Sensei desu!

 Time for a Japanese lesson from your favorite sensei.  I'm not trying to brag, but although my knowledge of Japanese may not be as large as I'd like, I do know quite a variety of words.  So for your benefit and information, here is the majority of the Japanese that I know.

• Watashi wa _____ des.  This means "I am ____."  Such as, watashi wa Ann des.  I am Ann!  I will show you another way to use this phrase later.
• Umaletah.  This is the verb for "to give birth."  I learned this thanks to my dear ex-roommate whose sister was pregnant in Japan.  This was the key word her family would use if she had her baby and Tomoko was not at home.  I used to think it meant baby-- but not so!
• Hen.  This means "weird".  (It also means "behold" in Hebrew!  Ben and I would say, "behold the weird hen" to help us remember!)  So now you can say, "I am weird" in Japanese.  Watashi wa hen des.
• Ringo.  This means "apple."  But "r"s are pronounced kind of like "l"s, so it almost sounds like lingo.
• Shiro.  This means white, which is a very important word for me.  So my name is kind of "Shiro Ann", which happens to be the same name as a popular food dish in Japan, so I'm told.  That should entertain the Japanese for about 2 minutes.
• Atama.  This is head.  It's the first word in my little hiragana teaching book, so I've read it about a million times. 
• In case this extensive list of useful vocabulary fails you when you're in Japan, you can always use the handy, wakarimasen.  This means, "I don't understand." 

There you go.  Sensei Ann-san has done her best to teach you all she knows. 

If anyone else out there knows any more useful vocab they'd like to share, please post a comment! 

PS-  I'd like to thank Tomoko, Ben, and Jimi's Book of Japanese for teaching me the words I've mentioned here.