idle dinner party chatter, gnomes, and grocery shopping for eggs

Sometimes i look around and marvel at what a strange world i have stepped into. Its a bit like Alice and the Looking Glass....Take for instance the dinner I was at a few days ago. So I'm peacefully munching (er slurping...Japanese way...) some nabe (soup) at a friends place, enjoying the idle chatter that comes with hanging out with other Westerners, people whom you can talk to without having to think about explaining every word that is said in extremely elementary detail. Anyhow, the woman I am chatting with suddenly says..."oh that reminds me, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind popping by and taking some photos of me." I was like, "okay, sure". And she's like, "Well we would need to work on the lighting, I want good lighting." And I'm like..."okay, i haven't done serious photography in ages, but we can play around with it. Or I can get one of my friends who's amazing at photography to do it, cuz I know he would." And she's like, "hmmm no, I don't really like his vibe." So I said, "okay. By the way, what are these pictures for?" And she said, "Well, I'm thinking of holding a chainsaw (she's now doing some remodeling with her home) and wearing a tool belt....that would be it." Okay, so this is where I pause and almost choke on my nabe....and say, "so you'd be naked?" and she says, "well there would be the chainsaw and the tool belt, but basically, yes. Do you have a problem with that?" Which I took to be kind of a challenge, like "are you open-minded and hip enough to be able to do something like this?" Mentally, i was like...Okay, what is this woman talking about?? What? I'm lost...did I space out during the idle chatter...I mean, where was this coming from? And she's married...why can't her husband take the photos...I mean, I haven't done much photography in the last few years...and she hasn't seen ANY of my work...so WHAT?? And really, how is it that all the wierd eccentric people always manage to find me...even in Japan?

Other random thoughts...Would a japanese person recognize a gnome? And are dwarves (as in The Seven) actually gnomes? I ask, because it seems that in this fabulous country, people are obsessed with Dwarves (Dwarfs?) in their garden...I've never seen what I would consider to be an actual gnome in anybody's garden. Its a bit bizarre...but Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Bashful, Happy, and Doc are everywhere. Including a giant postbox version (that is bigger than me...and therefore definatly not a dwarf...but maybe technically a giant gnome?) in my town. I have to remember to take a picture of it, its pretty funny and random. This place continues to amaze me with its wierdness.

Lastly, I was shopping for eggs today....I haven't actually had a reason to shop for eggs since being here, so this was the first time. And I noticed that while I had to check the eggs to make sure none of them were cracked, I also had to be on the lookout for chicken poo...yep...these eggs are fresh from the farm. Oi vey, who would have thought? Isn't there an FDA in Japan, doesn't anyone regulate these things???

Oh and one more thing, I've noticed that my minions (the young impressionable japanese kids that I teach) have picked up quite a few Lani-ism....I keep hearing kids in the hall say stuff like "Oh my god!!" or "Bummer dude" or my most favorite, because it really is random, and I didn't realize I say it so much, "Oi yai yai!!!"