Post #5

I woke up in a frenzy. The conductor had already announced my stop twice already and just before the doors closed, I was able to squeeze out onto the platform. Usually I would feel extremely embarrassed in a situation like this, but I was still shaking myself out of the nap when the local train disappeared into the distance. I gathered myself and headed out the station. The walk back home was no more than 5 minutes, and since the weather was often humid, I took my time walking. Even at my slow pace, I was able to pass this old granny with a noticeable hunchback. She said, "good afternoon," to which I replied, "good afternoon."

When I finally got home, I tiptoed into the apartment. I lived alone, so it wasn't like I was expecting someone to be at my place. Being quite paranoid, I can always imagine the apartment being broken into and the burglar was still inside. Like any other day, the only noise came from the drapes in the living room, swaying from a slight breeze. Like clockwork, I walked over to my computer to check my mail. As it was waking up, I noticed a book on my bookshelf. It had been one that I brought over to Japan, but there was something peculiar about it. I took it off the shelf and examined it from front to back. I couldn't read a speck of it. I took another novel off my shelf. The same thing. My eyes bulged. "This is not happening," I told myself. I turned on the television and for the first time, I understood everything the news anchor was saying. Then it was true, I had somehow lost the ability to comprehend English. So I asked myself, "what language am I thinking in?" I realized my thoughts are instinctively in Japanese and as hard as I tried, it remained that way.

While my brain was processing the logic behind this phenomenon I just wanted to shut it off. I just wanted to clear my head. I know what this all means. If I can no longer think in the same language that I had been conditioned to up until this afternoon, it means I am no longer myself. This new me has come to replace me.

It is not possible for everything to be translated.