'A Nyonya in Texas' by Lee Su Kim

A fun book to read

This book is easy to read. Finish this in 4 hours while sitting inside the shinkansen (bullet train). Not very heavy and not so big, it is easy to bring around, that's why I brought it with me when I went to Hiroshima for a 2 days trip. This book talks about the author's life in Texas, where her husband was posted on a job assignment. She described it in such a funny way until I laughed uncontrollably in the train, I think the other passengers must be thinking that, "Oh, that girl is crazy!" because I caught their curious eyes. Compared to the author's experience, my life in Japan is not without its difficulties also. The language is the main barrier here. I spoke little Japanese and barely enough to survive. Luckily, I understand Chinese character, so I can guess what is the meaning of the 'kanji'. I did that from shopping to working related stuff. There was a time I went to see a doctor and he was not well versed in English, so when I couldn't understand the word, he would write in 'kanji' and  I got his meaning. We communicated through written word although face to face.

Since Google translator do not really do a good job in translating the technical stuff, I had to find the meaning of individual word, then made up my own sentences while doing my reports here. Sometimes, I translated some document from Japanese to English for my colleague, and it is still manageable. But, when come to English to Japanese, I fared badly. My boss would try to correct my Japanese version report until all the word and sentence pattern is different. Trying very hard to learn Japanese! I hope that by the time I finish my assignment here, can at least chit chat with people in Japanese.  Mahatma!