"POINTY!"

Had a very enjoyable lunch with the 1^st years today. There was this one boy names Jichun (I think?) He is Chinese and for a first year was as good if not better at English than most 3^rd years! We were talking quite a bit and he was really interested in going to the United States. He seems like the kind of student that just cannot learn enough about the world. I told him to remember me if he ever comes to the U.S. and to get in touch with me. It probably won’t be for a few years before he gets the chance to go off to the US but it would be neat nonetheless to catch up with one of my students years from now in the states.

Must have been one of those days where lots of great things happen because my last period sannensei (3^rd years) were fantastic. Aside from the obligatory “Do you know ‘We are the World’?” to which I always reply yes, they asked some of the most intelligent questions I’ve gotten thus far which means these students really do know their shit. They asked me if I read Harry Potter, whether I am going to vote for Obama or McCain, and what transportation is popular in the US. The brightest question was “What do you think about the situation with Tibet and China?” I almost died when I was asked that question because it was said almost perfectly and it was not the usual Do you know…/Do you like… questions that I was accustomed to.

The most fun questions were as follows:

“Have you seen UFO?” “Yes, I’ve seen at least 10!”

“Do you like orange juice or milk?” “Hmmm, difficult question (snickers in head)…orange juice.”

“Do you like sauce or soy sauce?” (yes, apparently a question Japanese ask one another and one which I totally just made up an answer and said…) “Sauce, of course!”

“Do you have a ‘kanojo’?” [Lit.: Do you have a she?, but kanojo can also be girlfriend]

I politely replied “Nope.” (I fought the urge to say “but…”)

“Did you ever ‘pirikura’?” [They are those photobooths where you get the mini photos with stars or sceneries in the background and are insanely popular here] “Yes, with my mom.”

“Why is your nose (makes a gesture that indicates pointy)?” I laugh and explain with pictures on the board, what we call the various nose shapes in English and told them they could say mine was pointy compared to their flat noses. Now they pass me and point to their noses and say “POINTY!” Cute, really cute. Lol

A bunch of girls came up after class to look at my photos and pointed out a picture of Nick, Tom, and Berç. Three of the girls thought Nick was so kakkoii (good-looking). The one argued with them and said Tom was more kakkoii. I laughed because I knew it was because of Nick’s blond hair. They were talking about it nonstop in Japanese. I then asked them to explain the difference between kakkoii and kawaii, which are used a lot. Apparently, it is the same as we have. If you say someone is good-looking/hot you are attracted to them whereas kawaii is more like the “they are cute together” definition of cute. So they pulled out another photo of Christine and me and they said that we were kawaii together and that I was kakkoii. I showed them a few more of my friends and asked them what they thought. They then went ahead and ranked everyone for me. The results were quite interesting and I won’t divulge who ranked above others. I asked why they chose certain people over others and they said that it had to do with their face and then hair color was important. I heard the girls saying how I had so many good-looking friends and that so many of them were really tall. I think they were specifically referring to Tom, Mat, and Melina in this instance.

Went out for some ramen with Joey and Erika, Tom joining up with Joey and me later. It was really good and decently priced.