Coming Down From My Cloud
Before I left for Japan, I had in the back of my mind the idea that it will be difficult living in a foreign country with people that speak a different language. But I didnt focus on that fact; it just seemed like by living in Japan everything would work itself out. By simply standing on Japanese soil and breathing Japanese air I would naturally become fluent. Even that first week after I arrived, I found I was able to talk to people (albeit with broken Japanese). I could cash travelers checks, order food, and even have small conversations with people. But having lived with a host family for one week, and having to communicate ideas far more complex than `I need to go to the train station,` I see that communication will be a lot more difficult than I had thought. Don`t get me wrong, my host family is great. But I just lack the vocabulary to adequately express myself, as well as the experience speaking and listening. It`s like there are two worlds around me. One is the world I cannot understand, where people talk really quickly and use words Ive never heard before. The other is the world I can understand, where people talk really slowly for me. My family operates in the former world, but when they talk to me or when I talk to them they slow down so I can follow them. They are very patient and try to help me say what I want to say, especially my host mother, but it takes a lot of effort for both me and the person I`m talking to. So my host brothers (age 12 and 16), I try to ask them a few questions each day about school or sports or whatever, but we never actually have conversations. They`re young, they don`t really want to sit around waiting for me to form sentences. The mom and dad are more patient and I usually end up talking to them a lot. I ask, `how do you say blah blah blah in Japanese` at least 10 times a day, as well as `what does blah blah blah mean.` I`m not complaining about my family at all, it`s just I thought I`d be able to communicate with them better and build a really strong relationship. It`s really hard to feel at home when you can`t even understand the conversation at the dinner table. But between all the stuff I`m learning in Japanese class and the practice I`m getting at home, hopefully this Japanese thing will come a little easier with time.