The Utility of Chopsticks
...written on 01.23.03, @ 4:18 a.m.
Thu Jan 23, 2003
Ok, so I fibbed. This entry is not about my trip, but about my wonderful day!
You know, the kind where you hit all the green lights on your way to work and no one is there when you get there so you can relax for a bit and get things in order and find a holiday greeting card from your old roommate from 24 years ago and you recognize the neat curliques of her handwriting and get sent off in a blitz of fun reminiscences.
And during the day all kinds of people come to you asking for your advice and you feel kind of good about people caring about what you think and even better later when they tell you that what you imparted to them was a grand success!
And when your own classes go swimmingly and the students are having fun and ask you how to say something in English that they REALLY and TRULY want to know (i.e. "He has a hole in his sock.")and the little 4th grader that is asking you is cracking up because feet and anything to do with them is dirty in Japan and to have a hole in your sock is a major sin and embarrassment, so don't even THINK of using sock puppets in English class.
And how after work you get invited to an impromptu party at another co-worker's house to watch a John Wayne western (The Searchers) and munch on assorted pulled together in a hurry snacks from the nearest convenience store and get to eat salad and potato chips with chopsticks (it's great! Please try it!) and laugh yourself silly at all the jokes and jovial banter before,during and after the movie and trying to be reasonably quiet as you head down the stairs of the apartment building at 3:30 in the morning to speed off into the cold damp darkness, dreaming of sitting in your warm tatami mat room, heater on full blast, kotatsu table toasting your legs, a coca-cola by your side and partaking in one of your favorite pastimes.
Yes, it was a great day. Oyasumi!