南向き翻訳事務所 岩渕デボラ ブログ

Today my long-suffering niece and I went out to look for toys for a large number of second cousins. We found some fun toy shops on Albany’s Solano Avenue. I took some pictures. One showing long-suffering niece holding a rubber chicken, but I will spare her that because she is my sweetie. She did mention that “Uglies” appeared on everyone’s blog spot, so of course I have to have some on mine.

And then, between this and the rubber chicken we had some kissing piggies. Velcro lips.

Eventually we found a used toy shop (they buy & sell), a gourmet hamburger shop, a bone shop (bugs and bones, real and fake), a shop of American Indian crafts (refreshing after the bugs & bones), Stone Bridge Publishing offices over the Safeway Pharmacy, and many other interesting places and restaurants of all ethnicities and persuasions.

If you are in the East Bay and looking for a leisurely day of shopping at shops with no brand but the name of the street they are on, Solano Avenue is the place to go. Go early to get parking–bus and BART a little more difficult but not impossible.

Niece with love of off the wall knick-knacks recommended as the perfect companion.

今回の里帰りは「運転手の巻き」になりました。母が免許書を更新できなくて、父は首を痛めて、しばらく運転できないので、アメリカでほとんど運転したことのない私は運転手です。

元々、免許書をとって、５年しかたっていません。教習所に通ったのは日本と韓国のワールドカップの真っ最中でした。（日本のチームはそれ以来ゴールキーパーが変わっていませんので、やっぱりまだまだ最近の出来事ですよね。）

さて、日本に来てXX年たっているので、方向的な問題はないと思うでしょうけれど、それでも時々逆流します。そして、アメリカに帰るとやっぱり逆流します。深刻な問題です。私をさておいても、人質な気分で車に乗って医者に行ったり、スーパーに行ったりするうちの親の気になって下さい。可哀想でしょう。

そして、その上、もう一つ状況を複雑にしてくれる要素があります。私のママはちょっとだけぼけています。今日、パパをリハビリの先生のところにおろして、ママと二人で本屋に行こうとしましたが、どうも母の方向指示が変です。本屋さんがあるはずのない方にしばらく走って、ママが「ごめん、パパのところに戻ってしまった！」と言いました。

あ〜あ、自分の方向音痴とカルチャーギャップだけで混乱しているのに、ナビゲーターも頼りできなくなってしまいました。どうか、どうか３週間が無事に過ごせますように！

Manna Frances went off to California without her trusty cookbook because she did not want to deal with converting the measurements. Her parting remark: “Doesn’t the US realize that grams and centimeters are the international standard?”

It took me back to the 1960s. One year when I was still in elementary school, we had a math unit on grams and centimeters because “as of 19XX the US will be converting to the universal standard of weights and measures.” I seem to recall that it would be a few years into the future–soon enough to be intimidating, but far enough into the future to lack urgency.

Looking back, I was very much in touch with my “inner American.” I could be obsessive about school rules and getting homework in on time, but I distinctly recall (along with just the tiniest bit of reassurance that a liter and a quart were pretty much the same) that I shrugged it off. “Surely they will review it all again when the time comes.”

And sure enough, even though I spend a good part of my days mentally converting kilograms and meters into pounds and yards, and yen into dollars, and don’t even get me started on the euro and the Czech krone, I am still very satisfied that I did not waste my time at that young age because the US has remained aloof from the rest of the world in its complete and utter failure to convert.

My office maager, Manna Frances, has left these frigid shores for her annual visit to get in touch with her American self. She and I will be meeting up in the SF Bay Area in a couple of weeks, but until then she is in Southern California with her extended family.

There is a new baby that apparently needs attending to–a decision that was made shortly after the arrival of pictures of said baby. Along with being one of the most adorable creatures on the planet, Little Anna is adding a new ethnic dimension to our family. What started out as a family of 100% white European background now includes Mexican, Japanese, Korean, and (ta da!) Thai ancestry. Anna’s maternal grandmother is from Thailand, and that makes her a quarter Thai.

In the words of her proud, new aunt: “That little bit doesn’t hurt!”