Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Straight Up, What Did You Hope To Learn About Here?

(Anybody know what song that is from?)

I was studying today at the food court, listening to my I-pod, sipping ginger ale and working on my second donut when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I looked up to see an older Japanese woman smiling, so I took out my earphones and smiled back. Turns out that she just wanted me to move my chair so she could push her cart through, but she returned a little later with a cup of steaming hot coffee and sat down opposite me.

In December, I will be taking the Japanese language proficiency test and I really haven't studied as much as I should; so while I like to talk and be friendly just a s much as the next person, I kept my eyes glued to my book and my earphones in. She scooted her chair around so that she was sitting beside me and started rummaging through my papers and dictionary.

I guess I should have gone to the library if I really wanted to study. I took off my earphones. She just wanted to talk, she just wanted me to listen and so I sat there for a good twenty minutes just listening and nodding and saying uh-huh and oh really? until she became quiet. Then she started in with the questions: Where are you from? How long have you lived here? Can you use chopsticks? Do you like sushi? What is your impression of Japan? and the like. I answered as best I could and I guess it satisfied her curiosity well enough. She finished up the last sip of coffee and stood up. We said our good byes. I went back to studying and she went back to shopping.

All that to say, you will never know the answer until you ask the question, so please ask away in the comments. I am kinda running low on creativity and writer's block has gotten the best of me more times than I care to remember these last few weeks, so you ask, I will answer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a nice break from studying! Good luck with the exam.

Sara said...

Im taking the exam too!
And I agree on the not studying as much as I should have *tries not to glance at the kanji book sitting right next to her*

Good luck!!

Sounds like you had a nice chat, its nice to be approched sometimes.. although maybe not when you are in the middle of studying!