Have I told you my favorite phrase in Japanese? Well, okay, my second favorite, number one being biiru mo hitotsu, kudasai. Alright, maybe it's not even my second favorite, but it's the one I have to tell myself most often.

Anata wa benkyou ni narimashita.

or

"You have become a lesson to be learned from."
Somehow this seems more accurate than the version I heard in America about saying "it was a learning experience." That sounds like it was something you may have chosen. Or more importantly, something you may choose to learn from or not.

Anyway, lemme sum up a few things I've learned first hand in the last week:

People seem to enjoy language learning more when the grammar is connected to something they're interested in. Like Hungarian animators, alcohol, hating their job, getting a mistress or cheating on your husband.

It doesn't matter what language you use. "I'll call you" doesn't mean squat.

Hip-hop is now accepted enough in Japanese pop culture for middle-aged, 2nd-tier celebrities to try and rap in commercials for things like barbeque sauce.

You can't wash a futon in your washing machine. And it's certainly not a good idea to hang it out to dry without first checking to see if it's going to rain all day as soon as you leave for work.

6 out of 10 Japanese women studying English at my school prefer Pretty Woman to Titanic... Which I guess means that it's more romantic to be swept away by a sensitive, wealthy, piano playing, rich opera fan with a lot of money than to already be wealthy and have a poor guy die for you.

But not by much.