The locker room of the Washington Hotel Gym in Fukui shall from this moment forth be known as the "Talk to the naked Gaijin in super-speed Japanese Room".
Monday, while sitting in the sauna relaxing, an older Japanese lady started a conversation with me. Generally I like to practice my Japanese, so I don't mind too much. I understood most of the conversation, until it turned into a rant about different -bens (dialects) and how I used Tokyo-ben, and I probably couldn't understand Fukui-ben. She then demonstrated this by using 5 minutes of Fukui-ben to which I smiled and tried to think of a good excuse to escape the heat of the sauna and the onslaught of Japanese.
Today was even funnier though. I was sitting on my little pink plastic stool showering (it is the Japanese way of showering, crouch on a stool in a room full of other people crouching on stools and try not to slip off) and a woman asked (in Japanese) if I was a Gainjin (foreigner). I gave her this look of "What are you talking about? You don't honestly think I'm Japanese?" She then said "You aren't Japanese" which really seemed redundant to me, so I just nodded my head. She asked where I was from, then asked if I was married. The fact that I am not married must have been significant because it inspired another rant. But the strangest thing was that she had a friend sitting on a little blue plastic stool on the other side of me, and a friend sitting in the bath behind us. The three of them started having a loud conversation about... you guessed it: ME! I don't know excactly what they were saying, but I caught the word America every once in awhile.
I love talking to people in Japanese, its a challenge, and a rare opportunity to practice my Japanese. Most people want to practice their English on me. However what I fail to understand is why no one initiates conversations with my when I am dressed. I will exercising, changing, doing my hair, sitting in a massage chair and no one says a word to me. But the second I am not wearing clothes and showering all of the little old ladies flock to me and start talking. It's a good thing I'm not shy, or I would be afraid of that locker room.........
Monday, while sitting in the sauna relaxing, an older Japanese lady started a conversation with me. Generally I like to practice my Japanese, so I don't mind too much. I understood most of the conversation, until it turned into a rant about different -bens (dialects) and how I used Tokyo-ben, and I probably couldn't understand Fukui-ben. She then demonstrated this by using 5 minutes of Fukui-ben to which I smiled and tried to think of a good excuse to escape the heat of the sauna and the onslaught of Japanese.
Today was even funnier though. I was sitting on my little pink plastic stool showering (it is the Japanese way of showering, crouch on a stool in a room full of other people crouching on stools and try not to slip off) and a woman asked (in Japanese) if I was a Gainjin (foreigner). I gave her this look of "What are you talking about? You don't honestly think I'm Japanese?" She then said "You aren't Japanese" which really seemed redundant to me, so I just nodded my head. She asked where I was from, then asked if I was married. The fact that I am not married must have been significant because it inspired another rant. But the strangest thing was that she had a friend sitting on a little blue plastic stool on the other side of me, and a friend sitting in the bath behind us. The three of them started having a loud conversation about... you guessed it: ME! I don't know excactly what they were saying, but I caught the word America every once in awhile.
I love talking to people in Japanese, its a challenge, and a rare opportunity to practice my Japanese. Most people want to practice their English on me. However what I fail to understand is why no one initiates conversations with my when I am dressed. I will exercising, changing, doing my hair, sitting in a massage chair and no one says a word to me. But the second I am not wearing clothes and showering all of the little old ladies flock to me and start talking. It's a good thing I'm not shy, or I would be afraid of that locker room.........
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