And then there was pizza..

I've said it before, it's the little things that you miss. You don't even notice that they're not there on a day to day basis. But then it hits you and you notice a small (pizza sized) hole in your life and you go: oh, yes, that's it.

I don't eat a lot of take out. Okay, well depending on your definition of a lot - does Thai every Friday for the past year count as a lot? But for the past 3 1/2 month I've had none, well except for the bento boxes that are ordered for us during our ESL course, none that I've ordered. And really, it hasn't even been an option, me speaking no Japanese and all.

Tonight though I barged ahead in English and was rewarded with HOT pizza. It took a while to place the order (they had to find someone who spoke English and even then it was tricky) but hopefully next time all I'll have to do is give my number and the pizza that I want (or maybe just say 'same').

Even if I had been taking Japanese all this time I doubt if ordering pizza would have been covered. I have mixed feelings about barging ahead in English and not making an effort but it's really hard to bluff Japanese. Also, I'm told that everyone has to learn English in school so perhaps it's like me and my, ineffective, 7 years of French. I can pick up on enough key words in situations that are familiar usually to get the gist of what's going on. Take that and repeat things enough times, sure. I could probably take a pizza order.

It goes back to to a conversation I had a will a fellow traveller a few years ago. We decided that in school or somewhere in life a course in the basics of a few major languages should be offered. A 3 credit uni course maybe - a crash course in world languages for globetrotters. Or a one night crash course in a particular language for those people who are travelling and want to be polite, but can't see another occasion in the future when they might need to know, say, Tagalog.

It wouldn't solve my take out issues but it would be a start. Until I do learn some Japanese (I think I have found somewhere to take lessons) I'm limited to pizza (not that there's much choice around - there must be 2 dozen places at my local shopping complex that all serve the exact same menu). Would it kills someone to open a curry or Thai take out place and send round some brochures?? Oh well, pizza it is.