Hit by a BUS

The other day, I had the unfortunate position to be a teacher (who cares a lot about their students) and see one of their students sprawled out on the concrete. They were hit by a bus. I was about five minutes to late to witness the incident. How the student was hit by the bus, was broken down rather quickly in the course of a few hours. A flier was distributed to all the schools in the area. I broke it down in my head and was fairly close to how the situation occurred. I was there, I saw the damage on the bus, and the student on the ground.

The student was traveling with traffic. They decided to cross the street but not at an intersection. This is fairly common in Japan. The problem was their view was obstructed by a large truck. As they went into oncoming traffic, a LARGE BUS came into view and they were stuck. No time for either to react.

I came along just a few minutes after the incident. I felt sick to my stomach and couldn't stay for long. I asked one of my students who it was and they told me. The sad thing is, I have the hardest time trying to remember everyone I work with. I know most people by their face only. I can't read everyone's name because it's all Kanji and kanji can differ considerably with the Kanji it follows.

Luckily the student didn't die. They wound up with a broken back. Which is going to take forever to recover from. I know from personal experience that hospital life is NOT FUN (Although I do enjoy hospital food). I'll see if there is anything I can do to get the student in higher spirits.

-jerry