So, today turned into one of the most interesting experiences I've had since coming to Japan. My gf and I walked to the nearby library to study a little bit this afternoon in a relaxing, quiet place. Recently, we go to the library to study quite often. Either the one near her place or the large Asahikawa Central library downtown. The one near her house is beside a Junior Highschool (age 13-15) so quite often we see students in the window who point at us as we walk by. It's both embarassing and flattering - even though I know the only reason they do it is because i'm 外人 (gaijin - foreign). But today was different.
At around 4:30 I was hungry - I had brought a pudding to eat because I knew I'd get hungry during studying, so I figured I'd eat it now. Outside the "study room" - the place where you're allowed to eat - there was a really stinky おたく guy who was reading Dragonball Z. He looked at me funny (gazed would probably be a better way to describe it) when we first entered the library so I wasn't so inclined to sit by him. I decided I'd just go outside to eat it. It's small so I wouldn't be too cold (at the time I just had a t-shirt on).
So I went outside to eat and was enjoying my pudding in the cold when a short おばさん (middle aged lady) came out and talked to me. 「さむくない？」 (are you cold) she asked me. I answered and we attempted to have a conversation in Japanese. She had a lot of questions from where was I from, what was I doing in Japan, where was I staying, what did I do in Canada, how old I was etc etc. It was a pretty good opportunity to practice my Japanese. Once the conversation started to get a little too difficult one of the employees of the library came out and apparently she speaks english! So the 3 of us started talking - she went to Canada and visited Edmonton and Iqualit? Nunavit? Something like that. She went cariboo hunting and stuff - so cool!
Then I heard a lot of 「外人外人」 from inside the school. There was a huge group of junior highschool students leaving the school and they were all looking at me. Being white in Japan is sometimes quite discomforting. They all walked out of the school and I attempted to keep the conversation going with the 2 girls I was originally talking to but the kids were so noisy. Suddenly one of them said "Hello" to me and stepped foreward (must be the brave one). I replied with a nice "Hi". She thought about her next sentence for a little while then tried a "Are you cold?" I tried to keep my sentence as simple as possible so I said "I'm not cold" but she looked pretty confused so I repeated "not cold" then she said 「なっと？」 (natto is fermented soy beans) - all of her other classmates burst out laughing and I tried to save her from being too embarassed by saying 「さむくない」 which resulted in a pretty resounding 「すげっ！」 (wow) and some whispered 「日本語を喋って」 (he spoke japanese). At this point I was pretty embarassed myself. The two girls I was talking to before decided they would leave and I thought I should do the same. I said bye to them and was about to say bye to the young girl I was talking to but she offered me a hand and said "nice to meet you" so I said "nice to meet you too" then went back into the library.
The library closed about 15 minutes later - I had explained the story to my gf inside the library. During the walk home we found a small group of about 6 girls that had been outside the school just minutes earlier. They were on the other side of the street and all waved at me. I waved back and started laughing. They all started a hushed conversation (since now I was with my gf). For me, I couldn't really understand anything so I just smiled and waved, but my gf didn't really like what they were talking about.. or more how they said it (in japanese there are levels of politeness and they weren't being polite) haha. They seemed quite concerned that I was laughing. My gf explained later that "are they laughing at us?" was the main point of their discussion haha.
I don't think I'll be able to experience this kind of stuff again since when I come back to Japan I'll be living in a bigger city, where foreign people are a little more commonplace. So for now I'll cherish this memory hahaha =D
At around 4:30 I was hungry - I had brought a pudding to eat because I knew I'd get hungry during studying, so I figured I'd eat it now. Outside the "study room" - the place where you're allowed to eat - there was a really stinky おたく guy who was reading Dragonball Z. He looked at me funny (gazed would probably be a better way to describe it) when we first entered the library so I wasn't so inclined to sit by him. I decided I'd just go outside to eat it. It's small so I wouldn't be too cold (at the time I just had a t-shirt on).
So I went outside to eat and was enjoying my pudding in the cold when a short おばさん (middle aged lady) came out and talked to me. 「さむくない？」 (are you cold) she asked me. I answered and we attempted to have a conversation in Japanese. She had a lot of questions from where was I from, what was I doing in Japan, where was I staying, what did I do in Canada, how old I was etc etc. It was a pretty good opportunity to practice my Japanese. Once the conversation started to get a little too difficult one of the employees of the library came out and apparently she speaks english! So the 3 of us started talking - she went to Canada and visited Edmonton and Iqualit? Nunavit? Something like that. She went cariboo hunting and stuff - so cool!
Then I heard a lot of 「外人外人」 from inside the school. There was a huge group of junior highschool students leaving the school and they were all looking at me. Being white in Japan is sometimes quite discomforting. They all walked out of the school and I attempted to keep the conversation going with the 2 girls I was originally talking to but the kids were so noisy. Suddenly one of them said "Hello" to me and stepped foreward (must be the brave one). I replied with a nice "Hi". She thought about her next sentence for a little while then tried a "Are you cold?" I tried to keep my sentence as simple as possible so I said "I'm not cold" but she looked pretty confused so I repeated "not cold" then she said 「なっと？」 (natto is fermented soy beans) - all of her other classmates burst out laughing and I tried to save her from being too embarassed by saying 「さむくない」 which resulted in a pretty resounding 「すげっ！」 (wow) and some whispered 「日本語を喋って」 (he spoke japanese). At this point I was pretty embarassed myself. The two girls I was talking to before decided they would leave and I thought I should do the same. I said bye to them and was about to say bye to the young girl I was talking to but she offered me a hand and said "nice to meet you" so I said "nice to meet you too" then went back into the library.
The library closed about 15 minutes later - I had explained the story to my gf inside the library. During the walk home we found a small group of about 6 girls that had been outside the school just minutes earlier. They were on the other side of the street and all waved at me. I waved back and started laughing. They all started a hushed conversation (since now I was with my gf). For me, I couldn't really understand anything so I just smiled and waved, but my gf didn't really like what they were talking about.. or more how they said it (in japanese there are levels of politeness and they weren't being polite) haha. They seemed quite concerned that I was laughing. My gf explained later that "are they laughing at us?" was the main point of their discussion haha.
I don't think I'll be able to experience this kind of stuff again since when I come back to Japan I'll be living in a bigger city, where foreign people are a little more commonplace. So for now I'll cherish this memory hahaha =D
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