My acquaintance- Moccol, he is an Indian guy who lived at the first floor in the same apartment, invited me to his home party. He and his son was planning to show us a Japanese animation DVD named "Castle in The Sky ".
That was my first experience to receive an invitation to the home party from non-Japanese.
The invited guests were, ・Italian guy ・Venezuelan lady ・2 children (Moccol's son's friends). ・Japanese (Me)
The Dinner was cocked all by himself. As might had been expected, His curry was especially excellent! The party was progressed in a sociable atmosphere............ but...... As time went by, they started discussing about world affairs, politics, Middle East affairs.. and so on... then they ( commonly Moccol and Venezuelan lady) became quite excited. They finally started quarreling.... Damn it!!! F**k!!!
Bad wards were flying one after another... I was frozen up.... (;'Д`)........
Oh,,,,, how uncomfortable atmosphere..... I couldn't help praying that
Do not ask me such a difficult topic please please please!!!!!!! (;'Д`)人
As you know, my English level is not as so enough as to discuss politics. But suddenly Moccol asked me whether the attack on Iraq was right or not. All I could do reply that War is not correct....
I had butterflies in my stomach... many butterflies must have been flying in my stomach... Suddenly the Italian guy rolled down from his chair with sound of something broken when I got nervous.
Ohhh...... you surprised me! what happened next!! He was so big guy that his chair was broken by his weight. I was bewildered by the unexpected. I didn't know what to do, so I could only drink some red wine.
Red wine made me get drunk and my head spin. My head was spinning with ending theme of Castle in the Sky. I didn't remember about afterwards, but I seemed to be able to back to my room correctly this time.
We was invited diner at USA about 4 years ago.
I remember that she left work early to cook, then she cooked many dishes with husband for us.
The volume was the menace, it was about three times as much as our level.
I said many times that my room was smaller than your room.
But, I could eat the dessert after diner. It was surprise.
I remember, I was afraid that my room would become bigger day by day during the business trip of USA.
In case of me, I could join the chat only 30 minutes; my vocabulary was really poor, I could not join more,
With that and this I drank many can of Beer alone while thinking that I must brush up my English skill.
It was my bitter memory, because I drank much Beer
See you! (^麦^)/
Hi again Eko,
I think most Japanese would have been uncomfortable in such a situation, even if they were confident in their English. Americans, and in fact people from many other cultures, really like arguing politics, and will do so very aggressively.
The strange thing is, it's not really personal. Many people who completely disagree, getting angry and yelling at one another when talking about politics, are very friendly to one another at other times. In fact, I know several old men who go to a coffee shop every morning to argue politics for 10 or 15 minutes, and then after that they relax and laugh and enjoy coffee together like best friends.
Personally, I don't like any kind of conflict, especially when people start getting loud. I prefer for people to get along peacefully, even if they disagree. If we try to be peaceful in our everyday lives, maybe we will bring peace to our politics, too, and stop having wars...
When I visited Japan, I was happy that people seemed not to argue so much.
I guess you were surprised at the powerful dishes and I admire you for ate them all. The host must have been pleased with it.
I often went to home party or potluck party during staying in America. It was actually hard to keep up with English conversation, but it brought me good experiences.
As you know, we have a party at Izakaya or restaurant in Japan, not at home but other place, so I miss party at home. On top of that, I have had less opportunity for a party with my friends after married, so I feel sad.
Thanks for your comment.
I think we less arguing politics aggressively than people in other country, so it was very impressive that situation. This is just my delusion, but they have a firm belief and believe it unshakeable, so they getting angry or aggressive to prove their contention is right.
Things I noticed through parties in America are, people know about own country- history, politics, and they need an identity. When I asked about our history and origin of our custom, I couldn't answer about it well, because I didn't know at all. I had noticed how I was indifferent to many things. Now, I have started learning Japanese custom( dressing kimono, Japanese tea ceremony). If I couldn't live in America, I wouldn't want to do it.
That party might be hard for me, but it brought me a good experience. ^^
I lived in Rockville, MD for 3 years and half. Despite the fact I'm poor at English.... I try to write about memories of life in the U.S to practice English. Maybe you will find many mistakes on it, so please correct them!