Joys of literacy

I married well.

For the past year, I make been living life as a functional illiterate. I cannot read very much, and would be hard pressed to write more than a few characters from memory. It is actually not that bad - I can buy food, navigate the streets, and verbally ask Chinese people if I cannot read something. A colleague of mine correctly observed earlier this year that one could survive with ease in China with only a basic vocabulary, and I would agree.

In our language study this summer, I have been focusing mostly on verbal communication. However, because Rachel is much more advanced, she has spent more time studying the written language. So it is through her efforts that I have been able to see the joy of literacy.

Recently, things are starting to click for her. Signs that she walked by everyday start to make sense. She can know what a store sells without having to even walk inside. She can read items on a menu, so we can order a greater variety of food at a Chinese restaurant. And I, as the dumb illiterate husband, am the beneficiary of these new abilities.

It is amazing how our brain is capable of adjusting to stimuli. In an English speaking country, my brain focuses in on all that text around me - signs, newspapers, clothing, products, etc - and I am reading all the time. But when walking around here, so much of that is blocked out. I do not even consciously register that it is there - my brain simply ignores those things it cannot process. Pretty cool!

-alan