Lost In Translation

Today my next door neighbor (18 years old) came over to give me "small present." He had cartoon refridgerator magnets from where he works, Mr. Donut. I accepted them with many thanks, and then invited him in. He came in and we drank Qoo and talked for a while, and I enjoyed getting to know him more. He graduates from high school in two days and loves American culture. His favorite shows are Friends and Sex and the City (yikes). He said several times that he is very excited about "Oska." (That took me a while -- he can't wait for the Japanese rebroadcast of The Academy Awards -- the Oscars.)

Anyway, pretty soon the mom came over, and for some reason, I just haven't enjoyed her as much. She is...aggressive in her happiness to have an American next door, and it just overwhelms me everytime. Anyway, they stayed for two hours and we talked about everything. At one point, the mom said that her 14 year old son likes to watch me. She said, "He looks at you with his eyes. Looking, looking, everyday. At 8:00 in the morning, everyday, he watches K1mber1y-san." It is at that point that I just don't even know what we're talking about anymore. This always happens -- the conversation is going along just fine and then someone says something and I get concerned. I started wracking my brain, "What am I doing every morning at 8:00?" I don't even know where I am -- have I already left for work usually? (I don't have a set schedule; I can go in kind of whenever I want.) She continued. "Seeing K1mber1y-san, he leaves for school and puts on his helmet (he rides his bike) and he is looking at K1mber1y-san. Everyday." I just said that I would like to meet him sometime. Then she said, "He not like American culture and not like to speak English." It came out kind of rude, but I just said ok, and that I understood. Which I totally didn't. And still don't.