Language Barriers

Trip Start Sep 25, 2002
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13
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Trip End May 15, 2004


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Flag of Japan  ,
Sunday, November 17, 2002

Week 5 (11.12 - 11.19.02) - Just some more irrelevant mumbling! The toilets here are great ...they have heated seats and integrated bidets, dryers and can play several types of music! Cell phones (handyphones) are wild here, like two years ahead of the ones in the States. They all have 1.5 inch color LCD screens and built-in digital cameras and some even record movies. Even more amazing are the prices. I got mine for $7 with all the above features! Man, in the US that phone would be $600!! Which brings me to the story of Craig and I trying to get our phones. Well, after going over all the various plans and prices, we notice a discount for family plans. So, suddenly we're cousins. Craig's saying I was adopted and am a bastard child and then I start in with how our Aunt Bootsie doesn't like it when Craig says things like that and the saleslady has no idea what we're talking about, even though she speaks very good English!! We both had to contain ourselves from laughing...needless to say though that we got the family discount!! I also went back to Minoh National Park this week b/c, apparently, with the leaves changing colors it's totally different and it definitely was. It was beautiful there, the pics tell it all. (see photos from two entries previous)

I have run out of books to read, but found a pub with a book exchange, but, unfortunately, the selection is very limited. I grabbed an Anne Rice book, Tale of the Body Thief. It's pretty good, a little overly verbose at times, but a really good story.
Funny story about language barriers...before we get into the lesson, I chat with the students on random subjects. This one student was describing his weekend about going to a Zen temple and how you have to pray. I asked him how they went about praying and he says "you bow twice to the sky, bow once to the ass, and then crap!" Barely able to contain myself, I ask him to please repeat slowly...same reply. I'm thinking that this can't be right, so after some prodding it comes out that he says ass for ground and crap is supposed to be clap!! LOL I had to tell him why I thought it was so funny and show him the proper way to spell clap!! One note to end on, my roommate Craig has been snoring so loud the last few nights that he has actually woken me up! One night, I wake up and it's just horrible, I'm banging on the Japanese screen door and yelling his name...I forget where I am, being half-asleep, and punch the wall, hoping to make enough noise to wake him...well, the Japanese screen doors aren't exactly as sturdy as the plaster American walls and my fist goes straight through the door!! I'm wide awake now! Whoops, sorry about that!

OMG, I'm a big brother! My sister emailed me and said that my dad's wife, Joan had the baby on November 18! Not much info, she's one month premature and that's about all I know, but how cool is that?!!
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