![[analog] I’m rusty but I just got a jackpot of discarded biology books.](https://preview.redd.it/n8xthy77yebh1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=9d62740ed4216da853e73c088d3dcb7bd843980c)
I moved countries and left behind all my collage materials but my workplace here is a school and they did a huge purge of a bunch of old textbooks. I saved them from being recycled so I could cut them up! It’s a veritable treasure trove they have such lovely pictures!
I don’t EVER want to see naked children on my feed but somehow these ads just keep coming. Parents don’t need to see a naked child to be influenced to buy diapers. Non parents don’t need to see diaper ads at all. So why are these companies filming, editing, and posting, videos of naked children online?
I hate them. Smiling baby, fine. Happy parents with smiling baby, fine. You don’t need to show up close shots of a baby’s private areas to sell anything EVER. Cut that shit out.
I know it’s so HARD with these new fashions to keep it modest infold so why not take inspiration from history?? I know cleavage is evil but what about just showing off your favorite titty like Ms Sorel here? Be inspired by respectable historical women instead of these dirty modern ones!
I teach in a small school in a village in rural Hungary. In our village there are two or three big group foster homes, and those kids go to our school.
They are all of this country’s ethic minority, a demographic I worked almost exclusively with for four years before moving to this school. The kids in this system often prioritize rebellion against a place/system that seems so set up for them to fail, and some came from really rough backgrounds with lots of trauma. Some of them are even abused at these homes as well, by members of the government no less. So when I say they are “at risk” I really mean it, from external and internal threats alike.
I don’t teach any of them at this school because they aren’t enrolled in the bilingual program but I say hi in the hallways, ask how they are, say I like their hoodie or whatever and generally try my best to use my language skills to make their school day a bit better even if I’m not in the classroom with them. I even didn’t bust one girl for hitting a vape because it was a special day at the school and she at least ATTEMPTED to be discreet so I told her to put it away and went along my business.
Now about this man. When the weather started getting warm, I noticed a him. Short. Skinny arms and legs. Pudgy beer belly. Silver short curly hair, tanned skin. On a beat up silver bike. With a speaker in the basket. I noticed him loitering outside the school sometimes. Few days later I was walking to my bus and one of the foster girls was walking in front of me, a decent ways ahead. This man circled back THREE TIMES. Turned around right at her, went back past me, then looped up to her. Three times I saw this happen before our paths split. He was playing music. He was looking over at her.
Uh oh.
I saw him a few more afternoons. Always when school gets out. Always playing music. Always waiting for these kids to be on their way home. One of my students called him a pedophile but I don’t know if he was just joking because of the context or if he knows something for real.
But until yesterday I had never seen him interact. I was walking up to the school. He was handing a group of these kids, the girls he’s been following included, a cigarette and a lighter. Through the gates of the school. My instincts are screaming at me, DANGER. He is interested in these girls. He wants to make contact with them. Wants to follow them home. Wants to give them forbidden items.
Wants to keep secrets and break rules with little girls.
I walked past them, greeted them as a group, and RAN to the principal when out of sight but he was gone by the time she got outside. I also told the school about his stalking behavior, about how worried I am that he’s trying to get close to the girls to do something terrible. But who knows if the people running the foster home will keep a sharper eye out? Some of these homes allowed things like this to happen to the kids. I asked my husband if his parents (who live on that street) can keep an eye out but he said they wouldn’t give a shit (not like that, it’s just what I heard when he said they’ve lived there for years and won’t interfere.)
It feels like I’m in a thriller movie and I can’t convince anyone to realize the danger because I’m not fluent in their language. I wouldn’t even be able to call the cops effectively if I saw something worse happen.
My only option seems to be bark at this man like a dog and tell him to GO ON GIT and hope that’s universal for get the fuck out of here you creep.
One of the boys from the cigarette at the gate incident called me a whore in the hallways for chasing away his cigarette buddy. I wish I could convince him to look out for his female classmates instead of trusting this dude. I wish I had the rapport with these girls or the shared language to tell them this man is NOT their friend and have it land. But I feel powerless and stupid and unable to communicate or help.
Working with these kids is so hard but so many of them are trying so hard to have a beautiful life and I just wish it were easier. I wish I could make sure they were safe, that they had a childhood and weren’t forced to grow up so fast that they’re taking cigarettes from strangers to smoke in school at the age of 11.
It just makes me sad.
Salami and sun-dried tomato baked spaghetti