Japan: Ikuko and Dinner with the Alligator-Lover

DOUBLE-POST WHAMMY! YOU NEVER EXPECTED IT! WOW! As if the gym weren't crazy enough...

That's how I met one Ikuko. Ikuko is in her 60's I'd say, who studied in Wisconsin or Minnesota or some other "that region" state, and whose English is perfect. At dinner today, she said "how do you say (atopic dermatitis)?" and then joked about how she'd forget that word tomorrow. Hahaha, yeeeah... and here I am still struggling with how to address people I don't know without having to use "you" (long Japanese grammar point explanation necessary).

So the second time we crossed paths at the gym, she said "Oh, come to my house, I invited some guys over for dinner and it'd be nice to have you over." And so I was like "EEEH!? MK!!!" Subtext: I'm a starving grad student living off of rice balls and bananas. Please feed me.

So today, although it was a holiday (Culture Day) I went nowhere. I just cleaned the house and got ready for this dinner. Ikuko was kind enough to pick me up, but she had to go to the golfing range because she forgot her clubs there (which, when she said it, sounded a lot like "craps." I was thoroughly confused as to just how much "crap" one could have to merit the plural "craps").

Fast forward a little bit - one of the guys was blind, who studied together in elementary school with another guy, both of whom learned English from Ikuko. The blind guy literally spoke as if someone had pressed "fast-forward" on a tape recorder. I couldn't have EVER fathomed that someone could speak that fast. And the other guy works for a trading company. As if "kaisha" weren't generic enough, apparently, everyone's "kaisha" is a "shousha." Japanese language learners, YOU know what I'm talking about...

So for appetizers she served chips and salsa. Which, if you live in Japan, you go "WAIT WHAT!? THERE'S SALSA!?!?!?" I was extremely giddy to see that this salsa was imported from Texas, and had roasted garlic flavor. Delicious. Then for salad it was a seaweed, sea shrimp, sea stuffs salad which was yuuummy! And then between that and the main course, she served champagne (which they called "wine" ... don't really know why) with French cheese.

And by French cheese, I mean it came in a box with French flags on it, but it was actually cream cheese. I chuckled inwardly. When she said "French cheese" I naturally assumed brie (and I was like "whoa, these people are hoity-toity"), but she busted out these small cubes of cheese, and, being a fat kid, I naturally jumped at the opportunity to eat as much cheese as possible. Only, when I put it in my mouth, I was like "huh... cream cheese." Different countries have different perceptions of different foods, and this was just another one. It's like my family who thinks I'm the hoity-toity one just because I like black tea. Fyi, my Colombian family, tea is the poor people's drink in Russia, and coffee the rich. Not the other way around.

And then, the chef d'oeuvre! CHICKEN POT PIE! Oh man, is Ikuko awesome at making food. It was absolutely phenomenal. Although I also chuckled at the way that I had to eat it - with chopsticks. Really interesting "East meets West" moment right there.

Then her husband started talking in half-English half-Japanese. He asked where I'm from (Florida) and he goes "Oh... you know... I live with alligator" and made these cute old man chomping sounds and points at his wife. Then he asked me if I ever met an alien. I said "No, not yet." Then he says "I have." And then he points at me.

Whomp whooomp.

But then he makes this argument about how Earthlings are aliens because aliens are part of the universe and so are Earthlings. I suppose it makes more sense in Japanese because it's 宇宙人 ("universe-people"). And then he asked me "why are countries important?"

This absolutely blew my mind.

As to why it blew my mind, and why a smile spread over my face over the following ten minutes of discussion, well, quite frankly this is the conversation that I needed. The one I needed to have to know that I CAN make Japan my own.

See, thing is up until this trip, my interactions with Japanese people have always been a bit... superficial. Weather, reasons for learning Japanese, school... not much else. In Russia, however, the conversations were always about life, love, democracy, death, literature, etc. etc. Oh, and vodka. And those are the conversations I live for. And to have this ojii-san ask me about something which we all take for granted, as a given, and completely floor me, well, that's how I now love Japan. It's given me renewed strength and confidence in that now I can throw myself at learning this language much like I threw myself at Russian. AND MASTER IT.

JAPAN, ICH LIEBE DICH!!!

And now... it's 3:16AM and I REALLY have to do my homework for tomorrow/in 5 hours. Uuuh... whoops.