"The old priest's eyes are bright."

I've never posted a student assignment here before. There have been some good ones. Personal favorites include the girl who finished her report on "Pirates of the Caribbean" with the confession, "I like a jolly roger," and another student who had the Greek gods tell Narcissus, "When you awake, you will fall in love with the first parson you see." Another girl shared a special memory of how, after she had won an English Recitation contest, "all my friends were crapping for me."

Generally, though, I don't think teachers should put forward student work for laughs. But one of my favorite students, a real "beat of a different drummer" seventeen year old, just handed in a spectacular report on her recent homestay in Australia. Her classmates all wrote more or less the same essay about cuddly koalas and cute boys on the Gold Coast and how they "persevered every day to make a treasured memory," a phrase that appeared so often that I think the homeroom teacher must have written it out for them on the blackboard. Then I came to this. Even the title is a trip.

No Attention, Please

I saw a lot of nervous friends.
There are many flying insects for everyday experience.
In my house, many ants are walking every day.
And, there are cockroaches, geckoes, and many flying insects.
I made friends with geckoes.
People are not afraid of them. I could not believe it.
Every student has their own computer.
Pronunciation in Australia is different from the Queen’s and the Americans.
I don’t know why my lunch is a sandwich.
There are many products made in China.
They are very low priced, but, indeed...
The young priest is odd.
The old priest’s eyes are bright.
No one can escape from him.
Everyone often eats mashed potato.
Rulers are long.
Water is expensive. And also juice.
Everyone eats a lot of apples which are not cut.
Young girls with dyed black-color hair are really into punk fashion.
We don’t have an under five-cent coin.
The color in the sky is vivid. The sea is lovely.
Meat is dripping blood. (I bought it in a shop)
People often use wrong Japanese word.
Ninjas and sushi don’t connect.
Rice salad is incomprehensible for Japanese.
Some children have Japanese games.
(Almost Chinese)
Some women show their underwear.
-----But when we look from the universe,
we have no frontiers.
And we may be able to be friends.