Tuesday, May 6

12:36 am (i guess that makes it wednesday)

newsflash! boo-boo the cat is having her kittens right now in my cupboard. oops. it wasn't meant to happen this way. she wasn't supposed to have them inside my apartment, goddamn it. * sigh. but it's kinda exciting. wish i could see them, she's buried herself in amongst a pile of towels, I can't see a thing, just listening to tiny little mewing noises. what the hell am i going to do with them? oh dear. oh dear. oh dear.

3:10 am OK, she's had 5 tiny little bundles. Birth is such an amazing thing. she looks exhausted but has such a sweet, proud look on her face, and every time I poke my head in she purrs loudly. what the hell am i going to do with them.

local celebrity

so it seems that i have become something of a local celebrity. some time ago - about 2 months back, our lovely diligant, wily, hardworking administration manager, Emi-san, approached me with a coy look in her eyes.

Miss Emi: "Martine sensei, i am wondering if you would be interested in doing a small interview in the local advertising paper?

Me: "oh, for unitas? um.....ahhh..."[intensely hopeful look from Miss Emi]"well...what sort of interview...to talk about the school?"

Miss Emi: "no, about you. front page always has picture of nice lady. you can talk about unitas too"

Me: [trying to control look of terrified horror and repressing all unseemly comedic desires in the face of Emi's earnest gaze, nodding] "oh, really. nice lady, huh. what do you mean nice lady? er... do i get to keep my clothes on?"

Miss Emi: "oh yes, you would be the weeks madonna, nice ladies talk about themselves and where they work"

Me: [brows now furrowed and bottom lip firmly clenched between teeth] "um, well... i don't know... [trying a new tack] can they interview marc? he's so much more photogenic than me...."

Miss Emi [head tilting sweetly with an "i'm not taking no for an answer" look in her eyes]" noooo. it has to be a nice lady like yourself, martine sensei.

Me: [smiling weakly] "oh. ok then. sure, i'd be happy to do it"

so the weeks turned into months and here i was thinking, hee hee hee, she's forgotten. but no. she never forgets a thing. this girl knows every single thing about every one of our 300 or so students - where they live, family members, scheduling clashes with piano lessons, etc. so last monday, i got a call from her when i was teaching in Tsuru. "the interview for the madonna is happening tomorrow." i braced myself for serious awkwardness and discomfort in front of the camera, and that weird disconnected feeling I get when I have to stand up in a crowded room and say something that makes sense. [yes, I'm not one for public speaking...]

after all my foreboding and endless costume changes, the journalist turned out to be a lovely lady who asked lots of great, intelligent questions and who just wanted to do some point and shoot photography of me in front of an alphabet chart. we got on like a house on fire, and sachie (my translator for the interview) was having a great time trying to translate some fairly abstract concepts. phew. so far, so good.

the paper came out on the weekend. the fuji marimo, with a circulation of 63 000. there i am, grinning inanely in all my front page glory, beside a huge picture of a bunch of preschool kids at a hanami picnic, and above a quarter page article. they sent me 5 copies, and i didn't really think much more about it other than "cool, dad'll be chuffed even though he won't understand a word of it".

today we had our first day back in school since the paper came out. and well, wouldn't you know it. every single class, every single student. even the shop keepers and coffee guy I frequent. "OHHHHH, Fujimarimo Madonna!!! sugoi, desu ne! you are in paper, i show you to all my family and friends" [all accompanied by lots of awed "so, desu ne's" {yes, that's right} and "suteki desu ne's {stylish, yeah?}"]

and i kinda like it that now people here know who i am.

Posted by frangipani at May 6, 2003 9:28 PM