I worked late today. This morning, after joining the daily English meeting on Zoom, I went to AEON for some thinking time. Always, on this kind of "working late" days I have to struggle with how to spend my morning time. Usually, I enjoy reading books or writing English notes on my memo pad. However, today I thought that it would be better if I tried to enjoy walking in a park near my group home (in other words, I should move my body actually, not doing such brainy work so seriously).
At first, I couldn't find anything attractive for me to do this morning. However, even though the reason why was completely enigmatic, I noticed that at the bottom of my bag, I carried a Japanese critic Kenichi Yoshida's paperback "Time [吉田健一『時間』]", so for a while, I enjoyed reading it.
BTW, this morning's another event/accident. On a LINE group for English learners, as a greeting, I tried to send a message to the timeline. However, when I wrote "What's the matter with you?", it made other members so angry. A native speaker taught me that was a sort of mistake Japanese often tend to make, and (probably you have already seen) I learned that it must sound very aggressive (he said "What's the matter" sounds better). Oh, I was thinking it even could sound more precisely, or politely. Of course, I apologized very much and also said to myself that even though I have learned English for at least 10 years, I still have to keep a beginner's mind somewhere in myself.
Even though I have learned English for such a long time, I have never thought I would defeat someone else with this "communication skill in English". For me, learning English can work as a connector with others through talking about common topics such as I always write in this public journal. Therefore, although it must sound very "white" or "too innocent", I think I have never been a fluent English speaker or an expert in using English. I just want to try to have a beginner's mind and also this autistic, reckless curiosity that leads me to various topics, and also lets me make various silly mistakes. Anyway, the learning process never ends.
