Jaebeom is a perfectionist who has a decent English vocabulary but refuses to speak to anyone, as he knows his accent and skills are not perfect. He is challenged to by the CEO of JYP Entertainment to go to the States for specialty English Language...
TJ had me use a mirror to see my mouth placement, a Q-tip to rub against my gums so I could focus the expulsion of air when making certain sounds, and a phone like device fashioned from some PVC plumbing pipe so I could hear my own voice without background interference or distortion. It was a variation of the ear pieces we use for hearing our voices when signing.
We finally took a lunch break, and started right back up again. After about four hours of evaluation we launched right in with the actual retraining of my brain. Everything we did once the training sessions began required keeping a beat to a metronome. I was required to react and respond on beat every other second. TJ was relentless. Everything about the process made sense. I just needed to work it. I could see the correlation to dance practice and really appreciated what we had gone through as trainees. They had used a similar approach; they just didn't know they were training our brains in addition to our bodies and voices.
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At least I could keep a beat, or so I thought. When I had to try something unfamiliar and keep a beat at the same time, I seemed to only be able to do one thing or the other. Who knew something that seemed so easy could be so difficult. I knew I had to take this approach back and have it used for teaching foreign trainees how to speak Korean. It would just need to be modified. Maybe Sharay would help with this.
By 4pm I was exhausted and all of us, except for Sam who had more paperwork to complete, left for home. The Chus were expected at 6:30 and we needed to grab a bite to eat and Sharay said something about baking.
"Go lie down for a bit until dinner," TJ told me."You worked really hard and your brain needs a rest."
I didn't need to be told twice. Between the work and the time change, I was wiped out. I think I fell asleep while I was in the process of lying down. In any event, I was sound asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
I woke to the most delicious smell ever. I quickly freshened up and proceeded to the kitchen. TJ was just setting the table with the help of Daniel. Sharay was in the kitchen doing something by the stove while softly singing Japanese to something I recognized. Wait! Japanese? I didn't know she spoke Japanese!
"You speak Japanese?" I asked. But got no response, so I tapped her on the shoulder thinking maybe she hadn't heard me.
Sharay's reaction was different than I had expected. I thought I might startle her, like I had this morning when I spoke to her when she was making the chicken, but instead she turned around and gave me a look like she was ready to kill. What had I done?
"Sorry," I murmured, retreating a bit. "I didn't mean to make you angry. I was just trying to get your attention. Umm. Yeah right. I didn't know you speak Japanese."
By this point I was floundering. I wasn't sure how someone could make me feel both so comfortable and so off balance all at the same time.
"I'm not angry and I don't...speak Japanese that is. I'm just singing what I hear," she said quickly, tapping her headphones, and turning back around to finish what she was doing, but not before I saw her face relax a bit and turn a bit pink.
