen showed me a picture of herself and one of her kids groups and I was inspired to grab some pictures of myself with some of my kids groups, whom have become the highlight of my workday. When I first started, some of the kids would scream, yell, act like monkeys, and physically abuse themselves, myself and each other. However now they're angels, calling me by name, respecting me and several, even hugging me on occassion. Cute as Hell.

Anyway, after my class in Sengendai today, I grabbed my mobile (which has a built in camera) and asked on of the parents "Photo?". A mother, who is normally full of laughs and who I had assumed up until this point respected me as a teacher and a human, went very serious and said "No". Her body language also told me that this was out of the question. I was shocked. Of course she was absolutely in her rights as a mother to say "No" but the only rational explanation for her saying now would be her not trusting me on some level. I mean, really. How many times have you said to someone "I don't want you to have a photo of one of my family members".

Maybe she doesn't think I'm a pervert. There is some sexual descrimination AND racial descrimination in this country that could account for her actions but then...

...minutes later she came in with 3 of the girls from my class with her own camera and asked me if she could have a photo of me, her daughter and her friends. I assumed she had had a change of heart so I smiled for her photos and then brought out my mobile phone to take my own and she said angrily "No."

What the fuck was that? She might as well have said "I can have a photo and you can't". I still love these kids, they're addorable, and I'm not holding anything against the mother, again she was completely in her legal rights... I just have no idea WTF was going on!