Yes, I'll Have Another Beer Please

Absolutely true-to-the-letter comments made by the two Europeans I had dinner with tonight, whom I have been trying to avoid for the better part of six months but who managed to wrangle me into one last sushi meal before we go our separate ways:

"I am so sad, because today was Ukrainian day at the Aichi Expo, but we overslept and couldn't make it!"

"What, you don't eat fish? I could have sworn you ate fish! I really thought you could eat fish. Well, they have a seafood salad here."

"Chinese people are just so... rigid in their thinking. All they care about is money.... I don't know, maybe I would have had a different experience in China if I could speak Chinese. But I'm never going back."

"Anna, I can just see you... on the Weather Channel!"

"Japan has the perfect society."

"We're going to the Ukraine in the fall, but then who knows where we'll end up — we might even be your neighbors in New York!"

"Sea chicken? Is tuna? No, I don't think that's correct."

"OK, so maybe there were non-native Japanese instructors where you went to school, but I'm talking about famous universities in Britain! It will be impossible for me to get a position in one of those."

"I have the perfect idea for a new internet business venture."

"We are definitely coming to your wedding, Anna. We would not miss it for the world!"