Yesterday I had to go into the yochien, first we watched the kids do their exercises which finishes with them having to run laps of the yard, even the sensei join in! Then we had to go and clean the hall an prepare it for the graduation ceremony on Saturday. Once that was done we went o the class and had a final meeting. Sensei talked about how much she loved the class and started crying then each mom does their bit, about half of them teary eyed. I was last and just said a couple of sentences, one of the moms who speaks a bit of English translated, I really don't enjoy such things, I don't like public speaking in my native tongue, I am really not up for doing it in another language (badly I may add). The same day last year was just 3 days after the quake, I doubt anyone had slept much, the ground was still shaking and everyone was a sobbing mess so at least this time it was a bit better.
After that we had a bento and then the kids had to practice for the graduation, I thought we would be all finished by 1pm but ohhh noooo much faffing ensued! I seriously had to bit my tongue at one point, one of the moms was explaining something then C-chan's mom said to L-chans mom 'Are you going to explain to the gaijin'? The GAIJIN, she knows my name, I was sooo close to saying something or slapping her *grin* but in the end decided to ignore it. For those who don't speak Japanese, gaijin means foreigner but the proper term is gaikogujin and if she was going to address me as the foreigner then she should at least use the proper term but even so she knows my bloody name.
OK, back to the story, earlier in the day one of the boys moms asked if Ebi-kun and I wanted to go and play for a while after yochien at their house. I was a bit worried about the dog, I didn't know what he would be like left by himself but then Ebi-kun would have been really upset if I said no, so I explained about the dog situation and compromised with a short playdate.
When we got back the dog was really excited to see us, he had left several 'deposits' but had got them on the toilet sheet so that was ok, we took him for a walk and everything seemed fine. Few hours later, I go upstairs to take Ebi-kun to bed and discover that the spare room had been trashed! I had moved all the extra chocolate/little houses/eco bags up there and a certain little four legged friend had got in somehow and helped himself to some of the chocolate. He had ripped open a few of the bars but I couldn't tell how much he had eaten, he had also scoffed some hard candies that were in a swap pack I had left on the sofa. All in all there wasn't much damage done just a big mess, when I came downstairs with the rubbish, he took one look at me and sulked off to his bed, so he knew he had been naughty.
I posted about it on FB and then I find out that chocolate is poisonous to dogs, so I get on google and worry myself sick that the dog is going to die on me! Oh yes and we have a big earthquake in the middle of this drama. Anyway, he appears to be fine, I put extra sheets down over night but they were all clean in the morning, his did do a couple of chocolate coloured number two's with bits of silver paper in them this morning on his walk!
Tomorrow I am taking him to meet his new owner, I will be a little sad to see him go, he is such a sweet dog but I won't miss all the extra hassle and worry. I think we will stick to kabutomushi in the future.
From what I understand gaijin is a bit of a derogatory term too, isn't it? How horrible that the mom would do that. Does she know you understand Japanese? I felt so awkward when I spent 2 months with my in-laws. They were great, but not everyone else was. I got stares, little kids staring at me at the park, etc. They live in a fairly small town so...
ReplyDeleteThe little stinker got into chocolate? Bahaha, what a mess it must have been. I wish I could have taken this little dog home.
yes, it's not a nice thing to say. I use it between other 'gaijin' friends but if I was talking about someone then I would use the proper term. I don't know if she realizes I understand more than I can speak or whether she thought I couldn't hear.
DeleteI should have taken a photo of the mess but it didn't cross my mind! He could smell the chocolate in the box but it was too tall for him to get into so he chewed his way in!
Here in Canada it's a melting pot with so many different accents. Some people are just recent immigrants and barely speak english. I am amazed too by the arrogance of some peeps that don't make any efforts. Those are the ones who have never travelled in foreign countries so they don't know what's it's like trying to be understood by locals.But some people are not very respectful and think they are better than anyone else. At least you try your best to be involved at Yochien and it takes lots of courage to do that despite the language barrier. I am sure the other mum probably said to her that you did understand japanese quite well and I am sure this person is now embarrassed to have said that word... CONGRATS to you for respecting the traditions at Yochien and offer help when it needs be.
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