I could not sleep well last night. I felt small pains in my lower back, making falling asleep difficult. I woke up at 7 AM, even so. I started thinking about my plans for the next trip, and I decided to stick to only French, instead of going to other European countries. There are some reasons for that, but the biggest thing is that I am not genuinely excited to travel around European countries by myself with a lot of stuff to carry and without a strong purpose. But instead, I am going to multiple cities in France. I am planning to head south, east, and north to settle back in Paris. After that, I spent some time thinking about my blog. I also read books and studied French conjugation with ChatGPT. I realized that it is useful to learn a language with the app. During lunch time, I was talking with the American guy about random stuff.
Since I came here, I have been feeling the importance of being able to speak English. I kind of understand that American people who speak English don’t speak other languages. This is because they do not struggle with a language barrier as long as they can speak English. English is a powerful language. That is my feeling after coming here. Regardless of my lack of French, pretty much everybody can communicate in basic English. But the downside for me is that I do not feel a strong pressure of having to speak French. I remembered that I felt a strong pressure that I have to be able to speak English in the US. That was because it was difficult to find a person who speaks Japanese. That is why I have to push myself extra to study French; otherwise, I will be like “I am ok with not being able to speak French just because I can speak English”. I do not wanna be like that.
In the afternoon, I was trying to figure out how to apply multilingual functions to this blog site. I eventually could not figure it out, so I will do that tomorrow. I also went to an internet shop to buy a SIM card because I have not been able to use the internet since I arrived in France. I can’t stand it anymore. Unfortunately, I could not buy it since I did not bring my passport. I should have thought about that. And then, I went to a Japanese restaurant in Angouleme downtown. Today was a cold day, so I felt like eating hot food. I was surprised by how cold it is getting lately. That is why, even if they had sushi and other Japanese foods, I ordered Tantan Ramen and Karaage (Japanese fried chicken). I would give them 3 out of 5 as a Japanese person. It was not bad, but I remembered that Chirashi Don (Seafood Sashimi on the rice) was better when I went there for the first time. It was quite disappointing. The cost was about 25 Euros + tax. It was expensive for the quality. But I was happy about the fact that I could eat Japanese food, at least. Surprisingly, the restaurant was packed with customers, though. It might be because of the vacation period now.
I am sometimes proud of myself, growing up in Japan, when it comes to the quality of food. There are two things that I am excited about going back to Japan. The first thing is to eat Japanese food at a much cheaper price than in the US and France. I can’t wait for that. The second thing is an Onsen (hot spring). Since I left Japan 3 and a half years ago, I haven’t been able to experience the relaxing feeling of an Onsen or even in a bathtub. I miss them so much.
That is all I did today. Today was a pretty chilling day, compared to the past days. But I would like to take advantage of this period where I do not really have anything to do. I am ready for the next trip, except that I have to get a SIM card tomorrow. I will not forget my passport tomorrow.