American style English please in a natural speaking speed.
Thank you in advance!
Ringo (^^)
Today, I was interviewed by a newspaper journalist while I was looking at Japanese calligraphy at a museum.
It was my mother's exhibition that she holds once a year, as she is a calligrapher.
It's kind of funny that I just was on local news last week, because I got interviewedwhile I was working out at the gym. Although it is said that TV viewing rate has been falling off, maybe because it was the evening news, I received many phone calls from my friends who noticed that it was me.
Back to today's interview by the newspaper, it left me with a bad aftertaste. Finishing the interview, he asked me my name. I answered it.
The problem was the next question.
"How old are you?"
I came up with an idea that lots of people who don't need to know my age will know it!
"Huh? Should I say it?"
"Yes!"
"I don't want to."
After repeated arguments for a short while, he wrote it off. It's alright for me, but I felt kind of bad. Refusing someone, like even towards bell ringers, often makes me feel bad.
I remembered that an American lady, who ran an international school in Japan, got mad because the newspaper revealed her age without asking her about it directly, when the school was in the paper.
I don't fully understand why ages are so important in this case. I was just a viewer of the exhibition..
Is it a Japanese thing that one's age is put in parentheses after his/her name?
You know, mine is my top secret! lol
(^v^) /
I hope my accent isn't too different then what you were looking for ^^