Yesterday I played Battleship in German.

It was on and the dialouge went something like this:

Du hast mein Schiff gesunken! (ship)
Du has mein Kriegschiff gesunken! (battleship)
Du has mein Uboot! (submarine)
Du hast mein boot! (tug)

and finally.... Ich habe gewonnen! (I won!)

Humbler and less militaristic than the American version, for sure.

Believe it or not, I almost had to pay $ 2,470 for two COACH tickets on United Airlines to visit LA and Portland this summer. Luckily, I got my first choice, only paying $1,400 for the two of us. High season, indeed.

I had a conversation with a Balinese restaurant operator in our neighborhood while eating some of his saytay (peanut sauce drenched chicken on sticks). He had some good things to tell us about Bali.

Apparently in Bali, people stand very close to strangers when making small talk. I enjoyed the chat after realizing the concept of "personal space bubble" wasn't an aspect of his background.

He was a good fellow, and semi-fluent in Japanese after only 2 years of living here. He also has a Japanese wife. I take that as motivation to ratchet up my own speaking ability, after a brief sour gaze of jealousy passed.

Probably we were the only English speaking customers he had had in recently. During lunch we seemed to be the only customers at all, besides a Japanese girl taking Indonesian lessons.

T-Shirts seen in Kyoto on June 3:

1. Hope Was Love

2. Surf Swims Little Fruity

On a sign: Pizza Little Party

On a menu: Smoked Salomon