Effing Okinawa...

The one part of my job I despise without reservation is marking essays. And really, even that is not so bad. The problem is Horita-sensei, who has no qualms about giving me a pile of that crappy recycled paper that makes my skin itch and puts my teeth on edge... This pile is usually made up of a term's worth of essays, so usually ten per student, around thirty to thirty five students. So let's call it 300 essays, conservatively.

which, you know, would in and of itself not be that bad, except that they are all the same essay. Really. Education here favours using the framework out of the text book over originality (not the individual teachers, mind you.. I'm talking the system as a whole), and I've heard horror stories of exchange students getting zeros for work that was "excellent, but you were supposed to copy out of the textbook, not do your own research". So all of the essays have the same exact framework, they just change the occasional noun or verb. Adjective if you're lucky. This does not make for compelling reading, especially not thirty times.

among the repeated gems, as written:

"our high school has many events, the most exciting of which is the school festival"
"We went on a school trip to Okinawa in November. I had never been in a plane before, so I was very exciting, and very moved by the beautiful emerald-green sea [I told one student way back in November that descriptions of green sea could enhanced by the use of the word emerald. Apparently he shared that knowledge with every member of the class].
"I am the best good movie mine is Tonari O Tottoro"
" For me, convenience stores are the convenientest type of store"

the essay I loved the most read (in full).
"I rarely read books."

so anyway, at about 11:30 last night I finally had a meltdown. I started venting spleen. I swore like a sailor. I became enraged. And I decided that this was all the fault of Okinawa. And their Goya, which apparently is a food, and not a dark and moody Spanish artist. Damn you Okinawa!

Damn you to hell!