Japanese Dinner Party

A week ago on Friday, I had my Japanese friend, Sayako (who speaks almost no English), and her friend, Mari (who speaks a tiny bit more English than Sayako), over for coffee. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures. We spent about 2 hours together, getting to know each other - sort-of! In about 2 hours, we exchanged as much information as I could have exchanged in 15 minutes with someone who speaks the same language as I do. This friendship is very slow moving! During our time together, Sayako invited our family over to their house for BBQ. After extending the invitation, I learned that Sayako does not actually own a grill. When I asked what we could bring to dinner, she said a grill!

Tonight, we walked one block over to their house with a grill and a huge bowl of watermelon or "each-go". (I cannot speak Japanese, but this is how they pronounced it!) We had prepped the boys ahead of time regarding the language barrier, expected behaviors and the fact that we had no idea what food would be served and that they were expected to eat it and be polite about it! I had never met Sayako's husband and did not know if he spoke English or not. Thankfully, Tommie & the boys were up for the adventure!

We had a GREAT time together! Mari came to dinner also, though her husband had to work late. Sayako's husband (whose Japanese name I cannot pronounce, but goes by "Randy" in the U.S.) spoke a little bit more English, so that made conversation easier - but not much! We definitely spoke very slowly, using simple words, re-worded sentences sometimes and got out the translator frequently. It was slow-going, but very fun & entertaining. We ate meat - lots and lots of meat. Deep fried shrimp, large shrimp on the grill, corn on the cob, steaks, giant cuts of meat grilled and cut into strips, salad... then, after we'd cleaned up from dinner - she served cut fruit & coffee. Then, she made rice balls and served Tommie and I a dish that was similar to roast with potatoes & carrots. We were STUFFED! I don't know how many of the items were designed to be familiar to us and what were more traditional Japanese dishes. We had a really yummy mushroom sauce with the strips of meat and a delicious sesame/soy salad dressing. They tried to teach us how to eat with chopsticks, which they found pretty amusing for some reason. The rice balls reminded me of California spring rolls. All in all, we enjoyed one another's company and plan to get together for dinner again soon.

Sayako and I...

Me and Mari... (they like to give the peace sign while having a photo taken... not sure why!)

Sayako's husband with Tommie - grilling lots & lots of meat! (Thanks, honey!)
Rice balls with seaweed (yes, those green flecks are kelp!). These actually tasted pretty good!

Sayako has three boys that are almost the same ages as our boys. (Mari does not have children.) Fuma is in 4th grade (Franklin is in 3rd), Taiki is in 2nd grade with Harrison (but in a different class) and Truman and Ryuki are in the same Kindergarten class. They have only been in the United States since January, so none of their boys speak English. They know a few words, like colors or numbers - but no conversational sentences. Amazingly - all six boys got along really well, played together for hours and had a great time! They didn't seem to notice that they couldn't even speak the same language!! Apparently burp & fart sounds translate well in any language...

They have a Wii also! Thankfully, our boys have played Mario Kart enough to know how to navigate the menus - because everything on their Wii was in Japanese! :)

Normally, when Ryuki sees Truman, he leaps into Truman's arms and gives him a big kiss on the cheek! Hysterical!

Correction: I remembered Sayako's husband's name and realized that "each-go" means strawberry - which we did eat, but it does not mean watermelon!