Culture Shock?

Something sits a bit askew. Now, be sure to not confuse this as meaning that there is some proper non-askewness. However, something is askew. To put it another way, let's recall those ever-so-fascinating tornado-like configurations that are at various museums across the states. You know; the ones where you roll a coin along the edge and it spirals lazily downward into a bin with a satisfying clink atop hundreds of other pennies and nickels. Where parents put on a big show of "allowing" their children to roll the money along, when truly the parents are just as giddily excited about the whole affair (or maybe that's just me?).

Well, that feeling of going in circles, sitting in a rut sort of, is definitely strong. Yet, from time to time, I notice that my Japanese is getting (slightly) better, that things don't feel as foreign, that familiarity is settling in a bit. So, like the coin contraption, though the coin goes in circles, no circle is the same. Actually, there's not even a circle to begin with. Yet, somehow, unlike spiraling coins, I doubt there's an epicenter to all this.

Maybe it's more like walking in the desert, where you can go straight east for days and feel like you haven't moved an inch.

Wow, now that we've filled the metaphor quota of the month, what the hell does all that craziness even mean? Well, to start, I'd really really (I mean, really) like to speak Japanese. Not just for practical day to day stuff, where it's not too difficult to get by, but more for meeting people, making friends and of course meeting cute, interesting, intelligent Japanese girls. Emphasis on point three. Hehe. Anyway, I haven't really jumped into any sort of community, made friends and all that jazz. I sort of feel like a cloud hovering above and watching but not participating. Why not? Well, Pops (or known as Mr. Bob by many) has this lovely saying, "excuses are like armpits, we all got two and they both stink."

I'll forgo the stinkage then and just propose that speaking Japanese would be helpful in meeting Japanese people in Japanese contexts. でも仕方がないね. What can you do?

Some may chock this all up to Culture Shock. Not to demean any experience of the aforementioned, but calling it such doesn't particularly help. However, the whole process here feels natural. Maybe you could liken it to working out, where there's a whole point of oh-my-god-this-sucks-ness and later you're like "wow, I'm glad I did that." Or in more gastronomical terms, half cooked cake kinda sucks, but fully cooked cake is awesome

Anyway, don't take them too seriously, as for one I'm neither a cake nor a bodybuilder (I know that comes as a shock), but also the metaphor's way too abstract. So let's just suffice it to say, that while I'm feeling a bit down and out of sorts, it seems natural and things are progressing in their own way. That can be trusted.

Well, folks, thanks for jumping in a reading this less razzle dazzle and more mushy feely post.

Ta ta for now.