Thumping the Head

Teresa from the Midwest has been living in Japan for almost thirty years. Back in her first year, she worked with Elin and me teaching English. She's an excellent artist. She said she never studied for tests in school, that she'd just listen in class and when she looked at the test question, if she didn't know the answer right away, she'd visualize a file cabinet in her head and finger through the files looking for the answer. She demonstrated tapping the fingertips of her right hand on the top of her forehead - like one would do if playing a piano or typing. She always passed.

Mudik was here today at our Sanur home to adjust or figure out why our on-demand water heater was intermittently a problem. I made black tea with milk and honey for him and his cohort Rahim,  I keep Bandi in her crate when Mudik is her because he's a Muslim who doesn't want to be near dogs. Bandi likes it in there so no problem. I asked Mudik how in Indonesian would one identify an on-demand water heater as opposed to one with a tank. How to call it. He tapped his fingers along his forehead while thinking of the answer.