Yesterday at my local hospital it was obviously old people happy hour. The small waiting room was filled to the brim with 'ojiisans' and 'obaasans' - grandfathers and grandmothers, jabbering away to each other in the uncomprehensible local dialect. Squeezing into the crammed bench I was quickly the centre of attention. Obaasan 1 on my left was wearing a flu mask and had one squinty eye, on my right was Kyoko-san, the frail great-grandmother of three of my students. 'Were are you from?' asked Obaasan 1, 'Ireland' I replied politely. 'Have you ever been?' Great-grandmother asked Obaasan 1.
'Yes', she replied, 'three years ago'. Surprised and a little dubious I asked her 'Really? Where did you go?' 'Oh, I don't know the names of the towns', she said, 'I can't speak any English. But it was very nice and everyone had blues eyes like you. Japanese all have black eyes. Blue eyes are much nicer.'
She continued rambling for a while and then summed up with "English is very difficult for Japanese people you know'.
'Ahh, yes', I replied, 'but Japanese is difficult for foreigners'. Looking genuinely surprised she conceded my point and my made my way to the doctors room.
'Yes', she replied, 'three years ago'. Surprised and a little dubious I asked her 'Really? Where did you go?' 'Oh, I don't know the names of the towns', she said, 'I can't speak any English. But it was very nice and everyone had blues eyes like you. Japanese all have black eyes. Blue eyes are much nicer.'
She continued rambling for a while and then summed up with "English is very difficult for Japanese people you know'.
'Ahh, yes', I replied, 'but Japanese is difficult for foreigners'. Looking genuinely surprised she conceded my point and my made my way to the doctors room.
No comments:
Post a Comment