I distinctly remember the rain on my last day in Japan, May 13th, 2013. After a few weeks of lounging around Kris’ spacious Kamigaya apartment, it was time to finally say a sad farewell. It wasn’t all terrible; I was Malaysia bound, with 8 weeks of travel ahead of me. Nonetheless, I will never forget saying “Goodbye” for the last time at Haneda airport.
In June of 2016 I finally returned. After years of dreaming I would someday return and practicing my Japanese, I made it back.
The pin is Sakai-machi, Ibaraki. The city in the south is Tokyo!
This one has been stewing for a while. It’s a list of everything I am going to miss, and then another of things I am looking forward to. But before I get started, I have a bit of news!
For anyone who follows my twitter, Facebook, or has talked to me recently, you will know that I finally got placement! The phone call had to come on a Thursday night when I was just about to go downtown for one last girls night. We were already enjoy hard cider, but luckily, I had barely drank any of mine when a phone call from Japan came through to my cell. I guess I made a face and said a vulgar word before running off with my ringing phone. Later the girls told me that it was either something bad, or I got my placement phone call. Well, the latter was true! I’ll be living in Sakai-machi, Ibaraki. It’s a small town north of Tokyo, and it’s rural enough for me to need a car. That said, it’s exceptionally close to the big city and it’s not rural by American standards, it’s just sparsely populated for Japan. I was secretly hoping for a car, and I wanted to be close to Tokyo. Both of my wishes came true! I can’t wait! Continue reading
The Girl In Translation 