"I'll be OK," I reassured myself before walking into the lion cage. Textbook secured under one arm, I walked in with confidence and closed the door behind me. The door made that definitive "click." Just 50 minutes, I told myself. Fifty minutes of screaming commands at the top of my lungs, 50 minutes of cracking my lion tamer's whip. I'd be OK.
Then I remembered Siegfried and Roy. They weren't always OK, and they were magic! You never know when a cat will lunge.
"Sensei! HELLO! HELLO!" the lions roared at me, sure that I must be deaf. It's not entirely their fault that they think all teachers are deaf. In Japanese kindergarten, students learn to shout everything at the top of their lungs as if they are trying to talk to their ancestors up in heaven. Students never quite lose this ability to shout at the top of their lungs, even now in high school.