Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Shhhuwooshy Ji and the Japanese way

JiXiang is standing by herself everyday now and each time has been lasting longer and longer.

We cannot make her stand on her own, it just sort of happens and I don’t think she has yet realized she is doing it.

I have come to the conclusion that her walking toy, called a katakata toy in Japanese, is making her legs very strong. She does not make little baby steps when she is pushing it; she does a real, full stride walk. She also gets VERY pissed when she hits a wall. She screams for help and has learned the sign language for come here.

In North America we say come here by holding our palm up and curling our fingers back and forth towards our body: in Japan you hold your palm down and curl your fingers towards your body. JiXiang has learned the Japanese way and she does it EVERY TIME she hits a wall with her katakata toy.

We have been trying to teach her how to turn it on her own and she has been getting better. She gets very frustrated though and can actually throw a temper tantrum and starts to bash the toy into the wall while screaming for help. (Not a good sign for the future.)

She threw a temper tantrum in the bathtub last night. She was tired and decided she did not want to be there anymore, so she started chucking her toys in a fit of anger. She got one hell of an evil glare from me, so she stopped and decided that cuddling would be more effective.

We have also been walking with her while holding her hands. We hold both hands but every once and a while we will let go of one and have her try to walk with only one support side. She has been able to take a few steps before she does a mad grab for your leg. When you walk with her she makes this odd
- shhhuwoosh
noise.
Last night Li went
-I GOT IT! I have finally figured out what JiXiang is saying.
I never assumed she was saying anything but Li got it and I think he is right.

To understand this you need a little background on today’s Japanese woman.

There are basically two types of woman out there; the ones that give a shit, and the ones that don’t.
I am talking about finding the perfect guy.
I like the women who don’t.
Fashion magazines are devoted to the women who give a shit. They show the perfect working clothes, the perfect shopping clothes and the perfect date clothes. Then there is the perfect meeting guys clothes. There are many women out there that switch from job to job in search of working men. Due to ridiculous working habits most people end up marrying co-workers. To work for a large company like mine that has a regular supply of men is heaven for the women who care.
My Wednesday night student quite her one job because there was not enough men working in her section. Those were her actual words. She is working for a new company with a few more men. Much better odds as far as she is concerned.
At Li’s job they get a regular turn over of office woman. Once they have stayed for a year and have not snagged up any of the men they move on. All have left with in the last month and there is now a new set of woman working there. All the previous girls made some strong moves on my man and one of the men he works with was trying to get him to meet his daughter.

Then there is the manners section of the magazines. There are proper manners and then there are sitting in front of the queen manners. The magazines show them how to put on and take off their jackets, how to hold their hands and how to sit. They even tell them where to sit depending on the number of men that are at the table. My latest magazine has a section telling them how to properly give your telephone number and email address: the lady like way verses the desperate way.
It goes so far as to actually have magazines telling women what facial expressions are acceptable during sex (gotta look good always), what sexual noises are considered cute and a turn on. It would almost be funny if it were not so true for these ladies.

One of the most annoying things for me here in Japan is the lady on the telephone. Talk to your friend on the phone and she sounds totally normal, but put her in a business or boyfriend situation and her voice suddenly raises about three octaves into this high squeak. In Japan this is considered cute.
I consider it annoying and headache causing. It is also REALLY hard to understand.

High pitches noises are considered cute here.

My karate style grunts during labor were considered bad form by the nurses (not that I cared about what they thought at that time). The lady in the other room made little high pitches squeals and was not being told by the nurse to shut up: I was.

When we lift something like a box full of books back home most women let out a hefty
-Shit! Fuck! ((groan and grunt)) Aurrrrghhhh.
Here the ladies go
-shhhuwoosh
when they are lifting, walking up the stairs or doing anything that requires a tiny bit of effort. It sounds cute and keeps them looking lady like to the men around.

So basically my daughter is doing the Japanese equivalent of a North American
-ugooff ugooff I can do it ugoofff Aurrgh!

Trust me,
Ill be teaching her to do a real
-AURRRRGH!!!
soon enough.

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Posted by (Top)Andrea::10/26/2005 :: 3 Comments:

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