Today something strange happened and I'm shocked because I'm not sure it would happen anywhere else. I was leaving the gym and the elevator stopped at the 1st floor. I was on my way to the basement. On came a little old lady who greeted me with a smile and said "Konbanwa" (Good Evening). I bowed and responded back with "good evening". (I'll be talking about bowing in another posting soon.)
Let me digress for a moment with a little cool side note. When I was going down in the elevator, I was joined by a mother and her two 4-6 year old kids. The kids were being kids, loud and laughing and pressing all the buttons in the elevator for all the floors. So what's so special about that? Well nothing. But, as the mother was leaving the elevator she pressed the buttons for all the floors that her kids pressed.. and the lights went out. That's right. If you press the wrong button on an elevator you can press the button again to cancel your order and then choose the floor you wanted. What a concept!!! Why don't our elevators do that. It's one of those things that we've always accepted about elevators but haven't changed because we haven't figured out that this is possible. Why haven't we changed this? It makes for a more efficient system.
When t
he old lady and I arrived at our floor, I noticed she was walking a different way than I normally would g
o so I was curious where her path lead. This building is new to me so might as well. She turned the corner and entered a bicycle parking lot. An underground bicycle parking lot with stairs leading to the ground level and in the centre of the stairs was a very small ramp area for you to walk your bike up. That's so cool!
The next thing I did was crazy since I have absolutely no confidence in my ability to relate my thoughts in Japanese but I gestured to the parking lot and said "How much is this?" Of course she had no idea what I was talking about since I didn't say bike or parking lot as I don't know how. Thus, I tried again and she responded with something in Japanese which I guessed was parking related and I said "Yes". I figured that she would tell me a number, which I would understand or at least tell me to get lost. Instead, she said she didn't know and asked me to follow her. She took me through the department store which the building belonged to to a information desk somewhere on the 3rd floor. I apologized for my horrible Japanese and she smiled and said it was OK (I also understand that since I have to say it all the time when people are trying to tell me things). She explained to the lady at the information desk what I needed, even thought I had no idea what I needed, and that I couldn't speak Japanese, which was true. Surprisingly the lady at the information desk, who also did not speak a word of English, somehow communicated to me the cost of parking a bike, and I understood. It turns out it's free if it's under 2 hours. Perfect! This is just enough time to either work out or do some shopping at the department store.
On the way back down to the basement, I met up with the same
old lady with the bike. I tried to say "Thank you" and that I understood enough but she insisted on showing me where I had to pay and where I would enter the parking lot.
I walked outside with her and told here that I was very thankful for all her help. She bowed to me and said "it was nothing".
No not only am I shocked that I could communicate a little in Japanese but the level of kindness from a complete stranger who couldn't speak my language was shocking. I know we live in a world of selfish, busy people but this was unexpected.
On a side note, if you're surprised that this is my first situation speaking Japanese given all the other things I've done, please keep in mind the following:
1) Most the introductory Japanese I know is not helpful because most of the situations I find myself in are not the ones used the text book.
2) Usually, I have a little dictionary with me of key phrases and words that a tourist may need. You have no idea how useful that is.
3) The people I've had to communicate with in the bank and Alien Registration office spoke only a few words in English. Enough to say "sign", "address", "name" and stuff like that.
4) I've had help from my boss and my girlfriend on some of the more technical matters.
So yeah even though I couldn't say very much, I could understand at least the idea of what the two women were trying to tell me based on the key words that I've learned.
All I need now is a bike I can use to park in the parking lot. I would have used my bosses bike but that's a long story (see my last post).
I'll add pictures of this stuff this weekend when I go back to the gym.
Let me digress for a moment with a little cool side note. When I was going down in the elevator, I was joined by a mother and her two 4-6 year old kids. The kids were being kids, loud and laughing and pressing all the buttons in the elevator for all the floors. So what's so special about that? Well nothing. But, as the mother was leaving the elevator she pressed the buttons for all the floors that her kids pressed.. and the lights went out. That's right. If you press the wrong button on an elevator you can press the button again to cancel your order and then choose the floor you wanted. What a concept!!! Why don't our elevators do that. It's one of those things that we've always accepted about elevators but haven't changed because we haven't figured out that this is possible. Why haven't we changed this? It makes for a more efficient system.
When t
he old lady and I arrived at our floor, I noticed she was walking a different way than I normally would g
o so I was curious where her path lead. This building is new to me so might as well. She turned the corner and entered a bicycle parking lot. An underground bicycle parking lot with stairs leading to the ground level and in the centre of the stairs was a very small ramp area for you to walk your bike up. That's so cool!
The next thing I did was crazy since I have absolutely no confidence in my ability to relate my thoughts in Japanese but I gestured to the parking lot and said "How much is this?" Of course she had no idea what I was talking about since I didn't say bike or parking lot as I don't know how. Thus, I tried again and she responded with something in Japanese which I guessed was parking related and I said "Yes". I figured that she would tell me a number, which I would understand or at least tell me to get lost. Instead, she said she didn't know and asked me to follow her. She took me through the department store which the building belonged to to a information desk somewhere on the 3rd floor. I apologized for my horrible Japanese and she smiled and said it was OK (I also understand that since I have to say it all the time when people are trying to tell me things). She explained to the lady at the information desk what I needed, even thought I had no idea what I needed, and that I couldn't speak Japanese, which was true. Surprisingly the lady at the information desk, who also did not speak a word of English, somehow communicated to me the cost of parking a bike, and I understood. It turns out it's free if it's under 2 hours. Perfect! This is just enough time to either work out or do some shopping at the department store.
On the way back down to the basement, I met up with the same
old lady with the bike. I tried to say "Thank you" and that I understood enough but she insisted on showing me where I had to pay and where I would enter the parking lot.I walked outside with her and told here that I was very thankful for all her help. She bowed to me and said "it was nothing".
No not only am I shocked that I could communicate a little in Japanese but the level of kindness from a complete stranger who couldn't speak my language was shocking. I know we live in a world of selfish, busy people but this was unexpected.
On a side note, if you're surprised that this is my first situation speaking Japanese given all the other things I've done, please keep in mind the following:
1) Most the introductory Japanese I know is not helpful because most of the situations I find myself in are not the ones used the text book.
2) Usually, I have a little dictionary with me of key phrases and words that a tourist may need. You have no idea how useful that is.
3) The people I've had to communicate with in the bank and Alien Registration office spoke only a few words in English. Enough to say "sign", "address", "name" and stuff like that.
4) I've had help from my boss and my girlfriend on some of the more technical matters.
So yeah even though I couldn't say very much, I could understand at least the idea of what the two women were trying to tell me based on the key words that I've learned.
All I need now is a bike I can use to park in the parking lot. I would have used my bosses bike but that's a long story (see my last post).
I'll add pictures of this stuff this weekend when I go back to the gym.
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