One, two, three is ichi, ni, san!

Japanese class tomodachi
Originally uploaded by prancinponies.

The girl in the red sweatshirt, Koh san, sent me this blurry picture of our Japanese class today. While I'm posting it, let me tell you why everyone you see there is so fantastic.

Koh san: Knows Chinese, Malay, English, and is learning Japanese. Slowest eater I have ever met.

Bower san (left of Koh): Freshman, spent her senior year of HS in Hiroshima, puzzles us all with her massive vocabulary and the pace of her chatter. Loves anime.

Song san (furthest left): Korean international student. Comically sour attitude in class. Likes women.

Didier san (behind Koh): Told me to eat at the Truck Stop in Saukville, WI; I ate there for breakfast today and am still full.

Petkus san (white shirt behind me): My best buddy in class, likes Manu Chao, Jiujitsu, and talking half in Japanese and half in English (outside of class only of course). It ends up sounding really hilarious because there's no concept of plurality in Japanese, but he puts an "s" on the ends of things, etc. I guess you wouldn't understand unless you knew Japanese. You loser.

Hammond san (with the hat): Her Japanese sounds really nice because she has a high and sweet voice, and good pronunciation. Has a cute little boyfriend, too, and they hold hands before class.

Cho san (far right): Asked me in perfect English to be her ESL teacher.

Those are some of the sparkling good friends on whose coattails I struggle through the dangerous and prickly obstacle course that is learning Japanese.