Monthly Archives: September 2002

 
On one of my trips to Japan, some friends and I wanted to visit Kamakura. We were in Yokosuka which is only a short trip, by train, to Kamamkura.

I had taken the train from Yokosuka on previous trips to Japan, but at that time, I couldn’t remember how to get to the station. I knew very little Japanese – only what  I had learned from books.

I decided to ask for directions, since most people in Yokosuka speak English. I went into the first store, saw people inside, walked up to the counter and asked in English how to get to the train station that goes to Kamakura.

The woman behind the counter shook her head and said, “Eigo ga wakarimasen” (I don’t understand English). So, I thought for a second and tried to ask in Japanese. I thought it best to tell her where my friends and I were trying to go then ask for directions to the station. Continue reading →

At a payphone

In my junior year of high school, before my boyfriend and I started dating, I called him from an outside pay phone near a theater to invite him to a movie. He’d just gotten back from a basketball game, so he couldn’t come. Since he still had to take a shower, the movie would have already started by the time he was ready. However, we continued talking for over three hours! Finally, his mom told him to invite me over. I had been standing at a pay phone only five minutes away from his house!

　１１年生の時、ボーイフレンドと交際を始める前のことです。彼を映画に誘おうと、映画館の近くにある公衆電話から電話をしました。

　彼はバスケットボールの試合から帰ったところだったので来ることができませんでした。彼はシャワーをあびなければなりませんでしたし、準備をしているうちに映画は始まってしまうからでした。 Continue reading →