The Long-way always has its surprises...

Today, was a hilarious day. :) For a variety of reasons (the first of which will have to wait till later^^), but the one that I want to write about now is something that I have found to be true many, many times in the past month and a half or so.

And that is: that the long-way is not bad. Not in the least. In fact, the long-way almost always has its surprises. :)

I can see this in the many little gems of pictures I have been able to get because I happen to turn down a different road than normal, as I said in a previous post. But, it also shows itself in more prominent, "wow, that never would have happened if I didn't decide to deviate from the norm" ways.

So, today after school, Lisa and I walked down to Rokkomichi to run some errands. After she split off and went home, since I wanted to get some more fresh foods for my fridge (I'm always on the hunt for the cheapest vegetables, btw ;D), I shopped in one of grocery stores down there. Since I've gained almost what could be called a 興味 (interest, lol) in just strolling down the aisles, looking at all the food (no joke xD), it took a little while... ^^;;

Anyways, as I was walking home with all my purchases, I happened to come to a certain road. Here, I usually continue straight and walk up the hill to my dorm farther down, but for some reason today I turned super early. I realized my mistake immediately - I was lengthening my walk by a considerable amount, and also adding a couple more hills to climb up and down. Why did I do that? -_-; Ah well, I already started down this way, it'd be weird for people to see me turn around (lol), so I just continued on - and who doesn't need a bit more exercise, in Japan? x)

After climbing back up to my regular route, I was just walking past a little temple that I pass every day. I realized that the steps were filled with little girls and their backpacks this time, but that was all I had time to do before they all said in unison "Hello!" and giggled as I passed.

When I responded back "Hello!" they giggled more, then my "英語がしゃべる？" (basically: You speak English?") comment made them stare shocked, then grin widely.

And that... was the start of a 45minute-1hour conversation that never would have happened without a random decision to make a single turn down a street. :)

It was quite a hilarious one. Mostly consisting of one of them saying (almost yelling, I'd say xD) random English words, and me responding with either their Japanese component, or helping them say the correct word instead, and of course random tangents from there. Our "conversation" included all the following words/phrases, and MANY more:

"Elephant!", "Apple!", "Jeans!", "Hot!", "I'm tired!" (this was her favorite phrase, and she said it many times, lol), "Walkman!" (which I had to update them from to MP3 player ;) ), "Merry Christmas!", "Deer!", Violin!", "Volleyball!", "Lady Gaga!", "Madonna!", "Justin Bieber!" (this inspired an even larger fit of giggles than normal, as one girl said she liked him, and the others were like "whatttttt?!"),  "Purikura!" (and after me telling them I liked it too, they had to show me all their Purikura collections - which was QUITE extensive!), "Kangaroo!", "I love you!", "Boy Crazy!" (okay, this phrase came from me, after they explained in Japanese what they wanted to say about one of the girls there ^^), " Car!", "Bug!", and the list goes on and on.

These little Junior High School students had me smiling my face off for about an hour, and I am only glad I was able to provide them with some entertainment (i.e.: who is this silly American girl who can only speak broken Japanese? xD) in return. Aside from this extremely-random rapid-fire sort of language exchange (it's a first for me, lol!), we also talked about things to do in Kobe, the reading of their Kanji names, how long I'd be here (they were shocked that I was a college student! :P), which Disneyland is better in Tokyo and why, what clubs they were in, and all manner of other topics. It was SO. FUN. ♥

And, makes me reiterate. Sometimes, the long road is the one that has the most surprises. And creates the most memories. :)

And, for my fellow Kobe students: if you are ever walking home from school and see a bunch of girls on this step - try shouting "Hello!" to THEM! Maybe you'll make some friends too. ;)

AREN'T THEY JUST THE CUTEST?! I want to take them home with me. xD♥