adventures on the bus

[solarbird]

I was riding the bus from Bothell to the University District yesterday when it stopped at the stop nearest my house (the Uplake stop), and 19 Japanese schoolgirls crowded on in a gaggle. Yes, really. No, not in uniform. I listened to them, trying to pick out enough words to figure out what was going on, but couldn't - there were too many of them talking at once, and it was too loud. (Perhaps they were from Osaka. -_^)

Anyway, I wrote bad haiku about it. (And I'm sure I botched the grammar. But I'm not fixing it here, this is what I wrote in my little book. ^_^ )

十九日本人
このバスただいま
分かりません

19 Japanese people
stepped up onto this bus
I don't understand

alternatively, in intentionally mixed language:

19日本人
boarded my bus at Uplake
次桜木町

19 Japanese people
boarded my bus at Uplake
Next stop, Cherry Tree Train Station

Eventually I ran into some of them at U. Village, which explained things. But it was pleasantly unexpected (and a little bit surreal) at the time.