I was up to my elbows in translating (er, transliterating?) addresses in this 10 page long list of prefectural child rearing centers (at least i was done the “how to take care of baby when s/he is constipated dawwwww” part) when I-san came up to me pointing excitedly. “Hey, hey, Amanda, is it true that milk is like super expensive in America?”

“Uh…I don’t know. I think it’s a bit more expensive in Japan.” I looked at Bryan who nodded in agreement.

“Huh? Well, wait a second. Maybe this chart is wrong?” He pointed out a number on a chart full of global consumer prices. It said a litre of milk cost 11 dollars. A LITRE.

“That-that is totally wrong,” I blurted out. “What the…I mean, huh? Let me see that chart.”

“Maybe they meant a gallon,” he said helpfully. But that is still wrong! Can you imagine paying ELEVEN DOLLARS for a freaking gallon of milk? Or even, if milk was 11 dollars to the litre, a gallon would be what? 40 dollars, that’s what! That’s peak oil post-apocalypse prices right there!

We narrowed down the problem to be a mistake with a decimal point (obviously, 11.3 meant 1.13 originally, right?), but aren’t you glad you have some foreign workers to correct such ridiculous mistakes! Well, I had a laugh, at least.

Later, T-san told us that he didn’t even know sunflower seeds were something that was sold, in stores for human consumption. When you grow up in the countryside of coastal Iwate, I suppose certain things are lacking from your common human knowledge! “I can’t believe this guy. I bet you just picked the seeds out of your neighbor’s sunflowers!” I-san teased, and T-san blushed under the cotton of his sick mask. “Amanda, you just have to teach him about Japanese culture. You know more about it than he does!”

Haha! If only!