Four Weddings and a Funeral Minus Three Weddings

Four Weddings and a Funeral Minus Three Weddings

Wow, how to be classy. I didn't do that. Mine was probably worse.

I've never been good at math plus the title "Four Weddings and a Funeral" seemed catchy. The problem being, there was only one wedding not four, but ah, just a few numbers off. 
I think there was a movie title like that with Hugh Grant.

Anywho..

I did go to a wedding and a funeral in Japan. Both were a little strict. I always think of weddings as a blast, but Japanese Shinto ones are a little overly dramatic and you need to follow rules.
You have to say certain things which I don't recall (and I just mumbled ra ra ra a few times), since I didn't understand. You are also supposed to drink sake from a plate at a set time but I misunderstood and drank it as soon as I saw it (bad luck x 1000 for the couple maybe?). Whoops!

Traditional Snowmen funeral. Bucket and all. Shinto is similar, in the fact they both like the colour white.

The funeral was similar except it was a Buddhist funeral and I messed up majorly, so I was laughing during the funeral procession. We were supposed to light incense and put it in this kind of sand area, but mine got too hot so I put it on the wood table and it started to smoke the wood. Luckily they blamed it on my foreign "Gaijin-ness" when in fact it was because I'm an idiot.

I should have tried this at the traditional Shinto wedding, but with sake.

Incidentally I confused the Japanese character for my honourable condolences, to congrats on your honourable wedding. The Japanese/ Chinese character for honourable is the same, and I didn't recognize the other two, so I figured they were interchangeable.
Someone mentioned you can buy this special envelope at any grocery store, so I figured what the hell (what the hay for you younger people) why not buy one there. The same person mentioned you are supposed to put money inside of it. I found out later the quality of the bill matters as well. If you are congratulating someone you must ensure its a new bill crisp and flat. If its for a funeral you have to give an old crumpled ratty tat tat bill (aka heavily used). Who knew?
Naturally at the funeral I gave the wrong bill, a brand new crisp bill indicating they last forever (which might mean they will stay a hungry ghost?). Whoops!

As I handed him the envelope he gave me a strange look, as if shocked. He had seen the wrong characters I guess. 
I had forgotten the set phrase I was supposed to say to him so I decided to say something that sounded somewhat similar "I hope you get through your sickness, it won't last forever." Smooth recovery I thought. 
Or maybe not.

I'm sure for him this was a WTF moment. First, this stupid foreigner comes to his families funeral. He nearly burns down the ancient Buddhist temple, he gives an envelope with a small amount of money (that may have been another issue too) and to top it off he tells me to get over a sickness I don't even have. On top of that, he gets a bonus surprise when he finds a brand new crisp bill in as a reward for the death in the family and an everlasting ghost. Whoops!

I'm lucky I didn't get a slap or had my own funeral. 
He did his cordial and 100% fake thank you and I walked away.

I suspect he has a voodoo doll of me that he is poking everynight. My joints have been aching recently, which would explain it.

Hey a little to the left, my shoulder needs some relief. No more needles in the eye kindly.

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Rockin a Granny Bike Ain't Cool

Rockin a Granny Bike Ain't Cool

I wish I could have done that. Instead I kept my head down in embarrassment.

Rocking a granny bike under any conditions is not cool. I can assure you because I did it for three years. I don’t recall ever seeing anyone not under the age of 40 using one back in Canada. That being said about it not being cool, well the basket part on the front part is very useful. I carried just about everything in it. Groceries, jerry cans of petrol, laptops (even desktops), children (well maybe not that). I think in China they carry children and dogs in it, usually together.
In Asia and in my case, Japan. Everyone with an arm and a leg rocks a granny bike. Yes its very uncool, but they don’t look at it that way. They see is as a convenience machine. Little work and big payoff. For small roads its very trustworthy (unless there are large ditches and you drink).

Rocking a granny bike under any conditions is not cool. I can assure you because I did it for three years. I felt like the Wicked Witch of the West. Only not as cool.

My school assigned me a super rusty granny bike to get around. I thanked them, but thought, I hope I can get rid of this ASAP and get something better. My wish came true when one of my Australian friends left after a year. I rocked that new Wicked Witch of the West bike for one full year (my pretties). His bike was a little more manly than the one I had and newer. The tires were bigger and the basket didn't bend and break when I put stuff in it. Plus it wasn't rusty, which was sweet. Half decent, kind of.
All bikes in Japan come with a built in lock system. Its a tiny little key that pops out and prevents the bike from moving, if you leave it in, or lose the key. You are toast though. I occasionally forget it in.
I had also bought a trusty lock from the dollar store. I figured it’d be like be murder she wrote, only I wrote it and no murder involved (this time). I had double locks so on top of having a somewhat cooler but still granny bike, I figured no one would try and steal it. I thought wrong.
There is a saying about Japan. That Japanese are very honest except for when it comes to two items “bicycles and umbrellas”. They go missing like you wouldn't believe. More than once I contemplated informing the local police station “MY DOLLAR STORE UMBRELLA IS MISSING AGAIN I NEED IMMEDIATE ACTION”. I also considered calling the SDF (Self Defense Force) in the name of my missing umbrella. My other friend just grabbed someone else's nicer umbrella in retaliation.
One night I locked my bike near a Heiwado Department Store. The sign said “Don’t lock your bike here”. I ignored the sign and parked my bike (a bit of a rebel you could say). I figured with the double lock what’s the worse that could happen.
I didn't come back till the next day. To my astonishment all the other bikes that were around mine were still there except for mine. It occurred to me, I should have brought the rusty bike the school had lent me so they wouldn't have zeroed in on a somewhat cooler non rusty granny bike. I just lost my Mustang. I could no longer go from zero to hero, I was now going from 0mph - 2mph in under one minute with a rusty "Creek, creek, creek" sound.
I rocked the rusty blue piece of crap for the remaining two years.

Don't worry if you fall your helmet will protect you. Oh wait, no helmet. Uhhhh...

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Underwear and Departure Time

This is kind of what the airport looked like. Only underwear was flying everywhere.

After three years in Japan, I realized I had acquired a lot of treasure (aka junk). I have a problem with throwing stuff out. I wouldn’t do it (and still won't). I put the bags together of all the things I wouldn't be carrying back to Canada in my suitcases, yes plural. Rubber chicken. Why do I have it and why do I need it in the future? Ten never used ice packs, why do I have so many? Ten rubber balls, what the heck? Am I five years old? Where did they even come from? A pair of women’s panties that say dollar store on them. Was that a gift to me? (from myself to myself?). Maybe I have split personalities.
I contemplating carrying some VHS tapes back, I had acquired about one hundred VHS tapes across the three years (and no not the Xrated versions). Of course, I no longer had a VHS player, but I imagined sometime in the future I could get one. Too bad VHS sucks and they are big and cumbersome. No room in my bags for it.
I gave the three large plastic bags of treasures (junk) to my Mexican-American friend, let’s call him Fernando. I knew he would stay for at least another year in Japan. Like me, he had acquired many things throughout his years and he didn't throw anything out. I knew the rubber chicken would not be going to the trash bin, instead it would continue its life cycle of uselessness.

I thought about keeping it. I'm sure I could use it somehow in the future. Or not!

As I packed my bags for home, I decided I should bring my desktop computer. The only problem was it was massive. I dismembered it (and by that I mean disassembled), and packed it in pieces.
Now for clothes. I don’t know why exactly but I had a lot of tighty whities and boxers. I guess because compared to Canada they were one of the only things that were relatively cheap. I could buy a pair at the dollar store (Daiso in Japan). I bought so many pairs I thought they would last years to come or more likely based on their quality, rip in half very soon.
I sent eight boxes full of stuff back to Canada by boat (the cheapest way possible). I still had over packed, and then even though I had read the weight restriction was 30 pounds, my wife had seen a note saying an additional $20 for $20 more pounds. Seemed so cheap so I made all my luggage weigh 50 pounds. Maybe I could put a small child in my bags too to pay for my ticket!
When we got to the airport to check in, there was a large line. To top it off, we didn't arrive early enough and I was super stressed. When we got to the front of the line the Japanese-American service clerk weighed my bag. “This bag is 50 pounds! The max is 25 pounds”. I was like WTF. I informed him the website said an additional $20 for 20 pounds. “Are you kidding me?”, he answered. I wasn't sure that was polite to a seven star General (I just made that up!). He said there was no way it was possible and he couldn't even calculate how much it would cost to go over the 25 pound limit in his head in costs. I was like oh shi$. He told us we better repack our bags. I started throwing my stuff everywhere. Since underwear weighed the least I decided to remove some of the heavier computer parts (motherboard, hard drive). I started throwing my underwear everywhere, all over the desk, on the floor, on peoples feet behind me. I could hear the older Japanese ladies laughing in line.
I was laughing too, I couldn't remember if I had washed any of those underwear! The joke was on them.
After fifteen minutes our Mission Impossible became Mission Possible. Maybe I'll get a new eight star General ranking? We ran like hell to the postal outlet at the airport. We were lucky they even had one there. I threw computer parts, my LCD monitor, my Playstation 2 etc into the box. I actually had to buy the boxes there, so I bought the cheapest ones (surprise). I hoped everything would be OK when it arrived in Canada delayed a few weeks after I would arrive.
When I rebuilt the computer at home, sparks shot out of the motherboard. Seems some fuses blew and parts of the motherboard has cracked in transit.
The only good news is it still seemed to function, although it smelled like an electrical fire for a few months. My nose lost some smell after being near it for long enough.
Oh and as for the underwear, I decided to play it safe and wash all of them for once.

I took the high road and washed all of them. They were fine I'm sure. Kind of like this one. Looks clean right? Just turn it inside out my friend Ken always tells me.

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Is Batman a Ninja?

Is Batman a Ninja?  

Night, Dark Knight, throwing stars, he must be a Ninja!

I used to say to my students in Japanese, “Are you are a ninja?”. They would all mumble something I couldn’t hear while I would be thinking how cool it would be to be a ninja.
I finally started asking them what they were saying, since it was always too quiet for me to hear. A few of the boys told me that no one says that, since its not cool. Unless you are 5 years old. That also reminds of the time when I wrote sweatpants when I was 15 year old and this school mate told me, “Dude! Sweatpants? Seriously!? Those were cool when you are 5!”. I continued to wear sweatpants till I was 20. Anyways..........

This guy is cool, wearing sweatpants at age 50.  Read his sign.

I couldn’t grasp the idea that something can’t be cool. so when I asked the students why. They would tell me Ninjas have no morals or code of honor. I couldn’t believe that. I always liked the movie AMERICAN NINJA and Beverly Hills Ninja. They were Ninja and somehow tied it into the American way. Too bad it wasn’t the Canadian way!
This is a lesson here. Do not ever tell people in Japan you want to be a ninja!
I imagined sneaking around throwing shuriken (throwing stars) at people, climbing up buildings, using a reed straw to breath underwater, becoming invisible with my mind. How could it get any cooler than that?  I recall as a teenage my Japanese class High School teacher FITZ (who was Caucasian) used to always say he was a ninja. He told us he could kill people without them even knowing he was there. Ya I thought, that dude is totally right. Well, just to let you know, Japanese people don’t think ninjas are that cool. Kids might when young, but their history is not as cool as you think. Mostly they were kind of countryside people who would use whatever they had on hand as weapons to kill or maim advisories. As time went by, they become specialized mercenaries for hire. They trained in secret, and were somewhat the opposite of Samurai. If you tell someone you want to be a ninja, its like saying “I want to learn how to stab people in the back and be dishonorable”. Instead of facing my enemy, I use darkness to conceal myself and throw little sharp metal objects that are totally annoying but probably won’t kill. It will just blind people, and therefore cause dishonor to them for the rest of their lives. Still cool?

Well yes, a little. Plus, how you resist that you get to wear black and cover your face. Its like batman or something,  wearing black, using night to conceal, scaring people with awesomeness. Wait! Is Batman a ninja? A ninja of night justice? He punishes those that don’t do what’s right and throws metal batarangs at them. I guess he is!

An unskilled Ninja.

Anyways, back to story at hand. Is it cool to be a ninja? Hmmm maybe not? You know what actually on second thought who am I kidding? It's always cool to be a ninja.  Yes, because you get to be all secretive and do cool stuff, but at the same time it's not honorable or right and sometimes being a rebel is cool. Who believes in doing what’s right all the time, besides I’m a Canadian after all. You know us and our reputations.  
The long story short is even though in the West we think Ninjas are the coolest things, its not necessarily the same in Japan. In addition, real Ninjas don’t exist anymore. Except Batman.

Ninja vanish, I’m out and you didn’t even notice.

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Demonstration on Riot Control for Newbies

Demonstration on Riot Control for Newbies

Be careful when wearing a tie. Although it looks professional it can be used against you.

  

Myles and his bloody demon students another part of the endless series.

Comments provided by Deo and Mike at end (witnesses below).


I don't even know where to start with this one.
On my third year of JET (JAPAN Exchange Teaching Program), I get asked to do a demonstration lesson for some new ALT's (Assistant Language Teacher).
I figured this is a terrible idea for 2 reasons
1) I'm not a very good teacher (ALT) and moreover
2) My school is full of demon children, how will they live through the 2 hour lesson? I don't wish that torture on anyone.

I tell Shobana I think its a bad idea to do it. He tells me I’m the most senior, one other senior gaijin teacher always sleeps in class, and the other has only been here 2 years only. In fact every time I heard stories from the guy that was only there 2 years, his classes inspired me to be a better teacher. Then when I'd get to school I'd just think, with some of these little demons I can't even expect to them to learn Hello, its going to come out HARO no matter what I do.
Mr.Shobana (education ministry teacher) calls me a few times at my school telling me I should do it and I'm such a good teacher (rub my ego). It usually works.
He calls me more and more and again I bring up the other Assistant Language Teachers and he said he can't be trusted. I laugh again.
So a date is set for me to demo lesson for Mike, Deo, Janna and May. I send them a warning email. 
The email tells them that I can't predict what will happen but most likely it won't be good. I told the girls they might want to cover their chests, because based on how they molest me they will probably molest them. So I'm pretty sure they all think I'm joking. As my stories sound a bit far fetched I realize this is a chance for them to see I actually do have demon students.
So one day they come and the head English teacher tells the classes there will be other foreigners coming to the class to see it. Some of the students say typically things, like "F#% the foreigners", "Tell them to go home to their country", "I don't want to, f@% them", etc. Perfect I thought, let them be themselves.
So they come to my first demo class which is a 2nd year class. I told the head teacher I thought this was a bad class to chose from because one of the boys was really bad. He said he wasn't that bad, compared to other classes. I insisted he was uncontrollable and it was a bad idea. He didn't listen. What else is new?
The new English teachers come into the class. They sit at the back. My students were not used to having a girl English teacher. Since my school always needed a male to take the beatings. Insert me as a rag-doll here.
The bad student starts talking as soon as they come in, "Oohhh her chest is so big, I want to touch". He keeps staring at the girls. I'm kind of pissed off that he is so rude even though I didn't think the other foreigners understood what he was saying. Then he looks at the Chinese Canadian girl "Is she Japanese? She seems weird for Japanese, but her chest is big too". The other students aren't reacting to what he is saying. Then he starts talking to the guy behind him saying he is going to look at the two gaijin and touch himself. OK, I'm a bit angry but I try to let it slide. I know he is bad, but he is making me look bad (even though I realized the English teachers didn't understand the dirty words coming out of his mouth). I didn't like it. Sometimes its nice to understand Japanese, other times not. If I said the kind of stuff he said, I would have had a bar of soap in my mouth, trust me, it DOES NOT TASTE GOOD!
Finally the class starts and the kid keeps blabbing as I try to get the students to repeat after me. I'm getting angry that he never shuts up and is so rude but try not to show it.
Finally the older teacher helper is trying to talk to him to settle him down. He is like "Get out of my face old hag, you stink". On this point he was correct, she was an old hag and she stank but that's a different story (which I've already posted in this blog if you haven't read it). Read it after if you haven't already.
He keeps telling her to get away and is threatening her. I didn't feel good about this, because apart from her being a hag and smelly she was an elderly lady and didn't speak any English (yet supposedly was to help in an English class? Seriously WTF!?). So this is also making me angry, plus the new English teachers can see this and do understand because regardless of the words he was saying he was acting threatening towards her. I cast a look at Deo and Mike and they see what's going on. May and Janna seemed more into the class and were doing a good job of ignoring the bad student.
Finally he starts calling to the girls "Hey big boobs, big boobs!!". I think Janna knew that he was talking to them cause she said something like"Turn around and listen!" He was like, "I don't know what the F#^# she is saying". Since we all start ignoring him he is now getting angry. I can tell by this sly look he is up to no good and planning something. Repeat I did warn the head teacher he is bad news.
Finally he grabs a hanger and bends it to hit other kids with. At first he is just hitting their desks and he is getting closer to them. This is the last straw for me. The head English teacher is doing jack sh#$, and the head of the education board is there and also doing jack. I'm like WTF? If I give him a gun and knife then will you finally react?

Yes you look super cool awesome and stand out, but kindly don't be a douche.

So I figure the best solution is to just take it away and continue as if nothing happened. So he is threatening this girl beside him and she keeps saying "Stop!" but he doesn't. So I walk over and I'm reading the textbook out loud and I grab the hanger. I walk back to the front desk and throw the hanger in the garbage. He starts yelling in Japanese "I'm getting angry, very angry! I'm going to get you, you are going to pay for that". I block him out and keep my face glued to the page trying to finish with the kids as the class is getting near the end. Then, all of the sudden I see some movement out of the corner of my eye. I try to ignore it as I wanted to get the text done. Suddenly someone grabs me by the shirt and tie and throws me on a desk ninja style (at mach 5 speed). I'm like whoaaaaa, Jesus! Finally Shobana and the head English teacher strike into action and grab his fist as he is about to smash it into my face. Better late than never I guess. I don't need plastic surgery on my nose, its big enough.
They kick him out of the class as he tells me he is going to kill me. Not with a hanger please, seems a bit too painful.
I rearrange my tie and shirt and continue on with the lesson. At this point I'm as sweaty as can be. So I'm like fu#k let's do this bitch and get it over with. I continue with the bullshit dialogue and the class ends.
After the class is over all the teachers watching say I did well under the pressure and it was sad I had to deal with that kind of crap everyday. I didn't tell them but I almost crapped myself (I think I did a little). I could feel the diarrhea ready to burst under the pressure.



Deo's Version
That dude got beat down.


Mike's Version
It was funny.


My blogpost about the old lady teacher.
The Toxic Smell of Age
http://memoirsgaijin.blogspot.ca/2011/12/toxic-smell-of-age.html

I think I need Wayne Brady's help next time.

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He Swallowed a Fly, Perhaps he'll Die!

He swallowed a fly, I don't know why, but perhaps he'll die.

I didn't even need the chopsticks, due to my ninja skills.

I was at my neighborhood Judo club one night. I had a bit of a cold so I figured I would take it easy. I thought wrong! The teacher who is the best at groundwork (chokes, armlock, pain locks) called me over. “Hey, come and do groundwork with me”, he said. OK I was thinking, I’ll just go one time and very lightly. So we started off really going at it, eventually he ended up with me on my back and he started to crush me with his weight. I knew he loved chokes so one was probably coming, but I wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen.

Something fell into my throat and I couldn’t breathe. He started to choke me at the same time, and I felt like throwing up. It felt like I was being choked from the inside out and well as from the outside, like someone took a lego block and shoved it down my windpipe. I tapped and he didn’t let go. “Don’t be a wimp, the choke is barely on”, he said to me. I started to see aurora borealis and then more colours dancing in the sky (cool rainbow of death). Perfect I thought, I am about to die. He probably saw me turning purple but because he is a stubborn S.O.B he didn’t let go. “What’s with you tonight? You don’t usually give up so easily? You are a wimp”, he whispered into my ear. Hmm, insult on top of slowly draining my life force, that’s nice.

This is what I saw and I started to pass out, beautiful. Then, I started to die.

 As my eyes flickered for the last few times, he eased up a little but held the position (good only a little brain damage), but whatever was in my throat was going further down. It felt like someone had just taken a spoon and was ramming in down my throat. And by that, I totally mean the round end, all the way to the base of my throat and moving it back and forth like the bottom of the ice cream bucket, getting the last bit. The air couldn’t even enter my nostrils or mouth, it felt like the life was being sucked out of me (maybe he’s a vampire? But his breath smelled like garlic so maybe not). What seemed like forever, was probably about 20 seconds. As I stopped moving to try to save myself from death the judo teacher let go (or was I unconscious and just dreaming that?). Somehow I ended up on my side and then someone pushed my back (resuscitation technique), I turned over with my face towards the mat and started throwing up. Only the bile couldn’t pass whatever was in my throat. Guess what came out!? A huge fly! It must have either flown into my throat or was on his judogi (judo clothes). So my eyes were all watery and I felt like half the fly was still in my throat. I had a feeling part of it was  because when it came out it was dead as a nail, and tasted like one too. Nasty! The judo teacher finally retorted, “Is that all? You think that was blocking you? You should have blocked the choke”. I didn’t know if he was joking, the size of the fly was the biggest I’ve ever seen in my life. It reminds me of something exotic which only grows in the Amazon or something. There were a lot of Brazilians in my town, maybe one of them brought it as a pet. Secondly how do you block a choke when you are pre-choking before the judo choke is even on. Its a little overkill, or in my cause almost kill.
I continued trying to breath properly for the rest of the night, but it felt was if there was something rancid in my throat, possibly the wings or the taste of the bile that pushed the fly out in the first place. 
Gross! 

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Funky Skin Rashes and Ancient Languages

Funky Skin Rashes and Ancient Languages

I think I did upload it, or at least I did do other pics like when I had a purple toe and black eye.

While in Japan I got some funky skin rashes. It’s called athlete’s foot in English, but in Japan they called it “mizu mushi”, which basically means water bug / insect. WTF? I have a water bug in my skin. Then I looked it up and the other word in English is ringworm. I guess the Japanese word is true. Its basically bacteria on the skin that starts doing the funky chicken or perhaps  in our case the funky worm.

I wasn’t sure how I got it, but I was rolling around doing judo groundwork with a lot of questionable people. I hoped it was from me wearing sweaty socks all the time including in winter, where I wore 3 pairs at once to stay warm.

According to Wikipedia athlete’s foot is a fungus and will grow more rapidly in the following conditions
1) Crowded or Humid conditions. That's me!
2) Sweat excessively. That's me!
3) Participate in close sports like wrestling and soccer. That's me!
4) Wear tight constrictive clothing with poor aeration. That's me!
5) Have a weakened immune system. Hope not!

I think I met 4 of the 5 best conditions for it to grow. Number 5 nope, at least I hope anyways.

Summer seemed to be the worst though, that damn humidity never lets up. I saw all the teachers wore socks inside, but sometimes I was so sweaty, I took them off. I’m sure they were horrified.
But what else is new? I did wear underwear (despite what you may have heard through the rumour mill).

I finally decided it was getting progressively worse so I went to the doctor. The Japanese doctor looked at it and said you need to go to the skin doctor.
So, off on my jolly way I went.
It was my first time to a skin doctor. I had never been to one in Canada either so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
I envisioned a room full of people with goiters on their necks (big huge weird balls of skin).
When I arrived I found a room full of people waiting. It had a very “countryside” feel to it.
A girl looked at me, “Mama there is a gaijin (foreigner) here”. I contemplated responding “Ya and I understand you.” But, alas I decided against it.
My name was called from the front “Mr.Gaijin”. I was like ummm that’s not really my name but OK. I entered the room where a chipper older Japanese doctor sat. He had a big smile on his face, like he was happy to see me.
“Konnichi wa Mr.Gaijin. Do you understand Japanese?” he pondered. “Well, yes a little”, I answered. He looked even more happy. “You are the first gaijin to my office. I am happy to meet you. Are you American?”. “No”, I answered. “Oh, where are you from, perhaps a Brit?”. “Ahem, no, I’m Canadian”. He seemed to think about that for a minute like it didn’t register. Finally “Good. That’s good, let’s have a look at your hairy gorilla like skin”. No! He didn’t say that, but I think it would have been funny if he had.
He started inspecting my skin with a magnifying glass. He then grabbed a knife and my foot and locked it between his legs. I had a feeling he was about to filet my toes. Instead he grabbed my foot and scrapped a bunch of skin from my foot. It was pretty painful, but I tried to keep my mouth shut..
He took the skin fragments and looked at them with his high powered microscope.
“Ah HA!” he yelled. “Just as I expected, its Tinea pedis”. I was like “Sorry, what? Tina who?”. As far as I recall I don’t remembering doing judo with anyone named Tina. He seemed surprised I didn’t understand and handed me a book of skin conditions, it had Japanese on one side and some weird language on the other. He pointed to it, “Here it's written in English”. I was like ummmm….. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it sure wasn’t English, maybe Polish or Russian I thought. After a minute I realized it must be Latin cause it had roots of things that never made sense to me like “magnus” “corporis” , “malus”, “Ginormous”. That last one I added in myself, I was just trying to go with the flow. In-case you didn’t know ginormous was recently added into English dictionaries due to its popular usage on the pop culture scene.
I finally told the doctor “Actually its called Latin. English does have some roots in it, but I don’t speak or understand it.”. He looked baffled. “Do you mean you don’t speak your own language?”, he asked. “No, I do. Its just that this is not my language. I mean it did add words and stuff to my language but its not my language”, I answered.
As always I don’t think I did a great job of explaining it to him. He seemed baffled.
Being the smart alleck I am, I thought I would give him a great metaphor. “So you speak Japanese right? Japanese characters came from Chinese, so if someone shows you something in Chinese they might think you speak Chinese, but probably you can’t read it, well to a degree you can, cause the base of the character meaning would be the same”. Blank stare on his face. Then, “ I don’t speak Chinese”, he answered. I didn’t know how to answer him, I had done a piss poor job of explaining it to him, what else is new.
He started writing something down and told me I would need to take oral medicine five times a day. That’s annoying I thought. In Japan they always give low dosages of medicine, and most foreigners find it quite weak. Most books for foreigners coming to Japan recommend bringing your own medicine, half of our medicine is banned though, be careful.
He looked at me and said “If you don’t take care of the tinea pedis it will become tinea cruris”. 
Crap! He definitely did not comprehend I didn’t speak Latin.
I asked him to write the words down so I could perhaps look through a Latin dictionary later (if I could find one, maybe in the Vatican?) to decipher his dead archaic language.

I looked up the word later, it said it meant jock itch.
NO THANKS I'LL PASS!

I started bathing my feet in vinegar everyday cause I read on the internet, it helps cure it.
My girlfriend commented a few times it smelled like “sushi rice”. Ha!
I don't think anyone wants to eat rice that has touched my feet.

If I ever go to a make your own wine place, I'm not drinking the wine I crush with my bare-feet.

Let's see. Doesn't look that hard to understand. Latin is the same as English right?

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My Youtube Channel, wearing red tights and jumping around as Deadpool (but I say Dadpool to avoid copyright. Smarter than I look!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUXxArlapy0

Other funny stories from this blog 
http://memoirsgaijin.blogspot.ca/

My blog about everyday life (not Japan related)
http://eyethroughtheglass.blogspot.ca/


My Youtube Channel (makes no sense just like my blog)
http://www.youtube.com/user/judoka4eva