Self-Congratulations
Written in 2005 and kept as it was, so some of it will have aged.
The daily frustrations of not being able to communicate easily mean that even the smallest victories are immensely satisfying and cause a hugely disproportionate amount of self-congratulation. Thus, I was quite ridiculously happy this morning when, having retraced my steps of the other night, I was able to find my keys in a Coco Ichiban curry restaurant using only Japanese to explain the situation and describe them to the staff.
The irony of course is that, though I was able to retrieve my keys, the night I actually ate at the curry shop, I still wasn’t able to perform the substantially easier task of ordering a meal correctly. Even so, it’s nice to know that I can fix some problems and that, even if I never become fluent, it won’t have been a complete waste of time! And in retrospect, it wouldn’t have really felt like I’d lived here at all if I hadn’t lost something.