I was happy to hear this morning that the boy I talked about last week is awake in the hospital. He's been talking with his mother and is apparently doing well. So spirits were visibly boosted at school to-day. To-morrow sports festival starts.
It looks like autumn around here, with all the leaves changing colour, but it's been unseasonably hot, around 30 Celsius. Accuweather is showing no respite until next Wednesday. I'm so done with this heat.
To-day I showed a powerpoint I put together about Shakespeare for first year students. It turns out Romeo and Juliet is very well known in Japan and everyone seemed genuinely interested when I showed a clip from the 1968 movie. A teacher I work with said that Olivia Hussey married a Japanese rock star so that's why she's relatively well known in Japan but I don't think the thirteen year old kids are aware of her. My coworker was surprised when I informed her Juliet was herself thirteen in the play.
I also talked a bit about Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Falstaff. Many of the boys seemed to get a genuine kick out of Falstaff, whom I described as "a knight but he doesn't like to fight. He likes to eat, drink, and sleep." They laughed at a brief clip I showed of Orson Welles in the role. There's life in old Sir John yet.
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