February 2004 Archives

Hi everybody,

I'm now back in Kuala Lumpur, feeling just great! The trip home was ok, except for the last 2 hours to Singapore which was ticklishly shaky. I was supposed to have arrived at KLIA by 8.40 pm, but the plane was asked to slow down as there was heavy traffic around KLIA. So, instead of the usual 40 minutes flight from Singapore to KL, it took an hour!

There was no chicken on the menu on the flight due to the chicken flu.

Last saturday, I had the privillege to attend the monthly meeting of the Japan International Youth Exchange group held at the Japan Braille Library. There were about close to 30 people in attendance, including special guests for the afternoon. I also had the chance to meet up with some of the youths who went to the youth forum in Singapore last November.

I have been struggling with Japanese Braille for the past few days. When I first learned speaking in Japanese, it seemed so easy. I usually picked up snatches of words and phrases off telivission and radio stations, and repeat them afterwards to my friends. Oftentimes, they would comment at how good my hearing was and congratulate me on my progress.

However, Braille was another story. I was so excited when I got the book and couldn't wait to start reading. The title of the book is "traditional Japanese fairy tales". It comes in 2 parts, the japanese version and the second part the english translation of the story. I started off by reading the english translation. I have finished 3 fairy tales in english but only 5 pages in the Japanese section! On the first day, it took me one hour just to figure out the Braille in the first page. I was extremely tired after the ordeal!

I honestly think my english is getting worse! help!