On Christmas Wishes

So I was writing Christmas cards for all of my JTE's (Japanese Teachers of English), and I got stuck on one. He is a new teacher, and very young (23. One year younger than me. But he's SO YOUNG). He looks like he could be one of my students - he's one of those J-guys (J- is a gaijin abbreviation for Japanese) that seem to look as if they're 10-20 years younger than they really are. I doesn't help that he's shorter than I am. One day I was standing next to him and realized that if we were playing hockey, I could totally hip check him in the ribcage. He's scared to death of me - every time I speak to him, his eyes get really wide and he looks around for the other JTE's so they can translate for him. He's an English teacher, but he's embarrassed about how bad his English is, so he hates to speak English. He's passive and a bit of a wuss. But he's sweet in a little kid kind of way, so I like him even if I get frustrated with him a lot. I think a good nickname for his would be Mr. Passivity.

So as I was trying to write his Christmas card, I couldn't actually think of anything to write inside of it. Everytime I tried to think of what to write, the only thing that entered my head was, "Dear I-sensei, Grow some balls. -Jessica" I eventually did manage to write something other than that, but I concentrated on every word I wrote just in case those other words were going to spring unbidden onto the page.

As an update of sorts (this is about a week after I was writing the cards):

I sort of got my Christmas wish! Mr. Passivity almost grew some balls for once. They were heavily lubricated (get your minds out of the gutters, people!) with alcohol, though, so I don't know if that really counts... At the bonenkai (end of the year party) tonight, M-sensei and I were leaving after the first party. Passivity sensei asked if I was coming to the second party, and I said that I was sorry, but I had to get up early tomorrow to go on a trip with another teacher (it was the truth - I wasn't lying). After a pause, he said, "I have to be in Yamaguchi tomorrow morning. At 7:40. What time do you go?" Now that may not sound like much, but he's Japanese, so you have to translate that correctly. What he really said was, "So what, you wuss! I'm getting up at 5:30 in the frickin' morning, and I'll have a hangover, and I'm STILL going to the second party. What's your excuse?" Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus. I was so proud of him, I wanted to hug him! He even said it in a slightly different tone than normal. I wouldn't say an aggressive tone becuase I'm not entirely certain that he's capable of that, but he at least attempted it. I politely refused to go again, but I kind of wanted to, if for nothing else than to see him acting like he's got a pair.