edukation

I really like my students. I do. They are so well behaved compared to students I've taught elsewhere along the world-- of course they have the usual puberty-related 'issues' (random, unprovoked aggression from the boys, icy periods of bitchy hostility from the girls) but generally they are so delightfully innocent. I have to feign horror over their occassional interruptions and *gasp* today I heard a swear word. It is sometimes odd to maintain the veneer of seriousness and disappointment at their trivial missteps, but its a great deal more enjoyable than genuinely being horrified.

Their stupid questions really get me though. I was supervising an exam today, and despite the fact that there is a clock in front of them, in the corridor outside, and on half of their wrists, they still ask me how long we have left every now and then. I usually tell them when they are halfway, and one kid loves to ask how long we have left a minute before the halfway mark. Of course I understand that they are not asking the time, per se. They are asking for a little attention and reassurance. And they want to interact. Well they are alone there.

On a somewhat darker note, I have never had a student who was beaten up by the police before... apparently buying tickets for the latest futbol match is a contact sport. You hear about police violence in 'other' parts of the world, but I am still dumbfounded by realising that it can be so close to me.

A while ago I saw the police beating a guy up on the main streets of the harbour town near my house. There was a whole van of them and this one guy getting kicked and shoved. I was in a taxi and was totally mortified... and drove straight past. I don't know what on earth I could have done... but I still feel guilty and weird about that. Does it mean that the whole democratic protest state that we are so proud of actually depends upon the absence of any real environment that is protest-worthy? Not that there are not objectionable events and decisions in Australia. But a protest is supposed to be an act of defiance... that defiance is apparently fairly feeble in me, and falters when it hits real opposition.

On my way to 'language exchange' the other night there was a group of protesters in the main square. The police were there in riot gear-- gas masks and battalions.

I have seen lots of police like this... this was the first time I'd actually seen any protesters! I'm not sure what my point is. Just an observation of some of the quiet absurdity that seems to characterise my time here, I guess. Like the car driving along the wrong side of the highway last night, and the fact that I haven't worn a seatbelt in months, and the fact that I live in a house built for a family while thousands of people live in gecekondos.... it seems to go uncommented upon by the population at large.