The 2nd round of H1N1 epidemic and people-watching

The spread of H1N1 has finally come close to me.
Yesterday was a hard day. My boss was absent from work because she got a flu. I am currently working as a part-time teacher at a cram school near my home.I'm teaching Math,Japanese literature and English to 6-18 year-old students.On Sundays there usually are 3 teachers including me.I have 2 classes I teach,each of them are 80 minutes long. She is the chief at my workplace and is in charge of 3 times as many classes as I am. So yesterday, us two had to make up for them. When I got home late at night I was too exhausted,so I went straight to bed.
Regular schools of some of my students have also been closed due to the H1N1 since a few days ago. Students who come to our cram school are not allowed to come into each classroom without washing and disinfecting their hands, taking their temperatures with clinical thermometers and putting masks on before entering.Of course we do them,too. Here,every measure to prevent the flu from spreading has been taken.


But on the other hand, when I pay attention to people in my city, I think something is apparently different from what they were like last time —the 1st round of the H1N1 epidemic.This time, I don't see anyone who is wearing a mask wherever I go. When the first H1N1 carrier was confirmed in Japan 4ish months ago, there wasn't anyone who wasn't wearing a mask around my town. It was just like a part of our fashion.Wherever I went, they had always been sold out.Sometimes I saw people whose masks were just like helmets. Once when I left my mask at home and got on the train without it I got so embarrassed 'cause everyone on the train started staring at me— like "Whar are you doing not wearing a mask>:(?!". Probably I was seen as a KY(Kuuki Yomenai = a Japanese popular word which literally means a person who can't read the atmosphere) ...Anyway, last time people seemed to almost panicked.


But this time it seems like it's the complete opposite. When I'm wearing a mask I feel people are staring at me. Have they lost any interests in the new flu?Did they begin to regard it as just a needless fear?...despite the fact that more people are still dying?Kinda weird.

Why am I always...?

“Ms Morimoto is 35ish, and is still single” —　This seems to have been an accepted opinion among my students at the cram school. This is what some of my high school students said in my class just two days ago,which made me so shocked.Well, this is half right, but half is far off,as you know.WHY IN THE HELL am i ALWAYS looked that much older than I actually am? Do I look so old for my real age, 21? Is this because I am trying to behave like a serious teacher to show some dignities and not to be too friendly to them? Really? Or just because they are idiots? Hmmm, but the truth is I have been looked older than I actually am quite often since I was still a jhs student.Once When I was 14 and was in the train, an old lady next to me suddenly asked me “Which uni are you going to?” I was like “…huh?!”.But this time, they have believed that I was 35….14 yrs older than my real age?! What the heck! Im gonna really hate them…:(