The long train ride to Odawara made us tired, so when a Japanese man outside the train station said "hello" to us in English we almost walked on by. Often these people are trying to sell you something. This man was not.
"Please, can you tell me where you are from."
We told him Yokosuka.
"Ah, Yokosuka."
"I visited your country three years ago. I would like to return to your country many times because it is very big." He stretched his arms wide. The letter v is a hard one for many Japanese so very came out bery.
He went on to tell us that he was 65, had worked hard for one company his whole career and now was living the good life on a pension. He started learning English six years ago. I complemented him on how well he spoke, but he demurred, claiming his English wasn't very good at all. We all insisted that really it was and we understood him perfectly.
"I am very glad to hear you say that."
He asked us what states were were from and told us where in the country each of those states were. Grant told him Texas, mostly I think, to challenge his geography skills. He then told us the year Christopher Columbus landed and the year the United States was formed. I told him he could be an American citizen.
He laughed and thanked us for helping him to practice his English.
I think I might have skipped when we walked away.
I leave you today with a quote from somebody or other, "If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American."
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