So now that I have been in Japan for awhile I have seen my fair share of other foreigners getting married and having kids. Definitely at that "age." I must say that I am not a baby person so I have kept my distance from the little cuties, but that I look forward to watching them grow up. I also am super curious as to how they will navigate their way through life being "half" (no offence intended) and worry about any struggles they might endure. Last Friday, though, I met a little girl who made me think that things are going to be ok.
I had actually met this girl before but it was back when she was about two years old. Her father was a casual acquaintance- someone I knew because we were both foreigners but not really someone I hung out with. This was due to the fact that, at the time, I was a young single girl going out every night and he was a father. But anyway, we got along well and had a good laugh when we did meet up. Sadly, like so many other good friends, he moved back to his home country and became just one of those people that we sometimes brought up in our "remember when so and so..." conversations.
Flash forward about five years to now. I went to visit my friends liquor shop (which I hadn't been to in years) on account that it was her birthday. She is actually a teacher and has phenomenal English, but spends her nights running the shop that used to be run by her mother-in-law (who is now quite old). When I was single and lived in the same town, I used to bike over there with some of the other guys in town to drink chu-hai's (like a wine cooler or a mikes hard lemonade) and chat up the old men in the shop. To give you an idea of how long it has been, one of the old guys said to me," Wow- you've changed! When you came to Japan 10 years ago you looked like Marilyn Monroe, but now you look...like a Japanese..." and he stretched his arms out to indicate that I was fat. (see my last post....)
Anyway, because it was the owners birthday, a few other people decided to pay a visit and I was excited to see the friend arrive with his now seven year old daughter. I had seen him about once or twice since he had moved back a year ago, but we hadn't had much of a chance to talk. And I hadn't seen his daughter since she was a baby. Her hair has darkened a lot but her eyes are still as big as they were when she was a toddler and you can definitely tell that she is half-non-Japanese. In other words, she is quite pretty.
Because I was the only woman in the shop (besides the owner, who was busy with customers) and because I wasn't drinking (I had to drive and the others were on bikes) I decided to talk to the girl. I started with the basics, "What year are you in school? When's your birthday?" etc Because the only kids I usually meet are my Japanese students, I couldn't help but talk in my slow, ESL teacher voice. And the little girl, being like any child anywhere, answered by nodding her head or saying "mm-hmm" while stuffing her face with the complimentary peanuts.
Her father stopped his conversation with one of the old guys to tell her, "Now, now! Speak up and use your words." and the girl started speaking in the cutest British accent. And,again because she lived in England for the past five years, she was speaking like any little girl you would meet back home.
I said before that I don't really like babies. But I do like and am generally good with kids. Since I do have a lot of experience (baby-sitting, camp counselor, teachers, etc) I have no problem making conversation and telling PG jokes. In no time at all we had become the best of friends. I told her all about Finn and my favorite 100yen store and she told me all about school and her playground in England.
The liquor shop was about to close and I got up to pay for my green tea when the idea of "dinner" was suggested by the little girls father to another "old foreign friend of mine" whom I see quite regularly. They invited me and, though I had told Motoaki I would be coming home, I decided to go along. To tell the truth, if it had just been the two guys I would have said no but the little girl had gotten really excited by the prospect of me tagging along that I couldn't say no.
Since I had never been to the restaurant the father told the girl to ride with me and for her to show me the way. I was quite impressed that she was able to give better directions than most adults. She didn't quite know left from right, but she could say, "We're gonna go this way," and curve her arm in the direction I should turn.
At the restaurant (a whole in the wall place that served okonomiyaki and yaki soba) we had even more fun coloring and reading hiragana/kanji. I taught her "Up high, on the side, down low, too slow," and she taught me the names of the characters in the coloring book (I think it was puricure). Seriously, had a grand time.
Finally it came time to go. The girl was going to ride on the back of her dad's bicycle but seeing as how he was a little drunk (not wasted but feeling it) and seeing as it was dark, I offered to give her a lift back while he followed us. It was only about a five minute drive and I was curious to see where they lived as I had heard they had a nice new house. The night ended with plans to meet up at Hinamatsuri (or Girl's day/the doll festival) since I will be working there with Motoaki, selling tea and sweets.
I was really glad to have met the little girl again and I am excited that she will be around. She is still young and she could change as she gets older, but hopefully she will keep her English up and her sweet nature. I would love to have her as a role model for my children. I am imagining it might be hard to win the "let's use English over Japanese" battle with my kids, but if they have a hip teenager speaking perfect English, it might inspire them to want to speak more. Plus her father is a riot to hang out with and it would be nice to have him as a friend. I am getting to that age where I need to look at long term here in Japan and sadly most of my good friends now are the type that will be around for another year or so before heading back home.
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