Watashi ga kita: Intro
I am back. Back on medium and back in Asia. When I left Macau, I did not think I would be back in Asia for quite a while. Last winter, I decided that I would not apply for a second year of Princeton in Asia. It was a very difficult decision, but I felt happy with my choice.
However, I did have some real regrets as my post in Macau began to wind down. After a chaotic summer program, I was left to pack as a typhoon moved through the area. It gave me lots of down time to reflect on the year I had just completed. While I had travelled almost everywhere on my list when I set out, I did not feel that I had ever been fully immersed in Macau. I think a big part of that was my inability to pick up Cantonese and/or Mandarin. While I did make meaningful friends and connections in Macau, I did not feel like I was a part of the community there.

In many ways, I felt that my year abroad had been too surface level for my liking. But there was nothing more I could do at that point. I gathered up my things, said goodbye in the brief time I had left, and then I flew back home.
As I began looking for jobs back home, PiA asked if I was interested in applying for a post in Japan. It was difficult to imagine leaving home again after being back for less than a month. I applied thinking that I would wait to see if I was offered the job before I decided on whether or not I would take it.

But as I waited to hear back, I began to feel more and more that I was going to accept the post if I was offered it. It seemed like the perfect post to correct what had gone wrong in Macau. Situated in Yakage, a small town in Japan, the position required language learning, and because it is such a small town, there is a much stronger sense of community. It also was a completely different kind of teaching. While last year I taught University students, this year I would be teaching kindergarteners.

By the time I got the offer, I had made up my mind, I was going to go to Japan. Two months of waiting for my visa passed, and I began my impromptu second year of PiA. After being here for less than a week, I know that I made the right decision to come.
My last blog publication in Macau was not the model of consistency, but I did enjoy writing the posts. This year, I am going to try to stick to posting once a week. I’ll include some adventures from last year as well as updates from this year.

Follow along with me as I try to learn Japanese and find my place in this beautiful and charming town. Ganbare masu! (I’ll do my best!)
