Corndogs + Avocados

On the train this morning I saw something I haven’t seen for nearly 10 years when I had one in college. I caught a glimpse of it attached to the belt of the gentleman in front of me and I wasn’t sure my eyes hadn’t deceived me until the gentleman took if from his belt, checked it, and replaced it. If you haven’t guessed the “it” I’m referring to is a pager.

Eight years ago when Liz and I were teaching in Japan I had several medical doctors for students. They were too busy to come to our classroom so I brought the classroom to them. I found the Japanese hospital very interesting. The exterior was old but inside was state-of-the-art and modern. Flat screens were everywhere (remember this was 8 yrs ago), and all the doctors had tiny little mobile phones that looked like plastic toys. During one of our English lessons I was explaining how doctors where I grew up wore little devices attached to their belts that buzzed or beeped when someone was trying to reach them. My students looked at me with puzzled expressions until one of them perked up and said “Pocket bell. In Japan we call it a pocket bell. We haven’t used them for at least 10 years”.

Subtract 8 years then 10 years and the result is 1990. My doctor English students hadn’t used pagers since 1990 yet the fellow in front of me on the train had one today in 2008 - nearly 20 years later.