Annoyances – Part 1 - The Language and Communication

While I am having fun and making the most of being in Japan (As I hope you've seen), living somewhere so culturally different does have it's drawbacks. Life abroad, for me, is more 'extreme'. The highs are high and the lows are low; and Japan just got to me with a three fold attack of communication, the heat and the bureaucracy. I feel I need to vent a little to get this out my system and move forward and hoping my friends and family can give me some words of encouragement. Although I am still actually on holiday and I feel wrong being so annoyed on such a long vacation, but there is no holiday from Japan at the moment.

The language and communication was always going to be a problem. Japanese is ubber difficult, I while I really want to learn, with the grammar completely mixed up, 3 alphabets and tons of subtext, I would never be easy. People either assume I can speak no Japanese at all or I am fluent, never the grey area that I am actually in. Most people here in the countryside, once I stubble on a word they give up and don't try to repeat or explain in a different way. They assume I cant understand by any means. I know they are just not used to foreigners but it makes Japanese learning more challenging.

At school I'm asked to speak English and it's my job so I don't really get to practice there. While I'm out with Maki people always speak to her directly and avoid me at all costs, even the other day when I asked a waiter a question, he turned to Maki and answered to her and when they speak to Maki it's always too fast to grab the words. Japanese friends I make want to learn / practice their English and while I want to make more Japanese friends, I feel my Japanese isn't good enough on it's own. If I knew a little bit more it would be easier and if I knew a little less I would be learning more. Sometimes I feel like my Japanese is getting worse and every time I learn something new, there is always an exception to the rule and the more I learn the more complex it seems to become.

Not being able to read is a b****. Reading menu's is the worst. It either takes me half a day or I have to rely on picture or help from someone.

But put simply I don't understand, a lot. And 5 months of being clueless has taken it's toll. What at first was funny misunderstands has turn to frustration and I miss the freedom of general conversation, the getting of a joke and the interaction of strangers. I'm now studying harder than before encouraging Maki to speak to me more, hoping I can step up a level, but frustration at the language and not understand is at boiling point. I know it'll pass, but I must be strong.