Interesting Convo with English Student
Today I had a lesson with one of my favorite students. She's a Japanese high school student but she lived in Germany for some years growing up and is extremely interested in learning languages. I think she's a genius; she goes to a special kind of school and she gets to study from home most of the time. She's very fluent in English and is a really cheerful person. I'm envious of her family though because they travel so much and it seems like such a fun lifestyle.
We were talking about the earthquake in New Zealand, and then talking about earthquakes in general. I told her that when I lived in the guest house in Asakusa, the house was almost all wood and the rooms were mostly wa-shitsu (Japanese style rooms), so if you were on the 2nd floor during an earthquake, even if it was weak the house shook so badly that things would be knocked over and it would be quite scary.
She asked me randomly if I liked wa-shitsu. I looked at her kind of surprised at the randomness of the question and said "Uh, uh, yeah I guess I do. I like the smell and right now my husband and I sleep in the wa-shitsu in our apartment." She shuddered and said, "Oh, I hate them." "Really?! Why?" "Oh, it's not so much that I don't like them, but that they're just scary. I'm afraid that a goul is going to appear or something. You know, the Japanese traditional ones with the dark hair and white faces and red lips. Oh my god I'm so scared of that."
She also told me she doesn't eat Japanese style breakfast of rice but eats bread, and later on in the conversation she said she doesn't do ohanami (flower viewing) and isn't really interested in sakura (cherry-blossoms). I joked that she wasn't just trying to not be Japanese anymore, she laughed and said that's not it, it's just that her parents aren't really into any of that stuff.
Then I remembered that when I was her age, I wasn't really into any of this stuff either. I have to remind myself that regardless of how chill and mature she is, she's still only 17 years old. *sigh* It's great.
Wa-shitsu have this great smell though, really. They have a sweet grassy smell from the tatami mats. It's great
We were talking about the earthquake in New Zealand, and then talking about earthquakes in general. I told her that when I lived in the guest house in Asakusa, the house was almost all wood and the rooms were mostly wa-shitsu (Japanese style rooms), so if you were on the 2nd floor during an earthquake, even if it was weak the house shook so badly that things would be knocked over and it would be quite scary.
She asked me randomly if I liked wa-shitsu. I looked at her kind of surprised at the randomness of the question and said "Uh, uh, yeah I guess I do. I like the smell and right now my husband and I sleep in the wa-shitsu in our apartment." She shuddered and said, "Oh, I hate them." "Really?! Why?" "Oh, it's not so much that I don't like them, but that they're just scary. I'm afraid that a goul is going to appear or something. You know, the Japanese traditional ones with the dark hair and white faces and red lips. Oh my god I'm so scared of that."
She also told me she doesn't eat Japanese style breakfast of rice but eats bread, and later on in the conversation she said she doesn't do ohanami (flower viewing) and isn't really interested in sakura (cherry-blossoms). I joked that she wasn't just trying to not be Japanese anymore, she laughed and said that's not it, it's just that her parents aren't really into any of that stuff.
Then I remembered that when I was her age, I wasn't really into any of this stuff either. I have to remind myself that regardless of how chill and mature she is, she's still only 17 years old. *sigh* It's great.
Wa-shitsu have this great smell though, really. They have a sweet grassy smell from the tatami mats. It's great