one down, one to go

i've been in japan for a little over a year. that makes one out of twenty-four years of my life. and i suppose that number doesn't seem significant written out like that, but my experience here--thus far--has been anything but uneventful.

i know it's cliche to say how much i've learned about myself...blah, blah, blah. but the truth is i have. living in a foreign country is a challenge. there are a lot of things i took for granted in america like speaking the language, cheap phone calls, good pizza and central air. and the biggin: family and friends. but now that i've been here a year i've learned to cope without such frivolties and get down to the nitty gritty of being me. whoa. yeah. it's been one heck of a year.


my favorite season is, beyond a doubt, autumn. i love the cascade of color and the rustle of leaves in the evening. when i was in eighth grade i remember wanting to capture how beautiful the pavement was, wet with rain and soggy leaves, in a painting. i'm sure my attempt at doing so is still under my bed at home. my birthday is also in fall which adds to my delight in it. it's the season for pumpkin bingo and football games. the autumn in japan is the best i have seen, even in comparison to beloved st.olaf. they have these red-leafed maple trees here that are shockingly brilliant. last year isaac and i took a "Fall Driving Trip" around his mountainous village, listening to death cab for cutie and, of course, cake. we also explored several landscapes throughout nagano and gunma, taking plenty of pictures of our first japnese autumn. it's one of my favorite first memories of japan.


one of the reasons i decided to come here was the opportunity for travel. i've been able to chalk up two countries so far and i hope there is more to come. my christmas and new year's were spent in the company of my two friends, isaac and courtney. we romped around cambodia for a week or so, getting "templed-out" and taking in the wonderful hospitality of cambodian people. thailand was spent 1)studying to be scuba-certified and 2)watching TV. ha. it was well worth it though and now i can hop back in the water anytime. (i am dying to do it again soon, but i'm afraid it might be awhile.)

the chilly japanese winter had me curled up close to my kotatsu and filling the hours with such delights as seinfeld and sex and the city. i've read about 20 novels in the past year! and most of them probably at school.

ah, school. it has introduced me to more japanese customs than i can shake a stick at. the goofy 'sporting events' and the art of sumimasen-ing my way through the teacher's office. not to mention the longest and most boring graduation ceremonies ever. it's been amazing to be the only foreigner in a school of more than 500 students. the students are constantly giggling and saying hello to me...and you know what? i love it.

my landlord and his wife have also been a big part of my experience here. we have karaoked(drank), cooked(drank), gone out to eat (drank), gone to disney sea, and even viewed a japanese choral concert together. they are simply great.



courtney-san came at the end of june. just in time because i was craving some much-needed girl time. we toured around tokyo for a couple of days and even stooped so low as to frequent starbucks and hard rock cafe. shameless. we drove to nikko for a weekend and amidst the rain read our fortunes. it was lovely to see her and show her where i'd been typing and talking to her from.

this summer, which IS a part of "my first year in japan", i road-tripped it with three genki personas: lisa, isaac, and luke. luke is also from iowa so we had a lot of stories to share about our days on the hog farm. we went to hokkaido, via car, via ferry. it was the perfect escape from the japan that we usually encounter. they have wide roads, open fields, and wild foxes. best part of the vacation: no agenda. sure, we had ideas about what we wanted to see/do, but for the most part we drove around, switching ownership of the ipods, and spontaneously stopping to take in the sites. we 'lived by the seat of our pants'. granted, our pants were a little dirty from camping all week.

and now i'm back here writing about my life like it's some sort of crazy story. it feels great to be back and i have high expectations for what this next year will bring.

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations. Anais Nin