Posts made in November 3rd, 2008
Why I Called Him an Asshole
Because I mentioned that my German teacher is an asshole, I will tell you the story that lead me to say that.
We were in the class that day and we were talking about fast food. What a topic! So anyway, my German teacher (who is from Northern Germany) asked me what fast food is common in the Philippines. So I said we have restaurants like McDonalds and KFCs but he said that those are from America. I said, if such food from such restaurants are not counted then I really can’t think of any Philippine fast food. Then he asked, what about noodles? I said, “No, instant noodles are from China (Instand Noodles sind aus China).” And I said China as “Kina”. Then he said something that made my blood rush to my head.
A-hole (in a really sarcastic way): “Kina?!?” Only the Austrians say “Kina!”
Me (took it as a direct attack to my husband): Is that so? I am sure that people from south of Germany also say “Kina”.
A-hole (cornered): Yeahhhh…. But the right pronunciation is “China” like the “ch” in “ich”.
Me: Ok, then. Instant Noodles sind aus China (tried to say right).
A-hole (smirking so arrogantly): “Chhhhiiiii-na” (stressing the sound).
Me: “China” (Tried to say the word again but was sounding funny). I am sorry sir, it’s difficult for me. I need more practice.
A-hole (still smirking so arrogantly): If you wanna learn “high German” you should learn how to pronounce the words properly.
Me (really angry now): Well sorry sir but it is not my aim to speak like the Germans do. I just want to be understood. How many brain cells will you need to understand that when I said “Kina” I meant this big country in Asia where the Chinese are from?
A-hole (got angry too): If you continue to speak like that, people will think you have a stupid teacher.
Me: I don’t think so. If I speak like this, people will know that I am not German and that is a beautiful thing (sarcastic). Accent is beautiful, it is part of what you are, and it arouses people’s interest. If you don’t speak like them, they’d be interested to know where you are from.
A-hole (cornered): I don’t care. I am the teacher in this class. I make the rules. You are the students, you follow.
There was a long discussion after that. One classmate came to my rescue but the two others remained quiet. I can’t remember now how it ended but it didn’t end well. So anyway, all throughout the class I had this sour look on my face and he noticed that because he asked if we can talk during the break and so we did.
A-hole: Can we talk outside.
Me: Why not just here?
A-hole: Cause I need to smoke.
Me: Fine. (we went outside). Can we talk in English?
A-hole: Yeah, ok.
Me: so?
A-hole: I noticed that what happened in there made you angry.
Me: Off the records. Yes, that made me angry.
A-hole: Sorry but we had this discussion before. I just realized now that you were not here when it happened the first time. So when it came up again, I got irritated immediately.
Me: I hope that next time…, when something like this comes up, you should also remember that we are all adults in there. You don’t need to treat us like kids. I hope you’d handle matters better.
A-hole: Handle matters better… hmmm? Tell me, how would that be? You are a teacher too right?
Me: Yes and if it would have been me in front, I would have handled it differently.
A-hole: How exactly?
Me: I don’t know…. Just in a less-asshole kind of way I guess.
A-hole (blown away cause of the word asshole): (Let out a deep breath) Ok. I’ll remember that. So I am really sorry again.
Me: Ok, I’ll go inside now because I feel cold out here.
So he asked for forgiveness but I don’t really think that was genuine. He’ll be my teacher again later and I don’t know what will happen. I will act like nothing happened but if he acts like an asshole to me again; he’ll be hearing words he can’t stomach. He can be sure of that.
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