October 18, 2014
1. Reading Japanese:
- The hardest thing is not being able to read just about anything. Not only can I not understand my own homework, my class schedule, or the restaurant's menu, not being able to read adds to the overall stress! When writing my homework, if there is a word or character I don't understand, it can stop me from understanding the whole sentence. It makes life very difficult.
2. Language:
- Some might wonder why this was not the first difficulty. Well, if you can read, you can get by without talking much. But these go together. Not being able to understand instructions, whether it being in class, on the train, from our teacher or from a friend, can be quite frustrating. It's also easy to misunderstand someone, and then do something completely different. Basically, my whole life depends on how much I can really understand. And when asking questions, or simply talking, it can be quite difficult to express yourself in a way that the listener can understand.
3. Culture comprehension:
- This one also relates to the first two, and it's the meaning of the words and how I interpret them. You see, when you hear something in your native language, your brain interprets it one way. But that same word in another language will be interpreted differently. Due to this, of all the things I'm told to do, hand in, or fill out, I forget a lot of it. Why? Most of the time it's my own fault but many times, I can see that I didn't fully understand what was expected of me. Because of this, it is also hard to understand the intentions of people here, so it's hard to know who means well, and who doesn't.
4. Shopping:
- This one is probably the reason why I miss Canada: in Japan, I don't always find the equivalent of what I'm used to. And when I do, it's three times smaller. The other day, I wanted to buy cucumbers, but I found out, after passing by that section 4 times, that they only have very tiny ones. This is the same way for pretty much everything: note pads, pencils, food, everything is in smaller size or quantity. And they don't seem to have deodorant sticks... This makes everything more time-consuming, and can be quite limiting at times.
5. Space:
- Last but not least, the lack of space is hard to get used to. It's not really something you notice at first, but after being in many places, you get this feeling that you're always constrained. You have to be much more concerned about other people, about where you place your belongings, and even how you place yourself in a room. If not, you could unknowingly cause grief to the people around you.
- Last but not least, the lack of space is hard to get used to. It's not really something you notice at first, but after being in many places, you get this feeling that you're always constrained. You have to be much more concerned about other people, about where you place your belongings, and even how you place yourself in a room. If not, you could unknowingly cause grief to the people around you.
So this was just a quick overview of the top 5 difficulties I encounter everyday here in Japan. There are many more, but I haven't clearly defined them yet and they are perhaps only related to me, but that's another story!
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