Third Period: Washing

The word in Japanese for choice, sentaku (選択), is the same as the one for laundry or washing, also sentaku (洗濯). So while the teacher in class tonight was busily explaining elective and required subjects, I was sitting in the corner wondering why the fuck they were teaching laundry washing classes in Japanese high-schools. When I asked the teacher after class why students did laundry at school and he looked at me like I’d just arrived in a UFO and asked to see someone that might be in a position to lead. I figured out my mistake when I finally looked it up in a dictionary half an hour later and it was one of those forehead slapping “oh, no fucking way!!” moments. Hooray for looking like a retard in front of your coworkers.

Posted in Japan on Monday September 26, 2005.