Taifuu::Drowning in wind, rain, and sound

I had my first day of school today. My first class at 9:00 was Japanese level 7. It was challenging. A lot of people know more vocabulary than I do and it is frustrating that I cannot talk half as fast as some. However, the teacher was very talkative and it was interesting to hear her talk. Other than a few vocabulary words here and there, I understood everything she said.

Then, because of a taifuu (typhoon), the rest of the classes for the day were unfortunately cancelled. Thus, after buying a required notebook from the school store, called the 'co-op', I went home on the train and had to walk home in the typhoon. (To those who have never walked in a typhoon, I do not recommend it. It is an awfully tricky balancing act of shielding yourself from the rain while at the same time moving your umbrella in the opposite direction that the wind is blowing so that it does not turn inside out--oh, not to mention so you don't get blown away as well.) As I write this post, the wind outside is really terrible. My windows are shaking from the pressure and my balcony is soaked with rain.

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I noticed today on the train that when I'm alone, I feel really out of place. Not only do I not look Japanese (although I probably don't stand out as much as the tall, blond German girls), but I can't fully communicate in Japanese yet either. In Maryland, everywhere is so mixed that people don't really stand out as foreign. In a way, everyone is foreign. And no matter how strong an accent they may have, they are still speaking what my dad likes to call something like a 'new English'. Here, it's not like everyone has the same face, but they just look like they belong to the same people. If you don't look like them, they will try to speak to you in English. (Which I hate, thinking "please, don't") I guess it's something that I'm not yet used to.

Although I am much more proficient in Japanese than Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson, I feel a bit 'lost in translation' right now. Perhaps it's a little different, yet the same in some ways as well. I feel lost in a new place and new society where I know very few people and don't have a very good handle on the language yet. It can be quite lonely.

In the morning, it is very quiet on the train. No one speaks. And yet, there are colorful advertisements everywhere, an automated  voice announces each stop (in both Japanese and English), music plays as the doors are about to close, and small screens on the train flash television advertisements non-stop. Then, if you go into a store, as soon as you step in, a girl (usually with a nasal voice) will say "Irasshaimase~Gojiyuu ni goran kudasaaai~" ["Welco~me. Please feel free to take a loooook~"]. If it's a television store, all the televisions will be on with something different: a concert, an advertisement, a news program... Even if it's not, a mix of Japanese and American music will be playing overhead, small screens will be advertising different products, and sometimes even a voice will be going on and on through a speaker announcing products throughout the store. Overall, I've come to think Japan is a loud place. Often, I feel like I'm drowning in sound.