Our New Japanese Friend

On last Friday our new Japanese friend arrived to stay with us for about a month. Her name is Kimiko, but we call her Kimi. She is 21 and has finished 3 years of college. She is here to go to the U of U's English Language Institute. (ELI) She rides the bus to and from school. She is very smart, fun, and helpful. She is eager to learn our language. She has studied it in school since she was little, but there's nothing like on-the-job-training. Last night we were talking about some of our "idioms". It is hard to explain them. ("top of the street", "raining cats and dogs", "I'm bushed", etc.) Just stop and think about all the things we say that can have a totally different meaning. When she tries to look them up in her electronic dictionary, it just doesn't translate well. But we are all having a fun time.

And I am going to have to cook more often.