BGM: Faye Wong - 夢中人
It was a day off for me, but it was raining so I spent my precious morning time really lazily (I even slept again!). After that, from 10:30 am I started using ZOOM to attend a meeting about English on ZOOM. Today we tried to make some sentences by using the useful phrases as "get along with" and "be far from". Suddenly, I made a sentence "Russia has to get along with Ukraine". Yes, it is a clearly controversial or tough one so I got embarrassed. But other members accepted this with kindness so I felt pleasure a lot. And also I tried to make another one "I'm far from bilingual"... After that, a member from India taught us an interesting concept "the millionaire mind". It was really grateful time. I went to the library and borrowed some books. I had wanted to borrow Kazuko Fujimoto's ones (one is about feminism in America, and another is about Richard Brautigan). But I found Karen Cheung's "The Impossible City" at the "new books" corner. I decided to read that by my inner voice.
I finished reading Dan SHAO's book about translation. It must contain a lot of "ingredients" (I want to say about the topics or pieces of idea this book has). But it is never "too much" for me. I have been attracted by the topic about Kurt Vonnegut (his works themselves, and how he has been read in Japan through translation). I have to say this. I have NEVER read his books so I reserved some books of collections of his short stories by the site of the library. Learning about various Japanese translators who did Vonnegut's masterpieces into Japanese (as Hisashi Asakura), I thought that it was good for me or us not to become a translator (or I have to admit that "I could never be"). Because translation means not replace English words with proper Japanese words automatically/mechanically. I need to learn the writer/author's background, and also I have to try to replace words by thinking how they belong to their context. I have to read every sentence as carefully as I can... It is really sensitive. I learned that simple and important fact by that Dan SHAO's work.
This afternoon I tried to translate the questions a Russian woman had sent to me/us into Japanese by myself. I have to say this that my skill of translation is really poor (we have to follow the fact about translation I wrote above). I want to be careful not to misread or make mistakes through that translation process... And suddenly I thought how I could start living my life with autism peacefully, like making harmony. It's important for me that I am now enjoying being a member of the "self-help" group. By joining that group, I could learn that there are some autistic people besides me in this small rural town... I can't say if I/we can invite that Russian woman in our meeting. And also I can't say exactly if it is good for us to put Japanese lifehacks into the Russian autism life/situation. But... I guess (by my inner voice) that it would work better/useful for her even it it might be a little. I have to work hard to realize that project/dream one day, in the near future.
This evening I started ZOOM again to attend another meeting. In this meeting, a member/friend shared various episodes when she had lived in Moji, a city in Kyushu area in Japan. After that, I started reading Karen Cheung's book I had borrowed this morning. I have never been in Hong Kong so should say I am ignorant. Of course, the Hong Kong was the place people had tried to achieve democracy by themselves (I can remember "The Umbrella Movement"). I once had thought that it had been clearly different from Japan. TBH I rarely enjoy travelling (or I should say "I have NEVER been out of this country"). In this morning's meeting about English, we enjoyed an "if" tale. If we had "Anywhere Door", which is an amazing tool of Doraemon. If there were Doraemon... Then I would like to go to Hong Kong and Russia to meet my friends. I also would go to Tokyo... TBH I am really, terribly broke so I stay in Shiso. But as the Underworld's song, I imagine this. Where would I go if my boss gave me "Two months off"?
