HI All,
Thanks for all your words of wisdom regarding Charlotte. Larry suggested that I should have used the Polaroid to take a picture of my rear end with the words GO U.S.A. on it and left that picture for her along with her camera. Now although I have lost a few pounds during my brief stay, I will never feel comfortable flashing my fanny (as funny as that would have been). Feel free to send your own fanny pictures as I am sure I will have other opportunities to leave her little gifts.
On to other things...yesterday I went shopping at two department stores in Chofu. These stores are 9 stories high. I decided to splurge on myself since I got my first paycheck (which was a pretty hefty check for only 8 days of work). I went into a cute clothing store and found few few cute blouses. I communicated with the store lady in my usual gorilla-grunting Tarzan fashion and she led me to a dressing room. I stepped into the room and she said something and pointed to my feet...OOPS! I am supposed to take my shoes off before entering the dressing room. Faux pas NUMBER 1. Then she handed me something kind of silky, papery. I tossed it on the floor and stood on it as I tried on the 3 blouses. I thought "Man, this thing is slippery. People could really hurt themselves on this." After trying on the blouses, I emerged from the dressing room and saw a sign next to the dressing room for people who did not purchase the book "Idiot's Guide to Japan." It tells you to remove your shoes before entering the dressing room and use the "scarf wrap" to protect the clothing from getting your make-up smeared all over it. OOPS! I was hoping that I did not toss the silky scarf on the ground until AFTER the woman had closed the curtains! I hope they don't reuse those things...someone will be pleasantly suprised with the delightful smell of my feet...But I got a nice blouse out of it so that is all that matters, right? RIGHT? I am getting used to making a fool out of myself, we'll chalk it off to "character-building."
OK, I have a few more minutes to blow here at the internet cafe so I will just share with you whatever pops into my head...(this should be interesting...) I had one student a few days ago that is a police officer. I asked him if they have a lot of problems with Americans as far as being hooligans or criminals. He said that actually most of their criminals are Chinese folks. They have almost 300 police officers learning Chinese so that they can communicate with all of the Chinese hooligans whereas they only have 75 officers learning English. I thought that was interesting. Those damn Chinese...such trouble-makers. I always had them pegged as bad seeds...(joking...just in case any of you are Chinese).
Speaking of Chinese, my roommate (who is a Chinese Canadian) and I talk soemtimes when she is around (her boyfriend "Squirrel Boy" has not spent the night since his last cold shower...). She stays over at his place now. Anyway, her name is Helen and she has 8 brothers and sisters. All her sisters were born in Vietnam and she was born in Canada so her mom named all the older siblings Chinese names and named her a Canadian name. Anyway, she was telling me that she wished that she had a Chinese name like her sisters. One of her sister's names is Tuong Fung Wong (read as Tongue Fung Wung). I'm thinking to myself, "Why would you want to be named Tongue?" Actually, you say the last name first so it is Wong Fung Tongue, which, when said fast, sounds like "One fun tongue." Now I don't know about you, but if I had a name like One Fun Tongue, the pressure to live up to my name would be too overwhelming. Of course, I did not say any of this, I merely listened with interest hoping that the expression on my face did not give me away.
OOPS! Look at the time! Gotta run and catch the bucking bronco to Tobitakyu!
Love Rachel
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