The Context (Part 3)

"你的名字【沖】。。。是【沖馬桶】的【沖】對不對啊？ [Your name FLOW ... that's like -TOILET WATER FLOW- RIGHT]？ said Taro...

Yumi and Haruna eyes explode.... Mr Chong, however is delighted. He laughed for almost 30 seconds.

However, Haruna and Yumi did not see it that way. They looked Taro ... then looked at me...

"你在哪裡學了那個詞？[Where did you learn that word?]" asked Yumi.

"我和JOHN叔叔最近開始看Beavis and Butthead. 他們從早到晚都說馬桶類似的話。[uncle John and I started watching Beavis and Butthead. And all day long they talk about is toilet stuff]" replied Taro while smiling at me.

Oh CHRIST ... I thought to myself. This is NOT GOING TO END GOOD....

Haruna looked at me with pure hatred in her eyes. Yumi gave me the "Jesus John ... what the hell look."

"沖先生。你要不要先跟Yumi去餐廳啊。 我們三位晚一點來好不好？[Mr Chong, why don't you go with Yumi to the restaurant. The three of us will join you in a bit.]" replied Haruna.

"好啊。晚點見。[OK. See you.]" replied Mr Chong as he and Yumi walked to the restaurant.

I knew what was coming next ....

Literally the second Yumi and the old guy were out of sight, Haruna slapped me in the arm...

"你-怎-麼-能-讓-我-弟-弟-看-那-樣-的-電-視-節-目？？？ 你-瘋-了-嗎？？？ [HOW-CAN-YOU-LET-MY-BROTHER-WATCH-BEAVIS-AND-BUTTHEAD!!!! ARE-YOU-CRAZY??] Yelled Haruna at me. And yes, with EACH SYLLABLE, she slapped my arm.... just like the OLD DAYS in Alexandria City Public Schools.

You gaijin may be wondering why this is such a big deal. Taro compared Mr Chong's name to a toilet... but Mr Chong thought it was funny and wasn't offended. SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM??

The problem is that this story will now be repeated by Mr. Chong anytime Haruna's family is brought up.

From this point on until he is no longer on this world, you can bet your life that whenever Mr Chong talks about Haruna or her family ... he will bring up the story of the

"silly kid that compared his last name to a toilet".

It's now an "Albatross around her neck."

Don't forget ... one thing about Asians, we NEVER remember the good stuff. But the bad, the embarrasing, awkward stuff WE NEVER FORGET..

Taro is shocked.

姐姐！不要這樣。他不是必我看。是我自己想看的。。。[Wait sis！ Stop！ He didn't make me watch it. I wanted to watch it myself.]" screamed Taro.

Taro grabs Haruna's arms, and that stops her.

Eventually she calmed down... but not before doing one final insult.

"YOU STUPID WANKER!!" yelled Haruna.

"WANKER是什麼意思啊? [What does WANKER MEAN?]“ asked Taro...

"你閉嘴! 你千萬不要回答！！ [SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE REPLY TO HIM]" yelled Haruna at me.

Eventually she calmed down and we joined Yumi and Mr Chong at the restuarant.

At the restaurant ... things went fine initially. Mr Chong asked about Haruna's experiences in the UK and my and Yumi's life in Norway. All good there.

Eventually we turned to the topic of University, and I mentioned that I went to the University of Chicago.

"YES U of C" replied Mr Chong in English. "Wonderful school. I did exchange program there one summer and loved it."

"Oh wow. Nice!" I replied.

"I wrote a few pieces for their newspaper... the Chicago Maroon." replied Mr Chong.

"Oh wow ... I remember that paper." I replied back.

"Taro." said Mr Chong as he turned towards Taro. "你知道maroon的意思嗎？ [Do you know what Maroon means?]"

"好相是個顏色吧？[It's a color, I think]" said Taro.

"對 [right]" replied Yumi. "你知道是什麼顏色嗎？[do you know what color it is?]"

Taro started to speak, but then looked at her sister Haruna, then suddenly stopped himself.

"John叔叔[Uncle John]" said Taro. "我不敢說。[I'm scared to say it.]"

“弟弟。沒事啊 [Bro, it's no problem.]" said Haruna as she laughed. “你說吧 [go ahead and say it]”

Now, Haruna probably thought there was no way for Taro to mess up a color description. Unfortunately she was wrong.

"The second color..." replied Taro.

"Second color?" asked Mr Chong.

"Yeah." said Taro. "Second, number 2 ... you know... sh*t colored..."