i think being surrounded by american friends and taking classes in english has warped my mind a little. today i was rather surprised to look around in my level three japanese class and realize that i am the only american/person who's first language is english (we've got koreans, taiwanese, chinese, an italian, and a guy from switzerland [i know right? cool stuff yo]. not that i mind of course, but it was a little odd considering.
now i am the go-to-for-english-assistance person, despite the fact that everyone in that class speaks it too. need an american opinion, see kiah. want to know what american college to study abroad at, see kiah. best american food, see kiah. even the sensei-tachi (teachers) consistently make comments about how they wish they were as good at english as me.
i'm feeling a mix of awkwardness/shame/amusement from the whole situation: awkwardness stemming from that fact that i don't want to give a wrong impression of america when i give my opinions on issues (i'm just one!); shame because i can't believe i was so pompous to think that just because i know lots of people from other countries who speak english, doesn't necessarily mean that they feel comfortable speaking it (or even want to), and i shouldn't have assumed that just because america has a lot of influence in the world that everyone already knows all about it; amusement because i have no doubt that my classmates know far more about english grammar/sentence-y stuff than i do, despite it being my first language.
lesson that kiah was taught ages ago but actually learned today: america is not the greatest country. certain things about it are certainly nice, like really tasty mexican food right down the road from my house, but yeah, it's only one nation out of about two hundred.
ahhhhh i need to be careful to make sure i don't become that obnoxious gaijin. for now, i shall continue being super jealous of my chinese friends for knowing a billion kanji already~
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