Rafael Caetano wrote:

> I've tried the izakaya thing. I can always strike up some
> conversation and  there's always and ojisan insisting to
> buy me a drink. But for some reason not only I am
> unable to retain what I learned, I sometimes end up
> forgetting about the whole thing in the very next day. I've
> no idea why.

Alcohol may have something to do with it. It loosens the tongue all right,
but freezes up the brain cells!

> I've tried night clubs too, with similar results (but with
> chicks instead of ossans).

More fun, I guess, though I've met a lot of women in izakayas too, and it's
probably cheaper.

Anyway, to the point. When I was living in Granada (south of Spain) I had a
lot of Gypsy frineds, and they were always teaching me words (shoes are
"chapiri'", fire is "yaque", garden is "cubi", and so on), and the next day
I could repeat all the words back to them. They were amazed. The trick? I
jotted the words down. Most of the Gypsies couldn't read or write, so they
had no idea what a powerful tool that was.

Now, what got me started on that? I'm sure there's a moral in there
somewhere...

-- 
John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org