11/15 Blog Post by Alejandro

Dinner

I think that the thing that stuck out the most to me was the experience of having a meal with just some of my classmates and their host’. The reason that this experience stood out the most was because even though we have a large gap in communication we still were not only able to speak to each other but be able to make cokes that everyone understood. The kojo students’ were very understanding with the incorrect Japanese and did not only try to understand what we were trying to say,  but also corrected us to help us improve our Japanese. One thing that is human nature is humor and we were even able to explain what and how to use popular slang used in the America like “lit” and “shook” which allowed us to express emotions that we wouldn’t be able to express without understanding of American jokes. They also were able to explain popular memes in Japan like “kebedon” which I found a little strange but also interesting. One thing that interested me was knowing what Japanese kids joke about and how different their sense of humor is and what they find funny. This is one of the main reason that I enjoy going abroad because it help you get a better understanding of what else is going on outside of the Bubble of Norwalk. I think that I am going to think about this dinner for a long time because even though it seemed unimportant it really allowed me a look into Japanese teenage culture which I would not be able to experience without this dinner and trip!