Hai, wakarimashita!

Okay, I am journaling quite a bit tonight, but anyway, I had to jot down this little incident that happened earlier. I got a call from my internet provider here in Japan and somehow managed to do the entire conversation with the woman on my own. She asked if this was Baruzaku Kurisutafa and I said that it was, but that I only do a little Japanese and that I don't speak it often. She then asked if I could put a Japanese speaker on the phone to translate for me and I said not at the moment and she asked how about tomorrow and I said sure! I asked for her telephone number and she gave it to me (I always wondered how this would be, dictating my first Japanese phone number given over the phone: zero ichi ni zero kyu yon ichi hachi ni hachi!) and then asked what hours I could call, which got me, lo and behold, the hours between kyu and go! I told her I was sorry and she said, not at all! It was very cute because once I told her I was just learning Japanese she spoke it very slowly for me, like I speak English slowly for my kids at school. So--re--de--wa--na--ni--na--ni--na--ni. And I did my, Hai, wakarimashita! (Yes, I've understood, certainly!) whenever appropriate.

Now the unfortunate thing is that I actually won't be around to call her tomorrow between those hours. But I got through the phone call! And hey, this is great improvement because six months ago I would have said, "Gomen nasai! Nihongo wakarimasen," (Forgive me! I don't understand Japanese) and hung up.

I love being a foreigner sometimes.