Mmmm, ramen

[dorchadas]

For dinner tonight, schoolpsychnerd and I went to the ramen stand near one of the pachinko parlors nearby. It looked empty when we got there, but the door was open, so we went in and I asked (in Japanese) if they were open. The old man said they were, and then spouted off a string of Japanese so quickly that I had no idea of anything he said. We went through a lot of confusion before we finally got it across that we didn't actually speak that much, and then we ordered our ramen, which came with a shōyu broth base and was amazing.

About halfway through our meal, he brought over a "presento"--a little knick-knack that lit up blue and red when you pressed a button (I suspect he thought schoolpsychnerd was younger than she actually is :-p ). He asked us if we had been to the pachinko parlor, and I said no. When schoolpsychnerd said no, he said something that we think was, "Of course not, women don't play pachinko." He then asked us if we had pachinko parlors in the states, and we said no, and then he asked if we had karaoke, which we said we did. He then mentioned that it was good we knew some Japanese and that he knew he talked incredibly fast, but his English was limited to ABC's.

Note that this may be incorrect. Like I said, he talked incredibly fast so we could only pick up maybe 1 word in 3, and most of those we didn't know. I knew he mentioned he talked fast, because he said 速い hayai (quickly) and brought out a manga from the bookstand to demonstrate that reading was easier because you could go over it multiple times. At least, I think so. Well, he and the other customers sitting around chewing the fat seemed happy to see us, anyway. And it was damn good ramen.

Also, I have an interview. The time is yet to be determined.

Comments

[nytesenvy.livejournal.com]

good luck on your interview!

[jaiderai.livejournal.com]

That was one of the worst parts of trying to learn a language in another country (even though I was pretty good with Spanish when I went to Barcelona): Fast-talking people. Especially the fast-talking people who would slow down for you when they realized you weren't understanding a word they were saying, and then as soon as you caught a phrase or two you knew and were able to respond correctly they were off again, like maybe you weren't so great with the language a couple seconds ago, but now thank god that's cleared up!

(also I second Jill's good lucking)