Preparing for Japan!

Hello there!

Isn't it so that in your country you also have this custom to say to foreign friends that they are welcome to stay at your house when they visit your country? Sometimes this is said out of politeness and sometimes it is really meant. 

After knowing a Japanese harpsichord player who repeatedly invited me to visit Japan, I finally decided after many years to accept her offer and visit her in Himeji. To prepare myself, I enrolled in a Japanese course. Fortunately my teacher was very experienced and had tons of patience. Still, after 1 year (the course takes 6 years) I'm only at the level "Me Tarzan, you Jane!".  I'm lucky that I mastered very well the expression "wakarimasen" which means "I have absolutely no clue what you're telling me!". I'm sure it will come in very handy.

This is the book we're using:

Which reminds me: I urgently have to learn how to ask for directions in Japanese. It's in lesson 18 but we stopped at lesson 16. Anyway, the direct flight takes about 13 hours, so there's still enough time left to learn the difference between left and right (the hand which has the thumb pointing to the right is your left hand).

Time to pack. Now, where did I leave my toothbrush and my spare underpants?