Music makes the world go 'round

Sitting on the plane bound for O-town, I was flipping through a fresh copy of the Globe and Mail while a movie played on my personal television monitor. In "The King's Speech," Colin Firth's character was able to temporarily overcome his stutter while reciting Hamlet's soliloquy.

The cure? His doctor blared classical music into his headphones, so that he wasn't self-conscious when attempting to do some public speaking.

The song happened to be a popular piece from Mozart. Give it a listen here. And it just so happens this is the exact musical cue that my junior high school used every day. When this song played over the P.A. system, everyone dropped what they were doing for cleaning time. I'd try to clean with a different homeroom every day. I'd "clean" by sweeping the dust bunnies away and moving a few students' desks around.

I remember when T-kun to moonwalk while sweeping the floor. He learned his moves during P.E. with M-sensei. I remember the adorable second-grader at elementary school, who insisted on holding my hand for the entire 15 minutes we had to wipe down the dust from his classroom's bookshelves. At Iwane ES, little Tsubasa-kun would ask me tons of questions in English only. It was pretty impressive, considering he is about nine years old but speaks better than my 15-year-olds. T-kun's classmates giggled, probably in wonder that Tsubasa could hold down some decent conservations with me. "Gemma-sensei, what subject do you like? What is your favourite food? Do you have a boyfriend? My brother is going to kindergarten next year. Yada, yada yada."

I'm also thinking in the "past tense," because things in Fuku will never be the same. While the communities are trying to regain a sense of normalcy at school, school life is different. My JHS kids are even stuck studying at a local community centre, because our old building has been deemed unsafe after the earthquake. It didn't collapse, thank goodness. The building, however, is covered in destructive cracks. The ceiling tiles were collapsing. The sliding doors and window of most classrooms popped out. The building itself is such an important part of the neighbourhood. This is where the kids would spend the majority of their time, week in and week out. After classes, they'd spend hours after school and even on weekends at club activities. And now, the school is crumbling. But fortunately, I've read a recent newsletter that explains we should be returning to 2chu by this June. Talk about a massive "cleaning time."

It's funny how a music clip on my journey back to Ottawa, reminded me of my second home on the other side of the world...