spinning: Cowboy Bebop OST - NY RushIt's Thursday. They're my counting unit since I arrived on one and leave on one. I have two to go, and I leave on the third from now. It's a perfect arrangement because I can look forward to getting home in a short 3 weeks, but 3 more weeks is a good amount of time to spend on the language and the culture without too much wearing thin on me.When I felt totally useless a week or two ago, I realized since that I've felt like a kid. A small one. My fluency is about on the same level, and I'm constantly asking, "What's that?" not because I don't know what a salt shaker is, but because it's not in my vocabulary. Sometimes I get to play Taboo in Spanish to get around - "the thing from which comes water when you shower" and that's just as worthwhile as pointing and asking "What's that?" because I get practice saying something. Over time, you get used to certain sequences of words like you did when you were really young. At the same time, I'm taken aback by the fact that every dog is cute and every child is downright adorable. I had forgotten what it's like to be a child, and that's the moral of this story: we've all forgotten. College students insist they haven't: "Aww, no way, I loved Ninja Turtles!" I still watch it!" Toy and game designers always thing they're in the minds of kids because they're set in their theories of what's fun. If they really were, lack of innovation would never be a problem. No, the only way to truly feel the feeling of childhood again is to bring yourself down to their level. Like going to a country where you have the speaking skills of a 5-ear-old. Where everything you need to learn can be brought up by "What's that?" And where I, in particular, am bored stiff in school because I haven't discovered Plan II yet.College kids, beward. By the time you reach this age, you have forgotten what it's like to be a kid. So please, go abroad when you get the chance. It may be the only chance you ever get to turn back the clock.
