Yet Another Bad Headline, Linguistic Awareness, Miss M and Filipina Pub, and Bad Dreams

読売新聞（電子版）の見出し：「女性の経血から心房細胞……」。「男性の経血」ってあんのか？文字数のムダ。

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This morning, I attended the last workshop. I certainly appreciate for having been given extra chances to attend workshops. To me, the two languages, Japanese and English, are inseparable. It seems my interest in the two is intertwined. Thanks to the TESOL course, my curiosity in Japanese has also been raised (once again).

And this afternoon, I met a group of people who are learning or interested in the Japanese language. Well, as far as I know, many such people are interested in manga, J-pop or TV dramas… There’s nothing wrong with it. Whatever motivates them to learn the language is fine. Having said so, I truly wish that at least some of them will have a much broader view of the language, the country and its culture. Then they would understand how manga was born and how it’s evolved since and how the popular music has changed over the years. Has anyone seen any Ozu or Kurosawa movie??

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Last Wednesday night, M suggested that we go to the Filipina pub in Chinatown again on the following night, and I readily agreed, knowing that I would have to spend some $$ again. I arrived there at 9 pm and she was not there. She finally came at around 10:30 pm. She was totally grumpy and unhappy, and I didn’t know why. I still don’t why she was so tense and even rude. One of the Filipinas working there said to me that she didn’t think she was a “lady.” Ha? Do you think she is a man?? “No, but she can talk to us…” The Filipina didn’t elaborate further, but I used the word “butch” to describe M and she understood it. I don’t know… Maybe M “used” me as an excuse to meet girls from the Philippines. I don’t think I have another opportunity to see her. A friend of seven years has gone.

And I learned that those Filipinas were not getting any salary… Their income comes 100% from the drinks they ask customers to buy for them. So pathetic… I asked one, whom I didn’t see last week, if she had left her family behind, and she said yes. She arrived here only last week. What happened to your hubby? “He disappeared because of another woman” was her answer. Rather a well-told story about Filipinas. She told me that she has a 7-year-old son back in the country.

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I walked back home from Chinatown. I had a series of bad dreams… A familiar theme… Everybody except a small dog (is it Buddy?) is against me or ignores me. Even the dog doesn’t belong to me. The dog and I have to say the final good-bye to each other.