Tired and Happy

As the week is beginning to wind down, I'm feeling worn out. The only way I can explain how I feel is how I imagine everyone feels before the onset of a cold. My body is achy and my mind is exhausted. I'm not usually one to get sick, so I'm keeping optimistic and hoping that a good night's rest will help.

I am continuing to make progress with my Japanese. I'm learning important questions like すみません。いまなんじですか (Excuse me. What time is it now?) and more useful phrases like どうぞよろしく (Nice to meet you). Though my schedule is busy, I am still able to find time to sit down and spend an hour or two reading through my book each day.

Shifting focus a little bit, I'm enjoying this part of my life a lot. As my mother once put it so easily, "It's a great time of [my] life to be single and 'selfish'." I won't define selfish here in the traditional sense. It's simply a good time to concentrate on myself and my future. Sometimes being single gets a little lonely, but I'm currently happier than I've been in a long time. In my life, happiness takes priority. I'm not sure I could be at this point in my life without being happy.

In Japanese, the word for happy (content) is しあわせな, but I believe another word for it is うれし. It has been said that happiness is not to be sought after, but rather it should find you. Happiness is a hard word to define because everyone has their own ideas of what it means to them. I have my own definition(s) of happiness. I hope to continue down the road I am currently traveling. I hope to continue to befriend many wonderful and supportive people. I hope to transition well between college and my future career. I hope to travel in an effort to learn and grow. I hope to continue to broaden my existing horizons and develop new ones in an effort to better understand the world around me. I hope to meet a wonderful person someday at the right time in my life. I hope to experience true love and grow a deep level of trust and appreciation for that individual. I hope to raise a happy and healthy family. I hope to take part in my childrens growth and I hope to be as much of a teacher for them as they will be for me. I want to love my children unconditionally. I want to grow old with my partner and watch my children have children and raise happy and healthy families. I want to give to them what I've gained from everything I've experienced. I still have so much to live for, but from what I've already experienced, I'm convinced that I'm on the right track.

My journey to Japan will only help to point me onward and upward.

Genki

I am now the proud owner of Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. Buying this book was probably my best expenditure of money this semester. Considering I purchased a textbook, a work book, and an introductory Japanese dictionary, I found my payment of $75.00 to be very reasonable. It was, in fact, my smallest payment for any textbook package this semester. What do I say to that? すごい！！I realize that there's probably a better vocabulary word than "wow" to describe my purchase, but I haven't yet read beyond "greetings."

I've become accustomed to listening to discussions in Japanese. My goal is to pick out as many recognizable words as possible, and then, by my understanding of the context of the discussion--more often than not, it's an educated guess--try to make sense of what's being said. So far, I've had little success. I am, however, now able to recognize the sounds being produced, which helps me recognize full words (even if I cannot understanding their meanings).

I'm happy with my progress. I have developed a strong will to learn the Japanese language. To me, it's like cracking a code. I'm continuing to practice hiragana and katakana, and I'm learning how to combine the characters and sounds to make new words. It certainly isn't easy, but it's a lot of fun! From my experience, nothing worth doing is ever easy, but everything worth doing is always enjoyable.

Not only do I have a few new tools to help me learn Nihongo, but I have quite a support-team behind me. It's hard for me to express my gratitude towards everyone who's helping me study, but I feel very confident in my future progress as a result. Since I know that some of you read my blog, thank you for your help. My appreciation for each one of you continues to grow.

My love for Japan continues to grow stronger everyday. When I entered UAlbany as a freshman last year, I never dreamed that I'd be in this position one year later. It's hard for me to picture what one more year will bring, but I can imagine that many great things lay ahead. For everything that I've already gained, I look forward to being able to give back someday.

Another Chapter

Simply put, today was wonderful. After a night of partying with new friends, I shifted my focus towards teaching and learning. For the better part of four hours, I sat with Tomoya-san on the UAlbany academic podium, sharing stories of life and comparing our home countries. I have to say that in those four hours, I became so much more aware of life outside of my own bubble.

It's one thing to have a casual conversation with a friend in passing. It's another thing to discuss in-depth with another human being about each other's past experiences. It's yet another thing to gain a whole new perspective on life in just short of four hours. Our conversations ran the gamut from driving in Japan to studying in the United States to adjusting to a new country and recovering from cultural shock. It was yet another humbling experience to speak with Tomoya. As has been the case lately, I was put in my place again.

From what I've experienced, the more I open myself up, the bigger this planet gets. I'm grateful to hear such unique perspectives on different issues like tolerance and acceptance, and I'm amazed by how much we--Americans vs Japanese citizens--are so similar. While I'm still anxious to study in a foreign country, I feel that regardless of the barriers that may need to be broken down, I will be able to adjust and gain the most out of my journey that I possibly can.

I regard Tomoya very highly. I think he is one of the most interesting people I've met in my short twenty years of life, and I really enjoy his company. I appreciate his willingness to open up to me and share his stories and his views, many of which are similar to mine. From everything I've read and understood, Japanese people tend to be more reserved than those of us in the United States. It is a simple cultural difference. With that said, I have been very impressed with Tomoya's openness and honesty. He has a great heart and has promised to help me with my preparations over the next few months.

I think that this is the beginning of a good friendship. I know that at the end of this year, Tomoya and many more of my friends will return to Japan to begin a new stage of life. We will all be physically separated by half the world, but we will all remain together in spirit. It is through the long conversations and the sharing of stories that lasting impressions can take root and grow. I look forward to learning more from Tomoya-san, Kazuto-san, Yujiro-san (or Yujiro-chan--I haven't yet decided), Akitomo-san, Ikki-san, Yohei-san, Reika-chan, Emma-chan, Tatsuya-san, Taka-san, and everyone else that I have met and have yet to meet along the way. From what I've taken out of each one of these people, I can say with confidence that Japan is the one and only choice for me.

Beyond Expectation

In the spring of 2008, I began what I consider to be the greatest journey of my life to date. In late April, a casual interview with my Japanese friend grew into what is my journey to the other side of the world. Though I haven't left Upstate New York yet, my spirit has already found it's place in the Land of the Rising Sun. In May, I visited the Office of International Education to inquire about studying at Kansai Gaidai located in the Kansai region of Japan near Osaka. I met Ms. Danielle Leonard who became my lifeline through the entire application process and supported my decision to step out of my comfort zone--I am an atmospheric science major, after all, so this is quite a step for me--and strive to achieve something that at one point was a mere distant dream of mine.

As spring transitioned into summer, I became more focused on my application. The University at Albany only required a short essay and two reference letters, along with an official transcript. Kansai Gaidai required multiple essays and letters of recommendation. In total, the combined applications amounted to between twenty and thirty pages. I cannot say that I haven't felt completely exhausted at times and even a bit discouraged, but I know that if all goes well, I'll find myself in one of the most fascinating and compelling places on earth in just over four months.

Over the summer, I also took on another job: helping international students adjust to a new life in the United States. I applied to help two students; I ended up becoming involved with more than ten. At the time of the application in early July, I had no idea what I was getting involved in. Since I had no prior experience with helping international students, I had no clue what to expect. I hoped to give each student a good impression of the United States, but I was afraid that there would be many barriers to overcome.

I met Akitomo on August 11th, only hours after I had arrived back in Albany from a trip to Alaska. Needless to say, I was tired and a bit spacey, but I managed to spend three hours talking to him and answering many questions. For the next week, Akitomo experienced life in an American household while he lived with me.

Soon after, I began meeting more international students like Lewis, Joe, Manabu, Ikki, Taka, Naoki and Yan, to name a few. I was pleased with the progress I saw from each of these individuals with every passing day.

It is rewarding beyond words to give help and leave a lasting impact on the lives of these students. In the short month that I have known Akitomo, I have learned more about Japan than I had known in my nearly twenty years of life prior to meeting him. Each student has offered me insight on their sides of the story--looking into the United States from the outside--which is of great interest to me.

It's safe to say that this has been a humbling experience. When you encounter different cultures from a primary source--in this case, the international students--it makes you feel very small. It's like each student is a new chapter to a story, and each has a different perspective. As I explained to Akitomo, just over two months ago, he lived on the east-central coast of Japan, I lived in Upstate New York, and our lives didn't seem destined to cross paths. Now, Akitomo and I are good friends and are learning a great deal from one another. It's still hard for me to wrap my mind around that.

More recently, I have been teaching myself Japanese (Nihongo/日本語) with the help of many friends and, of course, Danielle. It's a hard language to learn as there are two alphabets: Hiragana (平仮名/ひらがな/ヒラガナ), where the vowels A, I, U, E, and O look like あ、い、う、え、お, and Katakana (片仮名/かたかな/カタカナ), where the vowels A, I, U, E, and O look like ア、イ、ウ、エ、オ. There is also Kanji (漢字), which is the use of Chinese characters in the Japanese language. Kanji is hard to learn unless you know the meaning of each character, but I know a very small amount. For instance, the kanji for Japan (Nihon/Nippon) looks like 日本. Japan is officially called Nihon-koku or Nippon-koku, meaning "sun origin country."

I have also started to attend Japanese Student Association (JSA) meetings. I recognize a few faces, but for the most part, I'm meeting new people. Last weekend, I met the Vice President of the JSA, Kazuto, and the President, Shiho. I also saw Emma, whom I consider to be one of the greatest forces behind my decision to study in Japan, for the first time in over three months.

I also met a wonderful and very kind person named Tomoya, who came here from Kansai Gaidai at the beginning of last year. I was recently able to sit down and talk to him a bit about Kansai Gaidai and the Kansai region of Japan, and what it's like to live near Osaka and Kyoto. He grew up outside of Kyoto in a rural area, yet he still lived very close to Japan's second largest metropolis (Osaka-Kyoto-Nara). I also explained to him what it was like to grow up in Albany and how the area has changed so much in the past decade. While the converstation was limited to only an hour, I learned a lot from Tomoya-san, and I'm looking forward to talking to him again. I have a feeling he'll be a huge force in preparing me for life in Japan.

As the semester picks up, I'll be writing more about my ongoing journey and the preparations for my upcoming travels. I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to experience life in such a romanticized country. I also have many anxieties about living halfway across the world. Will I meet many people? Will the language barrier be too great? What if something bad happens while I'm there? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Needless to say, this is one giant leap out of my comfort zone, but in my opinion it's the best way to learn and grow.