Hakone-Matata Part I

Back entry for...April?

Greetings loyal readers and fanatic readers alike,

Some time in April, my host mother and host father decided we would take a family trip to a Ryoukan (traditional Japanese inn) near Hakone. As always, I was grateful and excited for the adventure that would unfold. However, they were also kind enough to allow me to bring a friend along for the ride. I decided that, in a wonderful act of kindness, to ask my German friend from the Ueno excursion. You see, until that point, I'm not sure he had traveled far beyond the bounds of the area his dorm is in, and the more popular parts of the Tokyo area such as Shibuya. I asked a few days later and he was more than grateful. I later found out that in order to finalize our reservation, I would need to find out the German's age and last name. The age was no problem I just guessed at 21, but the last name proved challenging. The German didn't (and to my knowledge still doesn't) have a keitai, nor does he check his e-mail as obsessively as most UConn students. Therefore, it became quite a hassle to discuss logistics and discover this information. Then the deadline to find out the German's information arrived, and at the last moment I experienced a eureka moment and remembered his last name! Calling up my host mother, I joyously told her the last name. Arriving home that day, my host mother informed me that I had called a half an hour too late. Distraught over whether I now had to destroy the hopes of this young German college student wishing to go on a trip somewhere other than to his room, my host mother told me that my host father had come up with an ingenious idea. He made up a last name for the German! Asking, what name had been decided upon, my host mother told me that neither she nor my host father could remember, since it was so spur of the moment. Several days later they would later remember that the German had been given the last name "Beru". As such, all further references to the German will be made using the name my host family uses for him, "Beru-chan". Stay tuned to read about the actual details of the trip, on the next exciting entry!

Gambatte,

-DPN

Today's word is: Wasureru. The word means "to forget" and is the informal/plain form of the verb. Usage: Watashi wa kanojo no onamae wasureru or I forgot her name. Oddly enough, I can never remember this verb...