When I ordered a set lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Yokohama, the waitress, an elderly woman, asked, “What would you like to drink?” I said, “Oolong tea, please.” She brought a huge pot of Oolong tea when the lunch was served. I was surprised to see how big the teapot was, and I couldn’t drink all the tea. When I asked for the check, I had another surprise. The total was 1,300 yen even though the set lunch was only 700 yen. I asked the waitress about it, and she said that the Oolong tea was 600 yen. I said, “What? I thought the tea came with the set lunch. You asked me what I wanted to drink.” She replied, “Drinks don’t come with the set lunch.” I should have asked, “Does this come with lunch?” when I ordered the tea. (142 words)

How do children from different countries communicate? On our trip to Korea, everyone had a smartphone, so they used online sites to translate. Some children were better communicators than others. Of course, if you can speak the language of the other person, you can communicate more easily. There was one Korean girl who spoke Japanese very well, and she talked to everyone. A couple of the Japanese students could speak good English, but one tried much harder than the other to talk to the Korean students. One Korean boy couldn’t speak Japanese or English, but he shared his love of nature and video games with the Japanese boys. All of these children were great communicators, not because they could speak another language but because they shared their thoughts with everyone.　　(130 words)

When we take children to Korea, they sometimes have problems with the food. A lot of Korean food is hot and spicy, and kimchi is served at every meal, even at breakfast. Japanese children aren’t used to eating spicy food, so some of them don’t eat very much. Luckily, meals usually come with rice and five or six side dishes. Not all of those side dishes are hot. One of the girls, who doesn’t like spicy things, kept asking me the same question, “Is it hot?” That is a difficult question! To me, many things weren’t hot, but she couldn’t eat them. (102 words)

I went with a group of children to South Korea over the weekend. We flew from Nagoya to Busan on Friday. I was lucky because I had a window seat. I love to look at maps, and when I fly, I try to find landmarks that show me where I am. I was sitting next to a high school student, so I pointed out the Suzuka Mountains. Then we flew across Lake Biwa. We were sitting on the left side of the plane, and we could see Okishima Island, part of Omi Hachiman. We could also see the southern end of Lake Biwa and Biwako Bridge. It looked just like a map!  (112 words)

I am taking some teenagers to Korea over the weekend. Children who have finished our year-long program at Fujimae Tidal Flat can go, and this year, we are taking seven junior high school and high school students. They will have a chance to meet Korean children who are interested in the environment like them. Everyone will do activities together and go to see important wetlands. What language will they use? They know a few words in Korean, but they will probably use English. I’m looking forward to using my Korean. We are not coming back until Monday afternoon, so there will be no Jaremaga post on Monday morning. You will get a Readers’ Corner post tomorrow. Then, next Tuesday, I will send you a post talking about the trip.  (129 words)