Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Yes, I Can Use Chopsticks!

Some linkage for you from Ryan McDonald's blog. Ryan sounds so much like me, it's scary. I know I already posted the cherry-picking story (one of my favorites, btw), but I was browsing around and found some other adventures in Japan I would like the share. I was tempted to just copy and paste the entire text here, but that felt like stealing to me.

Again, you have to scroll down to the date to read it.

Wednesday, February 18th
Thinking outside the box in Japan.

Thursday, August 26, 2004
Thinking outside the box in Japan, part II.

Saturday July 3rd 2004
How many people are in this conversation?

On the same page, Thursday July 8th
Don't try to out-crazy me.

Friday September 3rd, 2004
First thing on the page. Getting a ride in Japan. (giggle)

The reason I'm pointing these out is the same things are happening to me, and I don't think it's a coincidence.

Here's an abbreviated transcript of an actual conversation I had.

BoE: Can you contact Sarah?
Me: Sure, why?
BoE: The water bill needs to be paid for June and July.
Me: Oh, Sarah left the money for the utilities, so I can pay it.
BoE: Yes, but you weren't here in June. She should pay.
Me: I understand, but she already left me the money. I will pay the bill.
BoE: I see, but it's Sarah's bill.
Me: I know, but she gave me the money to pay it....
BoE: You shouldn't have to pay it.
Me: (Bangs head into wall)
BoE: So, if you could contact Sarah...
(repeat for 15 minutes)

...later, at the Hall of Justice...

O: Do you know when Sarah will be back from Guatemala?
Me: No, why?
O: The Board of Education wants to know.
Me: Is this about the water bill? I'll pay the water bill.
O: It's ¥5,000
Me: I can pay it.
O: No, you shouldn't pay it.
Me: Really, it's not a problem.
O: I think maybe the Board of Education will pay it.
Me: I have the money...
O: No...

Sigh.

2 comments:

  1. >So, instead of blogging at work, I'm going to study Japanese. And instead of blogging at home, I'm going to study Japanese.

    Are you really studying Japanese instead of blogging?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm only blogging at work. It turns out that it's pretty difficult to study Japanese here.

    See, I like to study on the computer, but most of my programs require some sort of audible feedback to the user, so I would have to wear headphones, which is a bit difficult to do. I have other material that requires me to speak the answer in Japanese; that would be a bit distracting.

    I tried studying out of my Japanese textbook, but I almost immediately fell asleep. I seem to be having that problem more and more recently. Basically, right now my life consists of teaching, sleeping, and occasionally eating. There have been nights where I have just gone to bed because I was too tired to eat.

    That's pretty darn tired.

    Anyway, today is the 1st of October (two weeks until my birthday!), and October is my target month, so I'm going to be studying more and more. At least, that's the idea (let's see if I can stick with it).

    ReplyDelete