Saturday, August 21, 2010

The Mystery Beast o.O

Tonight, after showering and taking a bath, I went into the living room as usual.  My host mom was in her pajamas, sitting on the floor pillows. [They're called zabuton and there aren't couches here...just zabuton.]  She looked up from watching TV and just said "Uparupa." very solemnly.  It was the funniest moment.  Uparupa is a silly word already, and it is the only thing she said, just "uparupa," so it made me giggle.  I looked it up in the dictionary, but it wasn't there.  She tried to describe it to me, but all we could establish was that it was a type of pet, and that the TV show was about an animal hospital.   Finally, I looked it up on my computer.

uparupa [ウーパールーパ]








3 comments:

  1. HAHA!!!

    I think it's an Axolotl in english- an almost equally hilarious name :P
    "It permanently retains its larval features" and I think it is considered edible in Mexico.
    Julio Cortazar wrote a short story in Spanish on a magical encounter with one of them! Such a weird animal.

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  2. Um, Molly, you know about this fish????

    B, is there a pillow called a zafu too?

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  3. Axolotl! That's the only animal known that can reproduce brain cells when it loses them.

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