welcome to my home

July 30, 2008

Today we left orientation as a group and then eventually went our own ways when people from our schools met us. Anyways, I was met and taken around Tsu High School to meet all the staff and the English teachers. One man told me about how he regrets his life and wished he were me. I didn’t really how to respond, and it was awkward to say the least. One woman grabbed my hands and said how thankful she was that I came (translation: I’m drafting you for 3 hours everyday in my summer classes and you will grade many essays for me). I just smiled, gave an awkward bow, and mumbled any Japanese greetings I knew.

Then my apartment! No one could explain in English how anything worked, so I guess I can figure most of it out through their hand gestures and broken words. My Japanese is not much at all, but it’s the easiest way to communicate. Oh my goodness!

The apartment is pretty huge though, it has 3 rooms and a large kitchen. The guy before me had a wife and kid, and he left a lot of stuff.

I had two options as I sat in my new home by myself with no one to speak English to, no internet, no working phone, and totally helpless: I could break into tears (odds favored this highly) or not. Well after nearly 10 minutes trying to unlock and un-kickstand my bike and staving off tears, I was off smiling through the streets. This is my life now, and I have to make the most of it. I will try my best to greet everyone, especially the nearby stone statue of a smiling/waving walrus (who really puts that in their house?). I’ll call him Wally.

There are sooo many funny insane things, and it’s tough laughing by yourself but I gotta learn (and continue to blog for pages each time? hope not…). From the insanity of Japanese TV, to the 6 child charms that all jingled when the 40 year old English teacher pulled her phone out, to the 4 tries it took to put my futon cover on—this is Japan.

When my dad was this age he moved from Nara, Japan to the United States to begin his new life. Now, I have picked up and left the country I call home and am living hours away from where he grew up. Unlike him, I don’t plan to start a new life here. But this certainly isn’t my old one...