Walking on the street
On the last post, I said the soy sauce I bought at a supermarket doesn't taste so good. I was wrong. It tastes TERRIBLE. It totally ruined my boiled egg this morning.
When I walk on the streets of Galati, normally people just give me a look that says "hey, he's a foreigner" as I pass them by. But rarely some people, always a group of guys, say "China!" or "Chinese!" to me as if it is something to laugh about. I get a bit upset every time someone says it to me, not because I was mistakenly called a Chinese rather than Japanese or American or any other nationality for that matter, but because people like them tend to look down on foreigners for no reason. And probably one of the most weird thing that I find about language, is that when someone insults you, you would understand maybe not the literal meaning, but the fact that you are being insulted, no matter what the language is. I don't blame those guys, however, because sadly I think it's a human nature to reject people who are not like you.
I guess this is one of the reason why I am here in the first place, to fill in the gap between "foreigners" and "locals," little by little. But how? What needs to be done in order to fill in that gap? All I can do now is to walk away from them as swiftly as possible to avoid further troubles, which of course does nothing but leaving that gap open. But without a common language, I cannot establish any communication with them, therefore there is no way to understand each other. In Japan there is a saying that goes like this when it's translated: "Boxers converse with their fists." Maybe it is true, but this is not a feasible solution, obviously. Hmm, what can I do.
For something more exciting - I've been looking for a horizontal bar to do some pull ups on, and found many...in a playground. There's almost nobody in the playground in the morning when I exercise, so it's just perfect. A tall Asian guy doing pull ups on a swing in a playground at 6 in the morning...I can't get much more creative than this.
When I walk on the streets of Galati, normally people just give me a look that says "hey, he's a foreigner" as I pass them by. But rarely some people, always a group of guys, say "China!" or "Chinese!" to me as if it is something to laugh about. I get a bit upset every time someone says it to me, not because I was mistakenly called a Chinese rather than Japanese or American or any other nationality for that matter, but because people like them tend to look down on foreigners for no reason. And probably one of the most weird thing that I find about language, is that when someone insults you, you would understand maybe not the literal meaning, but the fact that you are being insulted, no matter what the language is. I don't blame those guys, however, because sadly I think it's a human nature to reject people who are not like you.
I guess this is one of the reason why I am here in the first place, to fill in the gap between "foreigners" and "locals," little by little. But how? What needs to be done in order to fill in that gap? All I can do now is to walk away from them as swiftly as possible to avoid further troubles, which of course does nothing but leaving that gap open. But without a common language, I cannot establish any communication with them, therefore there is no way to understand each other. In Japan there is a saying that goes like this when it's translated: "Boxers converse with their fists." Maybe it is true, but this is not a feasible solution, obviously. Hmm, what can I do.
For something more exciting - I've been looking for a horizontal bar to do some pull ups on, and found many...in a playground. There's almost nobody in the playground in the morning when I exercise, so it's just perfect. A tall Asian guy doing pull ups on a swing in a playground at 6 in the morning...I can't get much more creative than this.
posted by Masato at
8:16 AM
2 Comments:
in response to your post about music on my blog, really i´ve realized that they use the accordian a lot here, as well as lots of cool kinds of african drums (i wish i knew what they were called) :D i´ll have to send you some music so you can hear it for yourself...
and about this post...i completely understand. as your learn more and more of the language it will not only make you feel more comfortable with the locals, but you´ll be able to have a common ground for understanding...and who knows, you might find out that things that seemed insulting at the time might not have been meant that way at all, sometimes it´s just a cultural thing. give it time, it will get better :) and about the working out thing, i run up and down the stairs in the apt building where i live...everyone thinks i´m crazy, the short blonde american girl running around at 11pm, ha ha ha :)
hang in there and be open, it´s the best thing you can do to bridge the gap :D
>Johanna
Drums sounds cool, I need to go to Brazil someday to here it live.
Maybe I'm taking things too personally. And you are right, I'm getting used to the stares already, although I can still feel it. I only felt being insulted a few times, and I know why they did. It's just a human nature that when boys get together in a group, they tend to behave that way.
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