Free time

Hmmmm, what to blog about today? There were so many things I thought of during the week and, of course, I can't remember a single one of them right now. They were mostly along the lines of 'Japan: The land of...'. Huh. Let me sit here and ponder... (2mins later). Well, I'm too lazy to sit and think about one of the funny observations of the past week, so I'll go with a sad one instead.

Japan: The land of severely over-worked people. I encountered two students this week that really shed some light on just how driven and consumed the Japanese are concerning work and education.

The first was an adult student. When I asked about hobbies, the student replied that he currently had NO time for hobbies. The one hobby he had before joining the workforce post-University had been given up, as all his spare time is spent on extra study for work. He doesn't even have any of his old equipment. That's how little chance he'll ever have time for it again is. As a result, he had nothing to discuss, and with no textbook to fall back on, it made for and EXTREMELY interesting conversation *sarcasm - drip, drip*

The second was just SAD. I asked the same question of a 12yr old student. She thought for a moment, and then replied 'sleeping in my room'. Her classmate spoke of custom pictures with friends, but the only thing this girl REALLY loves to do when she gets a moment of free time is to sleep. These kids are so pushed in school, have so many extracurricular activities, that most are dead on their feet @ age eleven. That's still elementary school. My junior high kids remind me of college/university students, but without the energy to party.