November 14, 2006 - page 2



understand a word that was coming out of my instructor’s mouth. Apparently potter’s vocabulary wasn’t covered in Japanese 120. I felt oddly bonded to anyone who has ever encountered the stereotypical American abroad as she tried to make me understand by repeating the exact same words over and over slower and louder each time. Of course, I’m not sure that rephrasing would have helped anyways. The other students enjoyed it greatly though… I had the feeling pottery class hadn’t been this lively in weeks. At one point the sensei brought out bowls of water for everyone to dampen their hands. Notably, mine was the only one that was

steaming. She had a devious twinkle in her eye as she set down the hot water in front of me, grinning ever so slightly as she muttered, “… because you’re so cold.” I think I’m going to like her.

It seems that I’ll be spending a lot of time in this shop learning the art of pottery-making. Next time I’m bringing a dictionary.