Well, this morning I got an SMS from Moto telling me he wasn't able to join me today. So I decided to take my time getting ready for school. I didn't leave for work until about 8 a.m., which still left me plenty of time to arrive at school by 8:30.
About half-way to school, I caught up to three elderly ladies also walking along the street. They were each carrying a case that I thought held a badminton racket. I figured that meant they were walking to the G-Park, the sports facility that is across the street from school. I also figured that when I reached the beginning of the shortcut I take to school, they would continue to walk straight.
Just before I reached the point where I cross the street to start up the hill to school I greeted the ladies with a friendly "ohayo gozaimasu" and passed them. But when I got to the crosswalk, I had to wait a few seconds for the traffic to pass (no one ever stops for pedestrians, primarily because there are so few walkers that no one ever expects to have to stop for them). That allowed the ladies to catch back up to me.
One of them then started a conversation with me. I didn't quite understand everything she said and I'm sure the Japanese I replied with wasn't perfect, but the two of us were able to communicate, which was nice. Of course, our entire conversation consisted only of small chit-chat, but that was irrelevant. The important thing for me was to practice my Japanese, so I asked or said just about anything that popped into my head.
It turns out the cases the ladies were carrying held golf clubs, not badminton rackets. But I'm not talking golf golf, I'm talking some kind of croquet-style golf. (The field, or whatever you call it, is just down the hill from school.) And the ladies practice their sport twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Anyway, it's cool that I met these ladies and maybe I'll try to meet them again on Thursday, to practice more Japanese. Thanks for the message, Moto! Ironically, that made my day!
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