Asao, my Japanese tutor, asked me the other day, "ペトがおもちですか?"
And I replied in my robotic Japanese, "Yes, I. have. a. pet. It. is. a. dog."
And she said いいな~~ with a pleased look upon her face.
I asked in robotic Japanese, "And you, Asao-san, do. you. have. a. pet?"
And she relayed to me that at the present moment she did not. However, as a child she did. She used a word I didn't know and cannot recall now. "わかりますか
"Like a small parrot," she said.
"Aah," I said いいな~~with a pleased expression upon my face.
Then she started talking about something else, but I thought we were still talking about small parrots. "Helmet Club," she said. "Do you know?"
"Helmet Club?" I asked. "No, わかりません."
She gestured with her fingers, miming as if she were placing a strawberry atop a cheesecake, or, more appropriately, putting a small helmet on a small parrot.
"Helmet Club?" I asked.
"Yes, Helmet Club," she assured me.
WTF, Asao? I had visions of her belonging to a club with other Japanese children who also had small parrots, onto which they would place small helmets. Was this a school-sanctioned club? Were they bicycle helmets? Helmets of Trojan warriors? And what did they do once the helmets were on the small parrots? Take pictures? Make the small parrots battle? I was so confused and at such a loss that I simply couldn't let the matter go. I had to understand.
"Helmet Club?" I asked again for the 3rd or 4th time.
"Yes, you don't know?"
No, absolutely not. "I don't understand Helmet Club," I said.
"Sea shore, along." Asao explained. "Look for empty shell..."
Ohhhhh...
Hermit Crab!
