How to Come Home

Coming home. Jeez, how am I supposed to do that?!

I don't know what I'm connected to in the US, who I'm connected with. I don't have a sense of who I 'am' there. It's absolutely strange to me. Japan seems like my home. I can't imagine the food very well anymore, how people speak, what is important to people in the US. I forget what it's like eating Mexican food all the time or being able to understand my own mail. I've become so used to it here, the goods and the not-so-goods.

I rewatched the DVD of the violin concert Etsuko put on for me last June. Two things struck me while I was watching it: first, how much could change in half a year, and how much one could grow in such a short amount of time. That was only six months ago; how much have I changed since 2004; how much have you??

The nature of living in rural Japan as a foreign person is that the other foreign people around you tend to leave eventually. So in time, I slowly shifted from spending most of my time with other foreigners to sharing friendships with Japanese (first ones who could speak English, and then to ones who could or couldn't). My three best friends here in Japan now are Japanese. Of the group of assistant English teachers I came with 4 1/2 years ago, only two of us are still here (he's from South Africa!). Everyone else went back to their home.

Now, since it's my turn (I booked my ticket today), I would like your help.

Some time ago, a friend gave some great info and including some people to contact and a DVD called "Journeying Home," about how to return to your home country after a long time away. That information has been extremely useful and I am grateful for it, so...

In the same way, please send me your info, advice, thoughts on returning home, even if you've never been through it yourself.

-How to grow healthy new relationships and revive the old ones?

-What to do if I start feeling overwhelmed, underwhelmed, blue?

-What to do with all the friends, stories, (language) and memories which might be hard for people at home to relate to?

-Finally, what would you like your experience with me to be like when we meet again?

By the way, I'd like to give a special thank you for people who have kept up with my blog until now, and especially to Don who got me to start it and Dad, who showed me his most wonderful self in our conversations through it.