I find this lady so inspiring. She’s clear, humorous and insightful. Plus, I am always impressed by people who conquer multiple languages. I took Japanese for over four years, and never got anywhere close to being able to communicate adequately.
During my last trip to Tokyo I went to a Burger King and painstakingly placed my order, relaying all of my condiment preferences. The young man at the counter stared at me, not comprehending my sad little speech. I started over again. Just as I got to the end, his eyes widened and he said in perfect, unaccented English, “Oh, you don’t want mustard, ketchup or pickles!”
Yeah, I was mortified.
When I was a young writer (sung to the tune of “when he was a young warthog”) and we rented our first house, the landlord who was maybe all of five years older than us (maybe 28) asked my profession.
Since at the time I did not have a job, I told him none. He asked me what I did all day, and my husband told him I wrote novels. The landlord insisted on putting down “writer” as my profession, which embarrassed me mortally, since I didn’t think I was one/hadn’t done anything to deserve being called that. Or at least so I thought.
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Lee Dunning 