She Wanted Water, Got Soup: English at a Tokyo Vending Machine

English transcript

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I had been living in Tokyo for three weeks, and I still could not understand the vending machines.

They sold hot coffee, cold coffee, soup, ties, and something that looked like a small plastic egg.

I loved the city, but every day brought a new small confusion.

On Tuesday morning, I stood in front of a machine near my apartment.

I wanted water.

The machine had 40 buttons, and every button had a different picture.

I pressed one button, and the machine made a happy sound.

A can of hot corn soup fell out.

Okay, I said to the machine.

That is not water, but thank you.

A man in a gray suit stopped next to me.

He looked at the soup in my hand and smiled.

He wished me a good morning and asked if I was having soup for breakfast.

I told him I had wanted water, but the machine chose for me.

He said the machine knows what I need, that it is very wise.

I asked if it was and reminded him that yesterday it gave me a small towel.

He said that was also wise because you never know when you need a towel.

I laughed.

The man bought a can of coffee and walked away.

I drank the soup on a bench in the small park.

It was warm and sweet, and I had to admit it was better than water.

At lunch, I met my friend Yuki at a ramen shop.

Yuki was a student who practiced English with me, and I practiced Japanese with her.

We were both bad at each other's language, which made us perfect friends.

She asked how my morning was and told me I looked like a person who had fought a machine I said I had that the machine won and that I had soup for breakfast She said corn soup was normal there and that sometimes she had soup and rice and called it breakfast I told her that in my country breakfast is bread and coffee Simple with no surprises.

She said surprises are good, that today the machine gave me soup, and tomorrow it would give me a tie.

I said I do not wear ties.

She said then it would give you a tie and you would start a new fashion.

We ordered ramen.

I tried to eat with chopsticks, and the noodles kept escaping.

Yuki watched me with a kind smile.

She said I was improving, and that last week I ate with a spoon.

I said last week I was hungry, and today I was proud.

She said proud and hungry was a good combination.

I told her that in my country, we say a hungry person is an honest person.

She said that in her country, we say even a hungry person should not drop noodles on their shirt.

I looked down.

There was a small spot of soup on my white shirt.

I sighed and said the machine gave me a towel yesterday and I did not bring it.

She said, see, the machine knew, and that I should listen to machines.

After lunch, I walked to the train station.

I had a job interview at a small English school.

I was nervous, and my shirt had a soup spot.

I tried to hide the spot with my bag, but the bag was too small.

On the train, an old woman sat next to me.

She looked at my shirt and opened her handbag.

She took out a small packet of wet tissues and gave it to me, without a word.

I thanked her and said it was very kind.

She said you had a spot and I had tissues, and it was simple.

I told her she was like the vending machine, that she knew what I needed.

She said the vending machine was smarter than her because it never runs out of tissues.

I cleaned my shirt.

The spot was still there, but it was smaller.

I felt better.

I thanked her and told her I had an interview today.

She asked if it was for a job.

I said yes, that I wanted to teach English.

She said then I must smile because a smile is the best shirt.

I smiled.

She nodded and got off at the next station.

At the interview, I met the school director, Mr. Tanaka.

He was a small man with big glasses and a very serious face He asked me to sit down He asked why I wanted to teach English in Japan I said because I love this country and because I want to help people communicate.

He said good, and asked if I could explain the difference between I have been and I have gone.

I said yes, that I have been to Japan means I visited Japan, and I have gone to Japan means I am in Japan now, or I went and I am still there.

He said correct.

Then he asked what I would do if a student falls asleep in my class.

I said I would ask them to stand up and teach the next sentence.

He said interesting, and asked what if they refuse.

I said then I would let them sleep, because a sleeping student is a quiet student.

Mr. Tanaka laughed for the first time.

His serious face broke into a wide smile.

He said I had humor and that it was important, because students learn better when they laugh.

I said I hoped so and that I laugh at myself every day.

He said then I would be a great teacher and asked when I could start.

I asked if tomorrow was possible.

He said tomorrow was good, but first I should buy a new shirt.

I looked at my soup spot and laughed.

I told him the vending machine gave me soup, the train lady gave me a tissue, and now he was giving me advice.

that everyone was taking care of me.

He said that is Japan, that we take care of each other, even the machines.

I left the school with a new job and a small smile.

I walked past the same vending machine near my apartment.

I stopped and looked at it.

I told it that it won, but that tomorrow I wanted water.

I pressed a button.

The machine made a happy sound.

A can of cold coffee fell out.

I said, close enough.

I opened the coffee and sat on the bench in the park.

The sun was warm and the city was loud and busy.

I felt happy.

I had a job, a friend, and a strange relationship with a machine.

Tomorrow I would start teaching.

Today I would drink coffee and watch people.

A small boy walked by with his mother.

He pointed at me and said something in Japanese.

His mother smiled and bowed to me.

I bowed back.

I did not know what they said, but I understood the smile I thought maybe I didn need to understand everything that maybe I just needed to say yes to the soup I finished my coffee and went home to prepare for my first class In my bag, I put a small towel, a packet of tissues, and a can of corn soup.

I was ready for anything.

The next morning, I stood in front of my first class.

Six students looked at me with curious eyes.

I took a deep breath.

I said good morning, that my name was Anna, that I was from Canada, and that yesterday a vending machine gave me soup for breakfast.

The students laughed.

I smiled.

I knew it was going to be a good day.

After class, Yuki was waiting outside.

She asked how it was and if anyone fell asleep.

I said no, but that one student asked me why I had a soup spot on my shirt.

She asked what I said.

I told her it was a fashion from my country.

She asked if they believed me.

I said they wrote it down in their notebooks.

Yuki laughed so hard she had to hold the wall.

She said I was a dangerous teacher.

I said I was a teacher who learns from machines.

We walked to the ramen shop together.

I ordered the same ramen as yesterday.

This time, I did not drop any noodles on my shirt.

Yuki said I did it, that there was no spot.

I said I was improving.

She said next week I could try a fork.

I said one step at a time.

We ate and talked about the next day, the next class, and the next small adventure.

I did not know what the vending machine would give me tomorrow, but I knew it would be something, and I was ready to say thank you.

That night, I wrote in my notebook, Japan, day 22.

I have a job, a friend, and a machine that knows me better than I know myself.

Tomorrow, I will buy a tie just in case.

I closed the notebook and went to sleep.

In the morning, the machine would be waiting, and so would the soup.

New dialogues and stories every day, available in 21 subtitle languages.

You can practice all these dialogues sentence by sentence using the interactive player on our website.

Link in the description.