My Life in Tokyo

Can I just say how much I don’t want to have my Japanese lesson today? It’s hard and confusing and I never have any time to study. My teacher will come in and ask me some question in Japanese about something we did 2 days ago and I will have no idea what she’s talking about. Then she’ll teach me a new word and I’ll forget it immediately. Then I’ll go out into the city and try to use some word or phrase I was supposed to have learned and get it all wrong.

Yesterday I went to the bakery to buy 8 small rolls. Counting things in Japanese is complicated, because you don’t use regular numbers. There are special counters for things, and the type of counter you use depends upon the type of thing. Suddenly I realized that I’ve used the counter for 1 (hitotsu) and 2 (futatsu) many times, but I completely forgot the counter for 8. I stood silently for a few seconds, then finally gave up and held up 8 fingers. The helpful saleswoman said, “eight?”. Now I can be incompetent in 2 languages.

I ordered a pizza online last night. I felt very proud of myself because I did something different this time: instead of a plain pizza with the same toppings, I planned to order one of their special pizzas. I found the one I wanted on the menu and read the name in katakana: Domino’s veggie. I clicked on the picture and read the ingredients in katakana. I selected the pizza, then went on to complete the order. I didn’t bother to read the finished order when the confirmation screen came up because it’s and effort to read Japanese and it didn’t seem necessary. Oops. When the pizza arrived, it was a pizza Margherita, a plain pizza with additional fresh tomatoes and basil. Not what I had my heart set on. (But as I said to Isabella, it could have been worse: we could have ended up with sea urchin pizza!).

I want to order pizza from Lombardi’s on Spring Street, or from Two Boots Pizza. In English. I want Chinese from Buddha House, Indian from the place on Bleecker Street. I want to pick up a roast chicken for dinner from Gourmet Garage. I want a good bagel. I want decaffeinated coffee. I want my Netflix movies back. I want to have time to watch a movie again.

I think fatigue is beginning to set in.