Princess Rebecca

Every visiting student here gets a nickname. Dr. Gremillion was apparently dubbed Gre-chan, which is a shortening of his last name combined with chan, which translates as "silly, like a little girl." He asked Hitomi what my nickname was and she said she calls me hime, or "princess". "Princess Rebecca," she laughs. I was really touched.

Hitomi's nickname among the male reisdents is "snake" or "octopus". It is meant as a playful teasing taunt, but I can't seem to make sense of it. It has something to do with her walking like a snake or an octopus' tentacles. Today, Brian-sensai even gave her a note with a picture of an octopus on it. She glared at him and then laughed. She told me it was alright because at least it was a cute octopus. I don't know. Perhaps the joke is just beyond translation.

The octopus and the princess.

I had a similar boggling encounter with a student at the conference last weekend. After shaking my hand, he remarked that it was cold. A little embarrassed, I explained that I was just holding a cold bottle of water. "In Japan we have a saying," he said. "Cold hands, warm heart," then he laughed heartily. I smiled, trying to understand. He went on to say that in Japan, many women have cold hands. "What about women in America? Do they have cold hands?" I really had no idea how to answer that.

One thing that does seem to transcend countries and culture, however, is the reputation of our former president. Dr. G took Hitomi and I out to dinner on Friday night. Noticing the untouched broccoli on Hitomi's plate, he remarked that she must not like it very much, and she agreed.

"You know who else doesn't like broccoli?" Dr. G asked.

She shook her head.

"George W. Bush."

Hitomi grabbed that piece of broccoli with her chopsticks faster than I thought possible and ate it in one bite. Then she nodded her head decisively at that.