We were covering the lesson, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and going over the vocabulary. We used the book and media from "Hi Friends!" and man. One of the voice actors, the character Hikaru, he had just this annoying nasally voice. The kids all made fun of the Hikaru bits, mocking his voice. I heard students saying "Ojisan desho ne? Kodomo janai!" That's an old man isn't it? He's not a kid! One class had a kid named Hikaru so they were always razzing him.

Anyhow, the Hikaru character wanted to grow up to be a bus driver. That became a running gag in some classes. "LoL bUs DrIveR!!!"

At the end of the lesson, the kids had to do a short presentation of what they want to grow up to be and why. One kid was always goofing off, he was a real cut up. I was expecting him to want to be a comedian or actor or something. He had the personality for it.

But no. He said he wanted to be a bus driver. So yeah, I figure he's just messing with me. I asked "You want to be a bus driver? Really?" He just nonchalantly shrugged and replied "I like cars. I like people. I want to be a bus driver."

Well that shut my trap! Fair enough little man, good answer. Be the best damn bus driver you can be! Now and then I think of returning to Japan someday and seeing a familiar face behind the wheel of a bus.