2021/01/16

My Wife's Tea and Bossa Nova Music

The busy season that has been going on since the beginning of the year has reached its peak. I am getting used to the time I spend at home staring at my computer monitor, even on my days off.


As I was scratching my hair up around my ears, I remembered that I hadn't had a haircut since November, so I get on my compact cycle and head to the barbershop.

On the way, I saw two men riding road bikes from the other side of the symbolic road.

They were carefree, even though a state of emergency had been declared. I wondered if they thought it would be a problem because they wouldn't fall off their bikes.

At the barbershop, I knew what I wanted to talk to the clerk about. We talk about how the recent coronavirus pandemic will unfold.

It's hard to tell what's going to happen in the future when people are so relaxed about it.

After getting my hair cut at the barbershop, I quickly returned home to stare at the computer screen again and get on with my work.

By the way, the entrance exam for my older child's junior high school is approaching, and our family is in battle mode. We have already paid a lot of money for the cram school.

I don't think it's wrong for kids to take exams to get into private schools, but I do think it's crazy that the exam industry has become so heated.

To what extent do adults, i.e., parents and tutors, interfere in the lives of children?

However, I don't have time to listen to this rhapsody seriously.

For a child to take the entrance exam and enter a private junior high school, money is needed. To get that money, I, the father, have to work.

In the first place, my life is my own. I live for my children, but my life is not for them.

There are only a few days left on the deadline. Will I really be able to meet the deadline for this job?

As I continued to work in my room, I heard a knock at the door. As usual, I knew it was my wife when I heard her knocking on the door more than necessary.

I wondered if my wife was trying to force me to do something troublesome, but what she handed me from the other side of the door was a thermos.

The thermos was filled with freshly brewed tea from the leaves.

Apparently, my wife understood that I was in a tight spot at work and was concerned about my well-being.

I put on some Bossa Nova on the audio and continued my work in a relaxed atmosphere.

If there were a reward for this work, I would be more motivated, but the work I was doing now fell under the category of complete service overtime.

Sometimes it's better to listen to Bossa Nova and work as if it were a hobby.

As I looked at the road bike in my room, I felt positive thinking about the cycling trip I would be taking shortly.

When I finally finished my work and had dinner, my wife and the older child started talking about the junior high school entrance exam.

My wife handed me a comic book on junior high school entrance exams' theme and told me to read it.

I am working on a much bigger task than the junior high school entrance exam, but I wonder if she understands or not.

I pretended to read a comic book in my room, threw it out the door, and went to the computer monitor again.

It is said that junior high school entrance exams are also exams for parents, but I beg to differ. Junior high school entrance exams are for children.

If a child does not do his or her best and fails the entrance exam, it is the child's responsibility.

Of course, parents need to support their children, but there is no point if the child does not have a strong will.

There is a saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink."

I grew up in a low-income family, and my parents could not afford to pay for me to go to cram school.

Compared to that experience, my children are very fortunate.

Despite such favorable conditions, if my child fails the entrance examinations, it is his or her own fault.

Of course, my child is significant to me, but if both father and mother are nervous about the exam, it must be hard for the child.

At least, as a father, I would like to stay calm about junior high school entrance exams.

As bedtime approached, my wife started to get angry with the kids in a loud, high-pitched voice as usual.

I put on my headphones and continued to work while listening to Bossa Nova music.

My wife's tea is tasty.