Knock Knock

In the past I've only ever experienced a few visits from strangers to my home, however I've had three already after being here only a week. Chihiro was with me when the first one came knocking, and he explained to her that he was going to test the water. He appeared semi-official, brandishing an ID card, so she let him in. Of course I couldn't read the ID card or understand what he was saying, so I played along, although I am naturally suspicious of door-knockers. He proceeded to fill a glass of water from our tap, then whipped out an unlabelled phial of clear liquid and put a few drops of it into the glass. The water in the glass turned yellow, which of course he knew would happen. This meant, he excitedly explained to us, that the water contained chlorine which was very dangerous to our health. He continued his spiel at a furious rate while I told Chihiro to ask him if he was trying to sell water filters to us (it was pretty obvious that he didn't work for the city water company). She didn't want to be so rude, so she politely told him we had to get ready to go out soon. It's probably good that I don't know the Japanese for "Not interested. Get Lost!"

The second person to visit was my next door neighbour. He was a bit surprised to meet a westerner but was very friendly, and we spoke about as much as my Japanese permitted. It's a strange feeling to only understand half of what's being said to you. He said something about "3 weeks" although I have no idea if he meant that's how long he's been there, or going to be there, or will be away on holidays for.

The third guy to come knocking actually made a shocked face, exclaiming "wahhh!?" as my face appeared in the doorway. Admittedly I don't look my best on saturday mornings. He must have been caught off-guard, because the next thing he said was something like "you're not Japanese are you?" "No", I replied with a smile, "I'm Australian." He then shook his head and greeted me formally and told me he was from a nearby shop, and said something about futons while pointing to my mailbox. I told him I already had a futon, but that didn't seem to put him off. He tried to explain again, but I obviously wasn't getting it, so he gave up and left. I heard him go on to my neighbour next, so I don't think I missed a unique opportunity.

I really should learn the phrase "I'm not interested in buying anything", however I'm sure it's very rude to say something so direct. Maybe I'd be better off feigning ignorance even when my Japanese is good enough to understand exactly what these salesmen are saying.