International Relations

 
So anyone who says God does not have a sense of humor, clearly hasn't read this blog to hear about my International faux pas. The latest one has to do with my interactions with one of Dan's co-worker's. We had a Japanese friend over for dinner the other night for a "real American meal" (which is a lot more difficult to come up with than you might expect...we had lasagna. I know, it's Italian, just go with it). It's a good time for him to practice his English and we enjoy getting to hear about Japanese culture and develop this friendship.

At the close of the evening, as we were saying goodbye, Dan was shaking his hang and giving him a pat on the back. He explained that this is how we might say goodbye in America and asked him if there were any traditional ways that Japanese people say goodbye. He thought about it for awhile and said, "well a more formal way to say goodbye is Sayanora". At this point I got really excited because I had heard the word Sayanora so before I could grab my foot it was inserted into my mouth, I said, "OH! yeah! we know Sayanora! Sometimes in America we say 'Sayanora Sucker!' ... Our Japanese friend kind of stared at me and then said, "what? really? say it again!" By this time, Dan is looking at me wide-eyed and I have realized that it probably wasn't the most intelligent comment to make. I was forced to repeat myself and then stumble over my words to try and explain why we sometimes use that phrase. You know, action movies. . .eek. It was a mess. But hilarious and we spent the rest of the night laughing about how I should not be allowed out of America.

Anyways, Sayanora Suckers!!