This may be a sign I’ve been here too long… but in a good way…
I’m sitting next to two 20 something British girls at a restaurant. Hearing their ceaseless rapid yappity yap nonstop clucking is ripping into me like machine gun fire. I’m sure they’re nice girls and have wonderful families… but God, make it stop.

Instead of making me crave and pine for English, all this silence and solitude has pushed me further away from humanity. Not understanding a word being spoken in crowds, or anywhere in public, turns out to have been a beautiful dream of insulation… a way of effortlessly shutting out the world and being able to choose not to have to be tuned in… living in a vacuum sealed, soundfree environment these past months has been more a luxury of peace and separation from noise than any curse.

And now, being forced to hear these girls’ nervous, flapping chit-chatter is having the same effect as starting up a buzz saw while dragging a metal chair across the floor made of chalkboard…