“You speak French?”

            The two questions I got asked the most when I said I was Canadian: Is it always winter there? Can you speak French?

            “Hai, it’s my mother tongue.”

            “Dakara, o-mikuji wo douzo.” In that case, please take this o-mikuji, he handed her a small piece of paper with a series of kanji written on it. An o-mikuji was a fortune you could buy at most shrines, usually with advice about how to be happy and healthy. She could recognize a few kanji written, but not enough to read it. She would ask one of her friends...

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