January 10, 1990
It's easy to feel isolated here. I live in a silent bubble where I can understand neither the spoken nor written word. I've developed a new empathy for the deaf. I live a fairly ordinary life, but one without words.
In the five months here, JQS and I have surrounded ourselves with English-language books and movies. Our apartment is a stronghold of English words.
This might seem a contradiction of our purpose and intentions. I know we moved here to immerse ourselves in Japanese. But the difficulties of learning it are great. If we speak Japanese, everyone responds in English. None of the Japanese we know have the time or patience or the ability to teach us. And we seem unable to just "pick it up" like people do in books. We are so exhausted with the struggle to communicate during the day, that when we come home we have no heart to study. We are so desperate for English, that we get up at 2AM to watch the English-simulcast of old episodes of "Dynasty".
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
January 10, 1990
Share Your Thoughts
The trouble with getting away from it all is that one begins almost immediately to recreate ones comfort zone.