My last post was what I would consider a comical description of what my day to day scene can look like while trying to communicate when I, nor my partner in this adventure, can speak the language of where we are. To add to that, in a more serious tone, I’d like to share a blog post from another person I am here in Japan with that can relate to what I am going through. I’m not sharing this because I am involved in the experiences she describes but because I know and feel exactly what she is talking about.
An excerpt from her post reads: “Tomorrow, I leave Japan. For…for I’m not sure how long. Somewhere between 5 months and forever. The world around me will suddenly become legible again and I’ll understand what I hear around me for the first time in months, but this lesson won’t be lost on me the next time I see someone struggling with English in my home country. I’ll step up, help out, charades the shit out of it to help if I can. And smile, smile, I always understand when they smile.”
To me, her entire post is such a big lesson that I will be taking home with me and wherever else I may travel. And that feeling of being scared, lost, confused, and isolated is something I will always remember when I see someone struggling to speak in my language.
So please read …
lindsay ann 