What I learned first

The first word was probably "biru" as in "biru wa doko desu ka?" Biru is fun. You can drink it. It's a carbohydrate so it sustains you but it also connotes a party. That's why I learned the phrase. It's like saying 'where's the party at?' And that's what my decision to suddenly move to Japan was all about. I was 23. I hadn't finished by teaching license and undergraduate degree "on time" so I decided to join the Jet Programme on a lark. I had exactly the opposite of a plan. I had no plan. I couldn't even find Japan on a map. It was probably the greatest decision of my life.

The next words I learned were formal things like "hajimimashite": this is a beginning. (But you only say it the first time you meet someone, so I didn't get much use out of that.) and "doitashimashite": You're welcome ( beginners learn the mneumonic "Don't-touch-my-moustace".) And of course I had herd words like "arigatou", "sushi", sayonara, samurai, and ninja long ago but there weren't many 16th century warriors where I was going. I was going to live in the "inaka" and be an "inaka-mono".

Tokyo, where I stayed my first few days in the country, is not "inaka". New York City is not inaka and neither is Minneapolis-St.Paul. Fairbough is. Stewartville is. But I hadn't been to those places yet. The closest reference point I had to where I lived was Grinell, Iowa : nothing but cornfields and open land for miles. Very few people.

Nanbu town, Yamanashi prefecture was "inaka": rice paddies and 1 traffic light and not much else.

I think I learned "hai" and "ie" pretty quick and "wakarimashita." When my kocho-sensei and his sempai picked me up in Tokyo, I said "hai, wakarimashita." When they drove me 3 hours straight west, past the flashing lights, until there was nothing but darkness all around, I said "hai, wakarimashita." And when they introduced me to my flat, a 3 room "apaato" which was smaller than my bathroom back home, and said "You..uh..live here" I said it again.

For the first month I lived there, my kocho-sensei, tecnically the second-in-command of the school but really responsible for the nitty gritty of the day-today, could not speak to me without crouching behind a small Japanese "jusho". So, I said repeatedly, "yes, I understand" because I did not want to disappoint the kindly elder gentleman who wanted so earnestly for everything to be ok, but also because I did not understand how to say otherwise.

It would be several months later until I learned to say "ie, wakariMASEN". For example, why is change so hard to come by in Japan. Wakarimasen. Why is everything so strictly ordered by ritual, protocal, custom, and hierarchy. Wakarimasen.

I think the most important word I learned was "Gambatte!"

"Gambatte" means:
1. Please persevere.
2. Please endure great suffering.
3. Please hold on, try your hardest, even if it seems excruciatingly difficult to succeed, because really, in this life, that's all you can do.

Japanese people say it to each other in place of "good luck", or "get well soon", or "I hope you get what you want" but as you can see it means something quite different.

I heard the phrase daily in Japan, almost as often as I heard "sumimasen" (excuse me) or "gomenasai" (I'm sorry), but I am still learning it's meaning.

I learned the words over a decade ago but I am still learning to hold on just a little bit longer. I've been stuck in limbo, at least career-wise, for about two years now. I just married the love of my life and we decided about a year ago, NOW, is the perfect time to try living abroad (again). It is now the year of the Tiger, a very powerful year in the zodiac of the East, and also my year. The last time the Tiger rode into town I was living in Japan and was very lost. I had not yet been a teacher, a writer, or truly in love. I was at the beginning.

In one month, my wife and I will be at the International Job Fair hoping to land jobs teaching but also committing to a year or two of serious learning. Why else does one leave their home, by choice, to seek out a new land?

What will we learn?

What will we learn first?