Let the Jan-glish Begin

Hi Guys!

Yesterday was an interesting day because we started having a lot of interactions with the locals.

First, we had some work done on our house by the Japanese to make it more inhabitable. (There was a cracked tile in our bathroom and many of the windows had missing screens.) So while Nick was at work, I was at home with the Japanese workers. It was quite the cultural experience because they didn't speak a word of English and my whole 3 word Japanese vocab is strikingly limited. I really need to get better about studying it! Anyways, so I was just reading on the couch and all of a sudden I hear some Japanese being shouted in to the house. It sounded like it was coming from inside! So I went over to the entry and there they were, already inside and taking their shoes off and getting ready to go. I was surprised to see them already inside but a few of them looked equally surprised to see me come around the corner. They started speaking at me in Japanese and I just nodded my head and hopped they were the ones that were here to do work.

And they were because they immediately set to it. The woman who was there to assess the screen situation wanted me to show her where all the windows with missing screens were. Needless to say, it was done entirely with gestures.

Really though, that all went smoothly, mostly because they knew why they were supposed to be there and I just let them at it. And then later that evening, after dinner, Nick and I set out to meet the neighbors. In Japan the tradition is, when you move in to a new neighborhood you have to go to your neighbors' houses (the two next to you and three in front) and introduce yourself and bring them a small present. With the assistance of the on-base realtor who typed up a brief newsletter about Nick and I, in Japanese, and his advice on what to bring as gifts, we set out to meet them, bearing a cheap bottle of wine, some jelly beans, our newsletter, and a sheet of Japanese introductory phrases.

Oh boy. It went mostly well at the first neighbor's house, who are a mom, dad, and 3 adorable little girls named Na-na, Ni-Ni, and No-No (I kid you not). They hardly spoke English but understood why we were there at least, so that was a relief. And she even understood what we were trying to say when we tried introducing ourselves in Japanese. Then the next house was this woman who actually spoke pretty good English so that one was fine. But then came the third house.

This middle-aged woman answers the door and we say hello and show her our newsletter and give her our gifts. And then we try to introduce ourselves in Japanese like we did at the first house. I get out my "watashi wa Elle des" and she bursts out laughing and shouts back in to the house and soon her two daughters are in the doorway. And then she laughs some more and presumably repeats what I said to her, and then the two girls leave and come back with the rest of the family! The first woman recounts what I said to her to the rest of the family and they are all standing in the entryway, laughing at us! Oh gosh my cheeks were probably the color of the red dot on the Japanese flag! I have no idea what I said to her that she found so funny, and I probably never will, but anyways, we left that house pretty quickly after that faux pas. The final house was pretty uneventful  (one of Nick's co-workers lives across the street from us so we only had to go to four houses instead of five) but I was all worked up and embarrassed from house #3 so I was glad it went smoothly.

And I know that I only have 3 more years of events like house #3 happening over and over again to look forward to. Let the Jan-glish begin!

Ta for now,
Elle