Shortly after winning the competition we came home as heroes. The toast of the town so to speak. We actually guested on this famous late night Talk show called MAD - Martin After Dark hosted by none other than Martin Nievera himself. When he asked about what stories we had to tell, this was what I said:
After the competition all the contestants had time to interact with one another. Our moms told us that if we needed more time they'll let us play and we'll just meet in the lobby after an hour. Poor me, it was my first time in a hotel. Both me and my duet partner didn't know what a lobby was. Apparently, so did most Japanese.
The hard thing about Japan is the language barrier. Barely anyone understands you if you speak in English. It's also difficult to know where you are because all the signs are in Japanese.
An hour later it dawned on us that we better find that "lobby". We first asked the front desk/reception, "where is the lobby?" Answered by, "Robby?" She called another person, "Robby, robby (followed by something unintelligible in Japanese )" this person came with much enthusiasm that our hopes were lifted up.
This guy was making some sort of gestures. He appeared to be miming something. All the while he was muttering, "Robby, Robby" it looked to me as if he was eating.
Lightbulb moment - I knew right away he was referring to the food, LOMI or thick noodles. I said, "no I don't want to eat,I want to find this place called Lobby." It seems this did the trick as this long phrase in English was beyond the front desk's ability. They told us to wait as they are calling the hotel interpreter.
We waited for 15 mins and was worried that our moms were looking for us and that we were lost in this place where no one understood us. Finally, a well dressed lady appeared and asked us, "how can I help you?" ( in halting English) we asked, "where is the lobby?" She replied, "oooooh, this IS the lobby" (gesturing with her arms open wide).
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