A Bad Feeling

After a certain point when living abroad, most people have a moment when they realize they are thinking in a foreign language.  I'm not sure if the period of time is different for different languages (a friend's dad told me he was dreaming in Spanish after living in a home stay for two weeks), but on average after about three or four months it kicks in.  Your brain re-sets.  Unfortunately it's not a complete process.  You still make lots of mistakes in the language your learning, though you're getting better.  The biggest thing you'll notice is that now you can communicate in English about as well as you can communicate in your second language.  Your English become broken, grammar is forgotten or morphed to fit the second language.  Every day words will escape you.  And the damage is permanent - you will never get back to the same comfort you had with English before you had the brilliant idea of acquiring a second language.

The only people you will be able to have a full conversation with at this point will be your fellow language students.  If they can also think half in English and half in your other language, you'll be set!  Over time, more and more words will be part of your second language.  By the time you go home, words like, 'See you!' or 'Wait a second' will feel strange and awkward in your mouth for a few weeks.

Ever since I got home from Japan, I was very curious to find out what Japanese phrases were going to stick to me the longest.  What would be the hardest to get used to saying in English.  Your native language is your native language.  It doesn't take too long to acquire it back and begin thinking full time in English.  But I have a winner - a word that doesn't have a good direct translation in English.

きもい　kimoi (to have a bad feeling)

きもい (kimoi) is really a contraction of two words that form a very common phrase, 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui).  Literally, is means 'feeling bad' or 'to have the feeling that is bad'.  But this is the simple explanation.  There are all sorts of phrases in English that we use instead the capture a portion,  but not the essence of 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui).  When you see a bug on the sidewalk, and say, 'that's gross!' in Japanese, you say, '気持ち悪い (kimochi warui).'  When you see a dark alley way, and say, 'that looks creepy,' in Japanese, you say, '気持ち悪い (kimochi warui).'  If you're watching a horror movie and the monster is about to brutally murder someone, and say, 'no!  I can't watch this anymore!' in Japanese, you say, '気持ち悪い (kimochi warui).'  To really get the proper sense of 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui), I want you to imagine a black, slimy bug with long tentacles that slithers along the ground.  Now imagine that it is crawling around inside of you.  You now have the true sense of 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui).  But 気持ち悪い (kimochi warui) takes too long to say.  That bug could crawl out of you before you finish speaking.  That is きもい (kimoi).

I have yet to find a phrase in English that has that same flavor of internal disgust.  It is being grossed out not by what you see or observe, but by something that manages to touch your soul.  Of all the many things I absorbed from Japanese, the apologizing, the round about questions, all of these things I have been able to easily turn into English mannerisms.  But nothing in the English verbal imagination can take the place of  きもい (kimoi).

The Real America

As election season starts up, the national media begins to talk about appealing to 'real Americans'.  This seems a little silly.  It suggests that there is one real essence, one true version of America.  There is no one true version of Philadelphia; there are different aspects, perspectives, neighborhoods and angles.  Some may be neater than others.  Some may have need of repair, and others do not.  If one dot on the USA map doesn't have a single 'real' version, how could the entire country?

July 4th has just past, a day that Philadelphia once played a prominent role in.  Though there were readings of the Constitution by Independence Hall, and a parade in historical costume, I thought I would share some photos of another real part of America. 

As a quick side note, some of the festivities around 4th of July can be very over the top.  A few years ago, the historical re-enactor who plays Ben Franklin and the woman who plays Betsy Ross were married by Mayor Nutter at city hall.

Waiting for Night to Fall at a Drive In Movie Theater

Drive In Movie Screen in Massachusetts

A Much Enjoyed Belly Rub

茶 Tea

Tea is something very special to me.  My parents are both avid tea drinkers, and in some ways the threshold of adulthood was when I started putting less sugar in my tea than either of my parents did.  But while they are partial to black tea, I have just begun to explore the vast variety of tea types.  In particular, I have discovered the wonder that is green tea.

Tea Gifted by an Aunt's Colleague

Green tea, just like black tea, comes from the tea plant.  The leaves are harvested, and dried.  In black tea, the leaves are then fermented, a process that gives the leaves their dark color.  Oolong tea is partially fermented leaves.  Green tea is not fermented at all.  Herbal teas, on the other hand, are usually made from other plants supplementing or instead of the tea plant.

Tea Plant Model from Chicago Field Museum

Though Japan is famous for its tea ceremony, in which the bitterness of tea is contemplated, green tea is often used as a flavoring for other, sometimes very sweet, foods.

Green Tea Flavored Soba Noodles from Uji

Green Tea Parfait With Ice Cream, Dango, Jello, and Orange

I was lucky enough to go to Uji, a suburbs of Kyoto famous for its green tea.  Both the soba and the parfait were eaten at an Uji cafe which, like most shops and restaurants in the area, specialize in green tea.  Green tea need not always be fancy.  In the lower right hand corner of the following picture, you'll see bottled green tea right next to 'Royal Milk Tea'.  The other picture is one of my own tea pot as well as a bottle of tea.

Japanese Vending Machine.  There are a variety of potions, from juice, to sports drinks, to hot coffee.  The cans at the top come out hot.  There is a small bottle of tea in the green bottle on the left hand side of the second row, and the right hand side of the bottom row.

My Tea.  The pot was purchased at a 100 yen store.  The bottle was purchased at Mitsuwa, just outside Chicago.

Green tea ice cream, a favorite of mine, is beginning to show up in the United States outside of Japanese food stores.  I myself hope that green tea is gaining more popularity as it moves west.