Language barriers. How my summer trip to Japan gave me perspective.
It's not my first time out of the country but last month I was lucky enough to visit Japan. I was so excited as it's always been on my bucket list but communication was difficult to say the least. "Speak English?" I'd smile and ask the (taxi driver, clerk, hotel employee....) Sometimes they spoke some basic words but many times they just shrugged or just "No English."...to which I'd comment foolishly to myself something like: "Oh. Never mind. No biggie. Thank you though. I'll figure it out. " ((sigh)) I talked to myself a lot in Japan. I was that crazy American tourist--walking into men's restrooms (yes. really), smiling to the air or pantomiming to small children, or buying sour cream when I thought it was yogurt. Oops. When I was looking for laundry detergent, I stared at rows of identical looking soaps. I couldn't read the labels and I worried that I'd pick one with bleach in it or get the fabric s...