Slightly buzzed I turn the key and enter my apartment. I connect the ipod to the stereo and I play Gianmaria Testa. I am in a groove and I start the first stage of my ceremonial strip-tease, the one that my students witness every time I enter the classroom. I remove, item after item from my pockets and leave everything in a relatively orderly fashion on the little white coffee table. I say relatively for I am buzzed. And then, looking for things to remove from my pockets, like a cigarette smoker looking for the orphan in his pack, I insert my hand in the right back pocket of my jeens and remove a card. As my hand feels for its paper and turns it to the scrutiny of my eyes I am in for a surprise. It is not my coffee-shop stamp card but something I do not recognise. It reads (in French): Caporal Beverly Peel: Commis au traitement. I am surprised. I really cannot see what the hell this female recruiter's card is doing in my pants. I know I am charming... but this person I do not know. It takes me a while to understand. In fact I have to post something on this blog to get the time to process what is going on. I am sure I have not hit on an army recruiters recently. So what is it? Well now I get it. It is my student who wanted me to have this card as a contact for a person whom I could ask if I had doubts about his excuse for not coming to class. I suddenly realize that the story is far less sexy than originally assumed. It is actually sad. My student seeks to belong to Canada through the army. My student is Chinese in origins. I still cannot get myself to like the army in any of its national permutations.