Curious little experience I had today.
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 10:59 am
As the title states, I did indeed have the most curious experience today. While boarding the train home from Uni, I happened to sit across the aisle from a deaf girl and her brother (their Mother was seated in the seat immediately in front of me). I don't know their ages for sure, but I would guess the boy to be about fourteen and the girl around sixteen or seventeen. The three of them were involved in a school named the "Victorian College for the Deaf", or something like that at least; the girl and her brother as students, their mother a teacher.
I was fascinated in watching the three of them communicate in sign. I tried as best I could to garner some figment of their conversation by assumptions and lip reading; both were endeavours that failed horribly. It soon came time to depart, and the train took off; but only a short while out of the station, an announcement was made that there was a problem at the next station and thus we would have to go back and the service be cancelled. The other passengers were certainly disgruntled at the interruption, but deaf family were, naturally, unaware, and very confused as the train started reversing.
I took the initiative to use my open laptop to type out a message to the family about what was happening and show it to them. As the girl read the message, I realised she was rather pretty. Her thankful smile, having been caught up to the goings-on, was even prettier. Once we had pulled back into our station of origin, passengers began standing and what not to depart the train. However, another announcement was made stating that whilst a bus had been organised for any commuters who wished to take it, they driver would attempt to take a different route to bypass whatever the disturbance was.
Again, having not heard the message, the family continued to pack up and prepare to leave the train. I hastily typed out the updated communiqué and caught the attention of the girl, passing her the message. Once again I was priveledged enough to view that pretty smile, and she signed something to me before informing her family and sitting back down. I knew no sign language, but I presumed it was 'thank you'.
The rest of the train ride was relatively uneventful, once we got going. I sat watching the three have animated discussions in silence and, effectively, in private. When the train got to my station, I was surprised to find the family getting off the train with me. What a peculiar coincidence that they should happen to live in my town somewhere. No message of parting was exchanged between us, but I was left feeling incredibly frustrated at my lack of ability to talk to her. Some memory twinkled in the back of my mind; one of a GameFAQs poster whom served a deaf lady at his shop, only to be astounded by her perserverence and patience with the situation. I decided I would have to do something to avoid that necessity.
So now we get to the present time; 12:46am for anyone not also in my time zone. I've been studying for a number of hours, and I have the signs for entire English alphabet, as well as the signs for "hello", "how are you?" and "thank you" memorised. It's crude and incredibly time consuming, but it at least gives me at least a tiny amount of ability to communicate with the girl, should I ever run into her again (or any other deaf person, should that occur). Actual sign language classes are much too expensive for me to afford athe present, so for now any further learning will be entirely internet based.
So yeah. Thought you guys might like to read about that. If odds are in my favour, I could very well end up the Hisao to her Shizune. If not... well, I'll have gotten sign language out of it. Always handy to know. Besides, there's still the matter of my friend at Uni, the tall red head. Gee, all this Katawa Shoujo (and accompanying fanfics) are really making connections with my real life. I wonder who I'll meet next..? Better leave it there, before this turns into anything as long as Lilly's route.
Cheers, BlackWaltz.
By the way, mods, I wasn't sure where to post this. If there's a more appropriate place, could someone please move it? Thanks in advance.
I was fascinated in watching the three of them communicate in sign. I tried as best I could to garner some figment of their conversation by assumptions and lip reading; both were endeavours that failed horribly. It soon came time to depart, and the train took off; but only a short while out of the station, an announcement was made that there was a problem at the next station and thus we would have to go back and the service be cancelled. The other passengers were certainly disgruntled at the interruption, but deaf family were, naturally, unaware, and very confused as the train started reversing.
I took the initiative to use my open laptop to type out a message to the family about what was happening and show it to them. As the girl read the message, I realised she was rather pretty. Her thankful smile, having been caught up to the goings-on, was even prettier. Once we had pulled back into our station of origin, passengers began standing and what not to depart the train. However, another announcement was made stating that whilst a bus had been organised for any commuters who wished to take it, they driver would attempt to take a different route to bypass whatever the disturbance was.
Again, having not heard the message, the family continued to pack up and prepare to leave the train. I hastily typed out the updated communiqué and caught the attention of the girl, passing her the message. Once again I was priveledged enough to view that pretty smile, and she signed something to me before informing her family and sitting back down. I knew no sign language, but I presumed it was 'thank you'.
The rest of the train ride was relatively uneventful, once we got going. I sat watching the three have animated discussions in silence and, effectively, in private. When the train got to my station, I was surprised to find the family getting off the train with me. What a peculiar coincidence that they should happen to live in my town somewhere. No message of parting was exchanged between us, but I was left feeling incredibly frustrated at my lack of ability to talk to her. Some memory twinkled in the back of my mind; one of a GameFAQs poster whom served a deaf lady at his shop, only to be astounded by her perserverence and patience with the situation. I decided I would have to do something to avoid that necessity.
So now we get to the present time; 12:46am for anyone not also in my time zone. I've been studying for a number of hours, and I have the signs for entire English alphabet, as well as the signs for "hello", "how are you?" and "thank you" memorised. It's crude and incredibly time consuming, but it at least gives me at least a tiny amount of ability to communicate with the girl, should I ever run into her again (or any other deaf person, should that occur). Actual sign language classes are much too expensive for me to afford athe present, so for now any further learning will be entirely internet based.
So yeah. Thought you guys might like to read about that. If odds are in my favour, I could very well end up the Hisao to her Shizune. If not... well, I'll have gotten sign language out of it. Always handy to know. Besides, there's still the matter of my friend at Uni, the tall red head. Gee, all this Katawa Shoujo (and accompanying fanfics) are really making connections with my real life. I wonder who I'll meet next..? Better leave it there, before this turns into anything as long as Lilly's route.
Cheers, BlackWaltz.
By the way, mods, I wasn't sure where to post this. If there's a more appropriate place, could someone please move it? Thanks in advance.
.