Hi there, Stella,

Before I make comment in response to your interesting post, please let me just get something out of my system: HEY, STEEEEEEEELA! HEY, STEEEEEEEEEELA! (Brando -- Streetcar Named Desire - 1951) Thanks for your kind consideration. Now it's much better.

As for your description of the variety of job discrimination to which we teachers are occasionally subjected, I can only say that it comes with the territory. Then, too, the behavior of the "lady" in question lends little dignity to either her husband's school or the plight of its foreign specialists and other employees. Then, too, placing the blame for anything and everything that goes wrong on the staff is the "traditional" methodology by which employers (investors) dodge responsibility. Heaven forbid they would ever attribute screw-ups to their own ineptitude. On second thought, this might be the case in Japan ... which could account for all the cases of hara-kiri...??? In any event, as ESL_IN_ASIA and I have attempted to emphasize, ESL is better viewed as a temporary form of activity, albeit one in which you stand to gain enough knowledge and experience to be later utilized in a more progressive and challenging line of professional activity. As I always tell my TOEFL students, a language -- any language -- is not Manna from Heaven, but rather a tool for
communication and entry into a world of specialized subject matter. Likewise, experience in the ESL business is merely a stepping stone to greater glory in your language-related career. As for those bloody side annoyances ... just try to grin and bear them. Things could be (and usually are) much worse in a different arena.

All the best to you, Stella,

The Arrogant One