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And now, it's story time.
The first time I went to Japan, back in January 2004, I had this moment where I was sitting in Starbucks across from Melpark Hall (waiting for the lines for 'Remarkable First Match' to start, actually .^^ ), and this girl came up to me. She gestured to the empty seat next to me and said "koko de ii?" Though my knowledge of Japanese then was even less than it is now, I knew those two main words ("koko" = "here" and "ii" = "good"), and was able to put that and her gesture together to understand she was asking "is it ok to sit here?"
I felt like I'd learned something. It made me happy.
And so I tucked that information away in my mind as I nodded and said "un" ("yeah").
Several days later I had to take the Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo, and my seating on the train was general. I didn't have any assigned seat. When I got on the train I saw, much to my dismay, that there weren't any seats by themselves; they were in rows of two, and there weren't any pairs that didn't already have someone in them. So I saw a guy sitting by himself, and dug up my newly learned phrase to ask him "koko de ii?"
And he said "un."
I was happy again, both that I'd learned and used the phrase correctly, and...well, that I had a place to sit.
Well, the end of the story is that the guy slept the entire trip so it was rather peaceful and I didn't have to worry about trying to make any more conversation. But that's not the point.
Actually...there is no point. I just remembered that because one of the dialogs in my Japanese textbook that I was reading today had the line "Kohii ga ii? Ocha ga ii?" ("is coffee ok? is tea ok?" or a better translation would be "would you like coffee or tea?") This may seem like basic dialog for the level I'm in now, but it's actually just part of something bigger. But that part specifically, reminded me of that time.
And despite the bull with my bank account depleting the funds I'd saved to a mere $50... .-_- ... I am now more determined than EVER to go this winter. Because of all the bullshit surrounding it, my resolve has been steeled. 'Cause that's just the way I am.
In fact, I've put it into a mathematical equation:
bullshit (goal × problems) = determination^10
...or something like that.
The first time I went to Japan, back in January 2004, I had this moment where I was sitting in Starbucks across from Melpark Hall (waiting for the lines for 'Remarkable First Match' to start, actually .^^ ), and this girl came up to me. She gestured to the empty seat next to me and said "koko de ii?" Though my knowledge of Japanese then was even less than it is now, I knew those two main words ("koko" = "here" and "ii" = "good"), and was able to put that and her gesture together to understand she was asking "is it ok to sit here?"
I felt like I'd learned something. It made me happy.
And so I tucked that information away in my mind as I nodded and said "un" ("yeah").
Several days later I had to take the Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo, and my seating on the train was general. I didn't have any assigned seat. When I got on the train I saw, much to my dismay, that there weren't any seats by themselves; they were in rows of two, and there weren't any pairs that didn't already have someone in them. So I saw a guy sitting by himself, and dug up my newly learned phrase to ask him "koko de ii?"
And he said "un."
I was happy again, both that I'd learned and used the phrase correctly, and...well, that I had a place to sit.
Well, the end of the story is that the guy slept the entire trip so it was rather peaceful and I didn't have to worry about trying to make any more conversation. But that's not the point.
Actually...there is no point. I just remembered that because one of the dialogs in my Japanese textbook that I was reading today had the line "Kohii ga ii? Ocha ga ii?" ("is coffee ok? is tea ok?" or a better translation would be "would you like coffee or tea?") This may seem like basic dialog for the level I'm in now, but it's actually just part of something bigger. But that part specifically, reminded me of that time.
And despite the bull with my bank account depleting the funds I'd saved to a mere $50... .-_- ... I am now more determined than EVER to go this winter. Because of all the bullshit surrounding it, my resolve has been steeled. 'Cause that's just the way I am.
In fact, I've put it into a mathematical equation:
bullshit (goal × problems) = determination^10
...or something like that.
