The nurse at
School C talks to me like I’m an idiot child.
She talks to me loudly, super-slowly, and over-enunciates every
syllable. When I arrive in the mornings,
she says, “O-HA-YO-GO-ZAI-MASU!” I don’t
even think she knows that doing that sends the message that she thinks I’m
unintelligent. Just a typical Japanese
person who doesn’t know how to act around non-Japanese people. Even Kyoto-sensei once laughed at her
exaggerated way with me. It’s annoying
because (a) I’m not dimwitted, (b) I’ve been in Japan for over two years. I know a lot more than she thinks.
One time I
was passing out okashi to the staff.
When I left one on her desk, she said “Arigato gozaimasu!” To which I
responded, “Dooitashimashite.” The broad
almost fell out of her chair. Wow! The foreigner knows howo to say you’re welcome
in Japanese, and such good pronunciation, too!
Just when I
was getting ready to tell her that I’m not mentally disabled, so don’t talk me
so slowly (I was practicing the sentence), schools were shut down because of
the COVID-19 and I didn’t get a chance.
In retrospect, it’s just as well, because that sentence isn’t right. I
don’t even talk to special education students like that. They’re not stupid. They just learn differently or more
slowly. Maybe the next foreigner she
speaks to that way will set her straight.
Hopefully.
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