How Did I Get Here?

Last Monday was the mark for 3 months since I touched down in Japan. The only thing I feel like I haven't done that I meant to do thus far is see the ocean (granted, I saw a lot of it when I flew over here in the airplane). I think of how radically my life has changed from 3 months ago, and it is hard to even recognize all of the changes. I feel less and less like Bilbo Baggins in a strange land I as I have felt myself transform. I have notice that have picked up a few Japanese mannerisms in the short time I have been here. When Japanese people talk to you (or you to them) they nod a lot and will even say things to show that they are listening. When you spend all your time trying to communicate with these people, you find yourself mimicking them. As I have talked to other Americans, I find myself rushing to vocally signal that I am listening to them and nodding my head a lot. I don't recall saying yeahyeahyeahyeah (really fast like a machine gun) as much before I came here. I say it a lot now. 

I had an epiphany when I saw this at the conbini (awesome 7-11) on my way home. I looked out and saw these mountains that are entirely featureless with the sun behind them. The sky looked like a ripped piece of paper with the mountains serving as the tear. It was one of those moments that made me pause and ask, "How did I get here?" I still can't grasp that I live in Japan among people I would never have met if I hadn't decided to take a running leap.

Yet here I am, doing things I never thought I would or could. I teach kids...that is my job. I never thought I would do that. I live by myself in a place that seems infested with bugs that seem to exist solely to terrify me. I ate raw horse. I go entire days without having genuine conversations consisting of more than 2-syllable words (none of us thought I was capable of that one). I cook for myself now. I am a car owner (and I have insurance)! For me this has been a great leap forward into that 'adulthood' that everyone talked about for so long. If I don't clean my house now, I am the one who suffers. If I don't deal with the problems that are in front of me, they get much more painful as time goes on. 

All of this has come as a shock to me because it has happened so quickly. Though these things happened slowly in my mind (because the last 3 months have felt like several lifetimes), they have actually come quite suddenly. So while I can't articulate the changes that I have felt in the last 3 months, I feel it. I still can't imagine how I got here though. I know, it was a plane, but even that plane ride seems so long ago that it feels like a movie that I watched from my own perspective years ago. 

So as not to end on a totally philosophical note. Here is a picture of a tiny apple. 

SERIOUSLY! LOOK AT THAT APPLE! They eat it just like a regular apple, but with much smaller bites. I guess they save space?

 

I saw this on a poster in one of my classes and it made me laugh out loud. Look at that face that is drooling with the googley eyes and the caption that says "I love sweets." Classic Japan. On another note, I think that silhouette at the bottom in the triumphant stance is wearing a cape. Now that is classic Japan.