Itsumo omoshiroi

Just when you think you've seen it all, Japan will throw some interesting things your way.

For example:

--School lunch yesterday. Some noodle-y soup, bread/strawberry jam, and a bowl of "meat" covered in glaze. Some of the pieces were chicken, and some of the pieces were...? Having heard tales of whale in school lunch from other ALTs, I was terrified. The chunks were dark and smooth, and since I have no idea what whale looks like, (I think Jamie once said it was dark and weird looking) and was prepared for the worst. I poked at it a bit with my chopsticks, and it didn't really appear to be a muscle (nothing stringy about it) then pushed it aside so I could eat the chicken. Later, the school nurse came in and sat at her desk beside me and comented to the science teacher about lunch. It was all in Japanese, but I know enough to understand "liver" and "kirai" (I hate liver!!). The mystery of the mystery meat was solved. And although I still didn't eat it, I was very relieved that it wasn't whale.

--Hehe. Riding home from school yesterday I saw a little old lady jump off of her tractor and do her own "Chinese firedrill" to make the light change so she could cross the road. It was quite hilarious.

--Today I met a Buddhist monk. He's married. He said in perfect English that he got married first and then became a monk. A bit un-orthodox. When I told him his English was really good, he of course played it down in the usual Japanese fashion, but he is the first person I have ever heard say, "my English is grassroots." He also speaks Thai and some other language. He then proceeded to tell me that he and his wife (who volunteers to teach English at one of the elementary schools I visit) sometimes talk about languages at home. The conversation went like this:

Monk: If a person can speak two languages, we call him bilingual. If they can speak three languages, he is trilingual. What do you call someone who can only speak one language?

Me: Hmmm, unilingual? (although now monolingual sounds better)

Monk: An American!! Ha ha ha.

I was not expecting that one, and it hurt a bit, coming from a monk.

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I am sure there are more, but considering I leave for the snow festival in Sapporo (sooooo excited!) in 10 hours and have yet to do the dishes from dinner, clean my apartment, pack, shower and get a bit of sleep, I will save them for another time.