日本人彼女募集中。

Much relief for Sam and me in class this evening. Mayuko confirmed that my 日本人彼女募集中tee-shirt actually says what it's supposed to say. Hilton tells me that it has exactly the same meaning in Chinese as in Japanese ("Looking for a Japanese girlfriend"). More crucially, perhaps, Sam's kanji tattoo (all down his forearm) really does list the qualities a samurai should aspire to achieve.
Had it turned out to be something else entirely, he could have sent it to:
http://www.hanzismatter.com/
(a site which delights in showing just how stupid a misspelled kanji tat can look to a 日本人 or a 中国人)。

By the way, these posts about my Japanese classes are really just diary aides memoir to help my spongy old brain remember who's who and what we learn, so if you're here for posts like "The Truth About Everything", you can skip this, and any more with Japanese in the title.

Today, Mayuko has us going round the room, interrogating each another in Japanese about where we're from, how old we are, our birthdays, etc.
This is a great idea for the kids, but bad news for the old grumpy guy … Turns out I'm the same age as Hilton's dad. Whoop-de-doo! That makes me feel even crustier than usual. And when I find out that Louisa and Camilla are still only sixteen, and that I'm technically old enough to be their grandfather, I am plunged into a grey, wrinkly pit of despair. The news that Louisa is really into the はらじゅく and Gothic Lolita scene just makes me feel like a dirty old man, trying desperately not to picture her in a cosplay outfit …
More cheerful news from the other end of the room: Lin is actually a good six years older than I thought she was, and is almost old enough to hold a conversation with. Shona is going to try to dig up the blog of her Japanese trip to show me. And she's a Mac user (Yaay)!
I almost get as far as interrogating Gandy when we run out of time, so all I find out about him today is that he has another cool 'Hoax' tee-shirt on, but that he uses Windoze (uncool)!
And Sophia - knowing lots of Japanese - has been promoted to the big girls' class, so さよならto her. She was nice, but without her in the room, the rest of us now feel a bit cleverer …
Hey-ho. The joys of being a mature student.
On the plus side, it's great to have access to a subsidised canteen.

Oh, and Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to Hilton. Moon cakes all round! (Too rainy to see the moon tonight, though).

じゃまた。