I Met a Guy Who...

A throwback to shortly after I arrived in Japan. I was one in a group of sixteen that arrived in April. We were locked together in the training center, located in a smaller town away from all the bustle of the large cities.

With a large group, it becomes easy to form sub-groups. The core of my sub-group was formed that first night in Japan, when me and two guys walked two hours from our training center to Ikebukuro. Ended up in a maid café. It was strange. Don't think I'll go back.

By the end of the first week of training, you know which people you would rather not sit in the common room with first thing in the morning when you're sleep deprived and still mildly jetlagged.

That morning, I dragged myself into the lounge. It was some early hour that I hope to never see again. My first thought is 'coffee" so I head straight for the water boiler. One of the guys from the 'bukuro maid café walk was at the burner. I mutter "hi" and stare groggily at the water boiler. (Probably wishing for real coffee and not instant like every morning since I arrived.)

Then I hear "can I ask you a question?" Now, I've been hanging out with this guy, so I know questions are probably traps. But, that's what makes them amusing. I agree, and he then goes "what is this stuff on the hotdog?"

I look in the pot, and there is a peeled hotdog rolling around. These were stuffed hotdogs too, so chunks of cheese were falling out. The hotdog skin was shredded on the counter, and he has one he was about to peel in his hands.

Still thinking this is some sort of trap, I ask if he knows what hotdogs are made out of. He names the key part- wrapped in intestines. I tell him that's what it is. It's the skin. And he goes "okay so it's not plastic?" I assure him it isn't, and that it's supposed to be on. He decides to try boiling the other with the skin on.

Well, this brought up a question of my own, "have you... never had hotdogs before?"

His answer was that he didn't make them on his own until he left for college. And then he added, "I didn't buy them much because they were such a pain to peel. I couldn't understand why people said they were easy. And they don't taste that great."

Okay, so this kid never made his own hotdogs until he was eighteen. But then moved into a place with roommates, started peeling hotdogs, and no one said anything. He peeled hotdogs for four or five years. In front of other people.

Well, I'm way too tired to process all this, so I just get my coffee and sit. He joins me with his hotdogs. He bites into the one with the skin on and "Wow, these are really good. All the cheese stays in and everything."

Yes. I met a guy who peeled hotdogs. He was also the first in our group to drop out, taking us from sixteen to fifteen before training ended.