I have been here 2 weeks. I am surrounded with a new way of life. It's been great. I have been able to pick up basic Japanese. But there is no real need. I feel much like I presume the hispanics feel in America. Everyone is so willing to learn basics of their language that it's okay that we don't speak Japanese. I haven't had to say much other than trying things out and to be polite.
In Misawa, things are different. Since there is a military base here, most of the people know basic English. When going to a restaurant, they say things in English, likewise we say things in Japanese. But it's not scary. It's the basics: Konnichiwa (Hi), Arigoto Gozaimiasu (Thank you), Kuidisai (Please).
The biggest difference is how much we point. We point to our food, point to our size, point to the price. But I don't feel like much of an outsider.
What I find funny is that they still will speak Japanese too us. I mean looking back I do the same back home. Hoping they know some words. But I have never been on this end of the spectrum.
If anything I am more nervous of doing something they find disgraceful than I am with learning the language. But everything I read on etiquette tells me that being a foreigner it's OKAY that I don't always get it right. So even that isn't much of a problem.
Buying Bender (my new puppy) was probably the most conversation I had with a Japanese nationalist. Sometimes they understood us, sometimes we didn't understand them. But we got through it, relatively hassle-free.
So I guess what I am saying is the shock was in my head more than it is out here. Things might be different if I didn't live so close to base, if I wasn't with Mike and all his friends.
For now I still see the overcast
I seem to be constantly waiting for the storm to hit.
But I've began doubting... doubting it is even a storm at all.
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