Nikki continued on learning communicative English through high school and college, even after Mayumi quit!!! The more she practiced, the more she was able to communicate with her teachers and other native speakers. Eventually she seriously thought about going to the US!
The first opportunity came along when Nikki was a freshman in junior college. Her college sent a few students to its sister college in Montana every year. It wasn't LA or anywhere famous, but hey, it's still a chance! (No ofence to Montana people here!) Nikki applied for the exchange program and went through the selection process, which included English exam, interview, and whole kinds of paperwork. The school was nice enough to give her the written exam in Braille. And guess what! She passed it! She went to a small Cathric college in Helena, MT in January and February of 1988. What? Was she nuts??? No one with right mind goes to Montana in winter!!! That's what custom agents said at LAX! (Smile)
When she left for Montana, she thought her English was OK! It wasn't good, but she could carry out a decent conversation with her teachers. But boy she was wrong... It was like this:
Nikki: "Where is the Bathroom?"
Good Somaritan: Bla, bla, bla....
N: "Can you please say it again?"
GS: Bla, bla, bla...
N: "Thank you very much." (OK I don't understand a word!!! Now I really gotta go!!!)
Nikki could ask a question, but couldn't understand what people were saying in response! Her ears weren't used to the fast English that everyday people spoke! Being blind made things more complecated because she couldn't read signs or body language. When she went out to eat with American friends, she always said "I will have the same as my friend." hoping that she wouldn't get anything weird or she wouldn't like... That was the best she could do because she couldn't read the menu, nor understood someone reading to her...
In spite of language barriers, she really enjoyed her 2 months in Montana. By the end of her stay, she could catch up with one-on-one conversations while she was still left in the dust in a group. She could understand menus if her friend read it slowly. She could even follow the class a little bit. But right when she started to get the hang of her American life, it was time to go back.
What Nikki liked about the US was; people didn't make a big deal about her blindness. No one told her that she couldn't do something because she was blind. In America, she felt that she could try out many different things without her family or teacher or even friends telling her what she can & can't do!
On the airplane back to Japan, she had made up her mind that she would go back to the US once again in the near future, and everything after that was for that goal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Hi Nikki, Thanks for sharing your experiance with us!! I do have a question...is English Braille and Japanese braille the same? Or did you have to learn English braille? Seems like that would be very confusing!!
Hi Erin & Midnight,
Thanks for reading!!!
Japanese braille is similar to English braille. We use the same set of 6 dots, but different conbinations. So Dots 1 & 2 means one thing in English and another in Japanese. I had to learn Grade 2 English braille when I was in 7th grade.
Now that I do most of my reading/writing on the computer with speech and magnification, I'm forgetting braille! Shame on me!!!
Post a Comment