Talking with Kimura Sensei
I had a small victory today with my use of broken Japanese and simple English.
Kimura Sensei came over to my desk to collect the lunch money for the month and while she was there, I asked her about my health check. In simple English I asked for the paperwork that I needed to fill out and then in Japanese I managed to ask “Where is it at”, “What time does it start and end?” and “Is it ok if I write this in English”. When I asked the last question she said no and wrote my address in Kanji for me. There was a bit of a problem with reading two of the questions.
The first one asked, “Do you smoke?” The second one asked, “Have you coughed blood?” I caught the katana version of tobacco on the first question and acted as if I was smoking a cigarette to make sure I understood the question. Kimura Sensei said that was right and then told me what to circle for the no answer. The second question was a lot harder. First, she read it and could tell I had no idea what she was saying. She had to act as if she was coughing and then said “Blood” in English. When I replied “No” she once again told me what to circle. Between the two of us, we managed to get my paperwork filled out correctly.
Tsukune Sensei was sitting next to us the entire time listening and we did not need her help once! For the second time today: Kimura Sensei is awesome!