Do you
think Americans are too touchy about the subjects of age and weight? For the most part I think Japanese people are
polite and reserved. They don’t hesitate
to ask one’s age or comment on one’s weight, though. In the US I would never ask the age of a 50
something year old woman unless I knew her very well, and if I knew her very
well I would probably already know how old she is and wouldn’t need to ask. People always ask me how old I am here. Also, people have no issue with commenting on
weight. At the bus station the other
day, an elderly woman Ted had never seen before told him (in Japanese) that he
should lose some weight or he would have health problems. While Ted is bigger
than most Japanese, he’s athletic and not heavy, especially for an American who
is the double nickel. The hula ladies have no problem telling me how maru
(round) I am. One told me my “butt is high” (actual words in English). This
comes under cultural differences, I guess.
The
Queen’s Ruff
I had
been hesitant, maybe reluctant, to work on this area. You might say I was avoiding it all
together. With so much around it done, I
finally had to work on the Queen’s Ruff (that big white thing around her
neck). It’s a pulled thread technique
and I was afraid that if I did it wrong, I wouldn’t be able to correct it. Canvas
isn’t forgiving with these things. Luckily, I didn’t have to try to correct
anything.
I can
see the cross stitches in the background clearly, but they don’t seem to
photograph well.
1 comment:
I remember being told how "ookii" was when lviing in Japan. I always felt big too - taller and larger and unable to buy shoes (except at the Big Foot shop) or clothes that fit well. Then back in NZ I worked for a Japanese company for 21 years and still felt big. One blessing of a redundancy and a new job was coming to work for a company which is almost all Pacific Islanders and Maori people and I feel small!! So perhaps it is an Einstein question and all one of relativity:-)
Post a Comment