(no subject)
i:m reading Reading Lolita in Tehran right now. it:s a novel that i:ve had for over a year; i bought it used from the mcpl after having seen it on a professor:s class reading list. i:m about halfway through and feel somehow that it is more meaningful now than it could have been had i read it a year ago. it:s a first person narrative memoir about the authors' life in iran, traveling to and from america, and the idea of 'feeling at home'. home has always been more of a who-i:m-with sort of thing rather than a where-i-am and i know that:s true for many people, especially living in bloomington. my whole life i thought i:d travel and i:ve done it, kind of. i:ve made it to the otherside of the globe and i:ve finally stopped sobbing and realized last night that i:ve maybe even lost five pounds and the baby josh is taking good care of me. so now i can breath more freely and no more waking up in panic and reading is much easier. this book talks about more novels than Lolita and has become something of a comfort to me. she feels alien in her own country and i feel so incredibly alien in my own skin.
riding my bike to and from work has proven to be a crucial 7-9 minutes (14-18 minutes total) in my day.
josh keeps telling me to be brave about asking for help in english because i am so worried of offending someone. the other day, though, an older lady stopped me while i was eating curry and started to speak in japanese. i looked at her and smiled a bewildered grin and she said 'you don:t speak japanese. okay, but you use chopsticks like a japanese' and then her and her friend gave me some candy and helped me figure out where to put my bowl when i was finished. the people that consent to help me out by using even the most basic of english are like little angels and the heavens open up and the world straightens out a bit.
riding my bike to and from work has proven to be a crucial 7-9 minutes (14-18 minutes total) in my day.
josh keeps telling me to be brave about asking for help in english because i am so worried of offending someone. the other day, though, an older lady stopped me while i was eating curry and started to speak in japanese. i looked at her and smiled a bewildered grin and she said 'you don:t speak japanese. okay, but you use chopsticks like a japanese' and then her and her friend gave me some candy and helped me figure out where to put my bowl when i was finished. the people that consent to help me out by using even the most basic of english are like little angels and the heavens open up and the world straightens out a bit.