Today my sole class consisted of five disabled kids. I honestly didn’t see what was so disabled about them (except that one was incredibly shy), but sure, whatever.

Actually come to think of it, I know what’s disabled about them–it’s their perception of age. One student said I looked like a 19-year-old college student (understandable), but another student said I looked like I was 33. That’s a 14-year age difference right there between both guesses. I can understand that for people who are older when it’s more difficult to tell, but I think I’m still young enough where it shouldn’t be too terribly hard to get closer to the ballpark. I sense these kids having terrible careers working the ‘how old am I’ booths at fairs.

They also asked me what my favorite Japanese word is. I find that to be a weird question, but at least it gave me an excuse to use, “Futon ga futonda,” which immediately cracked the class up. I’ve been waiting for a good excuse to use that.

During the questioning there was one specific kid who was all about being bigger and stronger than me. He asked for my height; I beat him by four centimeters. He asked my shoe size; he beat me by one centimeter. And wow, 28 cm is huge for a Japanese foot. He wanted to compare hand sizes, for which we tied.

Once class was over and we were at a tie, he gave me one last challenge–arm wrestling. Now I generally suck at arm wrestling, but I figured hey, this kid is only 14 or so, I may win.

We both kneeled down in front of a desk, clasped our right hands, and another student counted down and gave the signal. At first we were tied, and I thought it looked to be about an even match, but then slowly, slowly, I noticed us going ever so slightly in my favor. With the determination of garnering bragging rights for the years to come, I kept at it, going full on.

We inched closer and closer to the table until his hand was hovering ever-so-slightly above the table. With one final push, he hit the desk. I stood up and swaggered away, knowing that I could beat a middle schooler at arm wrestling. I’m such a badass.

And I’m left-handed.

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