It’s been just over two months since I left Japan and moved back to southern California. Two months of eating Mexican food by the bucket load. Two months of rediscovering my home country, reconnecting with friends and family, and finding my feet.
I’m going to school to earn my California Multiple Subject credential and officially become an elementary school teacher, hopefully internationally. I’m job hunting and trying to get my health and fitness on track for a healthier lifestyle. I guess you could say this is my year of transformation!
It was hard for me to leave Japan and the constant excitement of being there with new things all around to trip me up and make me grow. Coming back to the utter familiarity of my hometown, old friends, and family is a challenge all its own. I have to try harder to leave my comfort zone, I have to look for new excitement and adventure in all the familiar places, and I have to fight to stay the person that I became in Japan, instead of reverting to the person I used to be before that experience. I love who I grew to be in Asia; more open-minded, more comfortable with trying everything, more independent and strong.
It’s hard knowing that no one here knows what it was like there and I have to figure out how to condense two years of incredible and completely foreign experiences into an appropriate answer for “So, how was it?”. I can’t just use the words “shinkansen”, “onsen”, and the like in conversation, instead using the English equivalents plus an explanation of what that actually is and why I get so excited about it!
But don’t get me wrong, I love spending so much time with my family, actually going to the graduations and parties instead of just hearing about them, and catching up with all the friends I missed! I’ve driven across the country to visit my grandpa in Alabama and spent the weekend in Arizona with my best friend and her new husband and house. Some of my friends from Japan who had also left this year came to L.A. for a day on a layover and I got to play tour guide in my home state!
There have been a million great memories made in California so far, it’s simply an adjustment similar to the one I made when I moved to Japan in the first place. Go figure!
So what’s next for this blog? I still get a lot of emails from people moving to Japan asking questions about the various places and how to do certain things and I can’t tell you all how much I love getting those emails and answering them!
My adventure doesn’t stop here, it’s only changing into a U.S. based travel and lifestyle-sort of blog! I’ll tell you all about southern California and the places I go and the interesting things that happen in this life of mine. I’ll also probably expand a bit into recipes, teaching in the U.S., my foray into health, and the checking off of my 100 Life Goals list!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this blog and all your support and lovely comments! What would you like to see from this blog in the future? If there’s anything I can do for you never hesitate to ask!
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