Yoshito: He is Very Small

Yosh is the youngest person in the house at 9 years old, and out of all my Japanese housemates, he is by far the quickest when it comes to learning and speaking English.  Like all the kids at the house he loves video games, unlike the other kids though, he uses the language he hears in the games all the time and is able to apply it to anything.  Unfortunately, being the youngest, he's also the complainer and the whiner of the group.  

Yoshito's Hilarious English Moment #1:

If ever confused or asked to try a new food, Yosh will quickly wave his hand in front of his face and say in a deep Mufasa-ish voice, "no no no no".  

Yoshito's Hilarious English Moment #2: 

After a long hike on a trail through the woods when all the kids were thoroughly exhausted, I said to Yosh, "Now we're gonna do it one more time!"  He stared at me like I hit him over the head with a log and replied, "I do not understand" with a look of mild horror.  When I repeated myself, his eyes got huge and he said with great vehemence, "return home now please!".  

Yoshito's Hilarious English Moment #3: 

My brother likes a lot of wasabi in his soy sauce when he eats sushi.  When Yosh saw that Jake's soy was a murky green instead of the pale brown of most normal people's sauce, his eyes got crazy wide (again) and exclaimed that Jake didn't have soy sauce, he had "Crazy Danger Sauce!".  

This may not seem like much, but this kid came here two weeks ago and spoke not a single word of English and now he's translating for all the older kids.  I think it's fantastic!

Koji: Loving Grandfather or Raging Loony?

Koji is the oldest of my Japanese guests.  Oldest by about 50 years (actually 53 years, but who's counting?!), the kids are all terrified of him and enamored with him at the same time.  In Tokyo, he was a chef for a few decades and owned his own restaurant until recently when he decided, on a whim apparently, to move to the countryside where he became the Harbor Master for a little town.  Here with his two grandchildren, Rina (12) and Yoshito (9), as well as three of his karate students, he is adamant that they all speak English all the time and that they clean the house from top to bottom every second day because they are "here to learn about life".

Weird Koji Moment #1: 

Was not at all worried when he first landed (completely gunned) at the Calgary Airport and was missing two children.  Seriously.  He had no idea where they were and we spent two hours looking for them.  

Weird Koji Moment #2:

I took the clan to a theme park on the 4th day.  While there, both of his grandchildren got bitten by wasps and both times he bit the skin around the wasp bite and tried to suck out the poison.  The poor little girl looked like she had a hickey on her neck for days, while the little boy (who was bit just under his eye!!) had bite marks on his cheek.  It's rare that you see strangers stop in their steps to just gape open mouthed at a scene before them...

Weird Koji Moment #3:

Unsatisfied with our dull kitchen knives, he grabbed a rock from our garden, sat on the back steps, and proceeded to sharpen our (serrated) knives with a rock.  I don't really have much to add to that one.

Weird Koji Moment #4: 

While we were on a hike, he picked several mushrooms and told me they would be very delicious.  All I know about mushrooms is not to touch them and that many of them are poisonous.  After I told him this, he ate one and said that they tasted like a very expensive type of mushroom (in Japan they're supposedly worth about $80.00/kg) and that if he did not die we should collect these mushrooms and become rich.  He didn't die, but I'm not going to go picking dubious mushrooms.

First Day of the Third Week

Today, for the first time in probably five or six years, I donned my fancy purple lace-up roller blades.  I don't do this sort of thing for just anybody (I usually spent just as much time on the ground nursing an injury as I did actually skating), so when the five little Japanese children looked up at me with their pleading puppy dog eyes I could only give in.  So, cameras in hand and feet wobbling only slightly in their newly bought skates, I led on my six Japanese guests in a lap around the block.  

By the time all the dust and cobwebs had blown off my skates I had gained back a bit of confidence.  I knew how to do this!  And so, to the applause of my Japanese housemates, I was skating forwards and backwards and helping them to do the same.  

Of course once I was ready for round two (three blocks to the 7-Eleven), four were tired and done and one was already asleep on the deck.  My six eager and determined students had turned into one.  Still wanting slurpees, the others all put on their sneakers and ran to catch up as I left with my new skating buddy at top speed (well, not quite top speed).  

It was of course on the way home that I tripped on my own feet and slammed into the pavement.  My moment of glory though, came right after I stood up and somehow managed to fall again, this time in front of a gaggle of spectators.  I think there were photos taken.  

Thus began the third week of my month with the Japanese here in Canada: with bloodshed and tears.  

Chilly!

It's strange how events in my life move to some bizarre juxtaposition at just the right moment. This happens all the time, but today it wasn't even subtle. It was like the world just though to itself, 'meh, I'm tired and lazy' and didn't bother to throw in any zeal or twists in order to make things interesting.

Today I received a letter from my friend who doing a semester in Ecuador. It took this letter exactly two months to reach me from the time she posted it, so when it was finally pushed through my mail slot this afternoon it was freezing cold outside. I know this doesn't sound like much at all, but think about it! Shantel writes me talking about how hot and tropical it is, and I don't get the message until it's so cold that I can't feel my toes when I go outside and my eyeballs freeze in my head. It's cold. I do know that it's not as cold as it could be, but give me some credit here! I mean, it figures that she writes me to tell me about the perfect weather right while I'm skipping my afternoon class because I'm too much of a wuss to brave the cold, go outside and walk the five blocks to the bus stop.
What kind of Canadian am I?
Also, I forget the point of this post...

Right and Wrong

Is it wrong to go out with someone because they validate you? I mean, I know that most people do this and that the biggest reason why we date people is because they validate us, but what if that's the only reason why you're going out with someone?
I ran into a guy I met while traveling in the United Kingdom with my friend the other day and I don't think that he recognized me at all. He recognized my friend and they got talking for a while and arranged to go out for coffee, but he didn't even really acknowledge I was there at all. Usually this kind of thing wouldn't bother me at all because it happens all the time and I'm pretty used to it, but I thought that I really hit it off with this guy when we were overseas.
So now I'm going out with a guy who is really very nice and who has been asking me out for a little while... but I'm not attracted to him at all. He just makes me feel like he actually wants me there.
Is this wrong? I don't even know...