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I took a one day trip to my hometown, Kyoto. It was a bit early to a season of colouful fallen leaves, but a huge people were already around.

I had lunch with my parents around Heian Jingu, and then I walked around Okazaki area on my own. First I passed by Kyoto Prefectural Library, where I used to visit eight years ago. It was originally built in 1873. My mother lived around when she was young and she also often used the library.

The new building imitating old Meiji-looking appearance was refurbished in 2001, which is the year I quit a company and started studying second language acquisition. I planned to go to the UK for a master's degree after half a year.

SLA is not the area I studied for my first degree and I had no one who taught me about the subject. So I went to the library in order to force myself to prepare for the programme. I bought an introductory book from Amazon and brought it to the library. So, it can be said this library is the very original point for my career.

Walking from the library to the Higashiyama-Sanjo subway station, I passed through a very narrow path. Whenever I went to the library, I always used this way. This is a shortcut from the station to the library, but only local people know it.

Along the street, there is a 'sosui' river running under giant cherry trees. So, this is particularly beautiful in spring. When walking here, I was dreaming of my coming days in Warwick, and at the same time I was worried about my future. I wasn't 100% sure whether my decision was right and whether I would be a university professor as I planned.

So, when walking this time, I felt very strange, because my mind flew back eight years. I couldn't find clear difference between what I am and what I used to be. Of course, my knowledge on SLA and my English proficiency are different. Beside such technical and skill things, however, I did't find any change inside myself.

I can't grasp how meaningful the eight years time is. This surely has changed my surfaces but it is less certain how much this has changed my inner face. I'm only trying to understand how humans acquire second language.