To be illiterate

Regular grocery shopping is what I set out to do in my first week of moving to Tokyo. One hour on-emerged spent and exhausted! So this is what it felt like to be an illiterate! Looking at 'pictures' to figure out.A detergent or a softener? But hey this smiling woman on the label could be doing anything. I look around to ask- but who? How? Stone walled. The feeling is scary.

My husband and I refused to take a cab in the early days.Better to walk than stare blank at an equally blank face (cabbie).Or flail violent 'left'' and right' hands. And then it happened. Three magic words. 'Hidari'. 'Migi'. Massugu'. Left. Right.Straight. Voila.We could actually will our way to our destination now! We have come a long way since. To holding somewhat halting conversations with the cabbie about the weather,India or life in Tokyo. And not freezing at the thought of calling a cab.I am sure we have been forgiven for all our wrong innotations and impolite phrases!

How we bought our cycle in the first week of our stay deserves another blog!

Learning 'survival Japanese' is what we call it. And man ,its empowering.

Other useful phrases: (we parrot regularly)

arigato gozaimasu (thank you) - learn it as your plane taxis into Narita-its your life line

xyz (destination) made(mud-ay) onegashimasu (take me to xyz)- to the cabbie

koko de tomete kudasai (please stop here) - u r in a speeding cab remember?

ikura desu ka? (how much does this cost?)

hai hai (yes yes)

wakarimashita (i understand) - even if you didnt (nicely replaces the blank stare)

..or when your vocab runs out on you (soon) - Nihon-go wakarimasen (I dont understand Japanese) - meaning -I give up!