Cell Phone Mile Stone

September came with a flurry of work at school. I was pinching yen to make it to the 25th of the month, when I would get my first paycheck. I tried not to be emotional about spending all the money I would get. I only get paid once a month. I only went to essential places: grocery store, maybe out to eat twice, and traveled nearby. I could barely handle routine cash exchanges in Japanese.

I held off buying a cell phone right away because I thought I didn't have anyone to call. I starting collecting people's phone numbers and by the end of September, figured it was time. One Saturday, I impulsively went to a cell phone shop. The salesman explained the pre-paid market as being served by 3 companies, of which his was the smallest. So I went to the next biggest down teh street and bought a Japanese language only cell phone with camera.

I thought it would force me to learn Japanese because it was a vital function that I needed to perform. It ended up only forcing me to be confused! Every time I wanted to use a feature, I had to experiment with teh buttons and double back through menus to get the right thing.

I used it on a few trips, but gradually my use of it became less and less. My co-worker chastised me for not getting an English-menu phone. My ambitions were good, but I just didn't have the written language skill to sustain use of a Japanese language phone. It was a reality check for me. It was okay to function in my language for something while I was learning another one.