In Japan, it's customary to bring presents to your new neighbors when you move in. I think it's to show that you are happy to be in the neighborhood and will try to be a good neighbor. So, Nathan and I each learned a few Japanese phrases and we practiced with each other for about 10 minutes before taking our show on the road.
Here was our routine:
We both said "Konichiwa" when our neighbor opened the door.
Then Nathan would say, "Watashi no namae wa Nathan" which is my name is Nathan and then introduce me.
Then Wilson would give the box of chocolates and I would say, "Hajimamishite" which means nice to meet you.
One interesting thing about the Japanese is that there are about a million subtleties when speaking that we just don't know. One of them is that if you are offering something to someone, they will not take it unless you say, "dozo" which is a version of please. As in, please take this. So at one house I forgot to say dozo and the chocolates were held out for a very long time almost touching our neighbor's hands before I remembered to say it - oops!
We went to the 4 houses closest to ours and think the meetings went pretty well. There was much smiling and head bowing as Nathan and I fumbled through our Japanese. I'm sure there were some mispronunciations, but everyone was very kind. The neighbors said some pleasantries to us that we had to just smile at. We are trying to work on our Japanese at home, but have decided that we will try to sign up soon for a college level class they offer on base. Hopefully, the neighbors appreciated our efforts.
For the most part, our neighbors don't speak much English, but our neighbor across the street speaks it really well. His name is Yoshi and he's also the president of our neighborhood. He came over a few nights ago before a neighborhood meeting to say that he was going to introduce our family at the meeting so he wanted to know a little more about us. We thought that was really nice and have been receiving a few more hellos since then. We are really happy to have him as a neighbor!
Here was our routine:
We both said "Konichiwa" when our neighbor opened the door.
Then Nathan would say, "Watashi no namae wa Nathan" which is my name is Nathan and then introduce me.
Then Wilson would give the box of chocolates and I would say, "Hajimamishite" which means nice to meet you.
One interesting thing about the Japanese is that there are about a million subtleties when speaking that we just don't know. One of them is that if you are offering something to someone, they will not take it unless you say, "dozo" which is a version of please. As in, please take this. So at one house I forgot to say dozo and the chocolates were held out for a very long time almost touching our neighbor's hands before I remembered to say it - oops!
We went to the 4 houses closest to ours and think the meetings went pretty well. There was much smiling and head bowing as Nathan and I fumbled through our Japanese. I'm sure there were some mispronunciations, but everyone was very kind. The neighbors said some pleasantries to us that we had to just smile at. We are trying to work on our Japanese at home, but have decided that we will try to sign up soon for a college level class they offer on base. Hopefully, the neighbors appreciated our efforts.
For the most part, our neighbors don't speak much English, but our neighbor across the street speaks it really well. His name is Yoshi and he's also the president of our neighborhood. He came over a few nights ago before a neighborhood meeting to say that he was going to introduce our family at the meeting so he wanted to know a little more about us. We thought that was really nice and have been receiving a few more hellos since then. We are really happy to have him as a neighbor!
Here are the boys ready to meet the neighbors! Leo is trying to break into the box. Wilson is closely monitoring his progress.
Here are the reactions when I told them that we were giving away the chocolates and would not be opening them.
Omiyage... I brought all these keychains from niagara falls..people were way too happy to take them
ReplyDeleteWell done! I think I would have been pretty nervous to venture out like that. I know that is a huge part of why you wanted to be there. I know my comfort zone would have been stretched, which is a very good thing! Hope it continues to go well with your new neighbors!
ReplyDelete