My great grandfather “Bud” Wilbur gave his son Jack an Erector Set one Christmas then took it back the same day. The Erector Set was a children’s toy made of metal pieces that allowed kids to build various model structures like bridges and poorly made bridges.
My husband wants to take a family trip to Japan, though who knows when we'll be able to do that (he's supposed to plan it out to figure out a general cost so we can save for it). My anxiety means I'm intimidated by big cities, especially if I didn't know the language and it's in an entirely different writing system. I'd like to visit Germany (I speak a Duolingo-enabled small amount, probably enough to get by) because my grandmother was from there, or hell, even just an English-speaking part of Canada (been to Quebec twice, luckily hubs speaks some French because I find it really hard to pronounce - I took Spanish in school).
I forgot to mention that everyone in Tokyo tries to speak English with tourists! You can’t always communicate but you’ll never feel destitute with the family and you can always point at a map or some food you want and someone will help figure it out. They’re sweet people. Less of a big city attitude like London or NYC. :)
The nice thing is it seems that if you at least try to say the few phrases you know, people appreciate the effort. It didn't stop my husband telling me I'm pronouncing "merci" without the appropriately breathy R. Dude, can they tell what I'm saying? There you go.
I think you have the right attitude.
My husband wants to take a family trip to Japan, though who knows when we'll be able to do that (he's supposed to plan it out to figure out a general cost so we can save for it). My anxiety means I'm intimidated by big cities, especially if I didn't know the language and it's in an entirely different writing system. I'd like to visit Germany (I speak a Duolingo-enabled small amount, probably enough to get by) because my grandmother was from there, or hell, even just an English-speaking part of Canada (been to Quebec twice, luckily hubs speaks some French because I find it really hard to pronounce - I took Spanish in school).
I forgot to mention that everyone in Tokyo tries to speak English with tourists! You can’t always communicate but you’ll never feel destitute with the family and you can always point at a map or some food you want and someone will help figure it out. They’re sweet people. Less of a big city attitude like London or NYC. :)
You should go to Germany too! I’ve never been.
The nice thing is it seems that if you at least try to say the few phrases you know, people appreciate the effort. It didn't stop my husband telling me I'm pronouncing "merci" without the appropriately breathy R. Dude, can they tell what I'm saying? There you go.