Hey everyone!
It's been a minute, but I'm back, just like I promised. I'm working on another post at the moment, but it's really REALLY long, and you know how I am with slacking off with stuff like that. I'm trying to be diligent, but I'm finding myself so busy lately.
I've been corresponding with the fine folks over at Amity, and it looks like I'm in the process for applying for my visa. Fingers crossed that I don't have to drive to Atlanta, the Japanese embassy in my district. It's like a 5 hour drive, I think. I think I'll call them and check on that.
The past few days have been relatively decent, I'd say.
I guess you can say the highlight of this whole affair was my desire to make friends in Japan. Moving to a whole new country can be really tough; you've got to learn how to adapt to the culture, you have to make sure you're always following the rules, and at the end of the day, you don't have anyone to rant about work to! I guess that was my motivation.
I found this app called "HelloTalk", which allows people from other countries to learn each other's respective languages. It's a pretty cool concept. I'm always down to learn some Japanese, so I figured, "why not?"
When I started using the app, things were pretty slow. I initiated conversation with a few Japanese people, and held conversations with them for a while. With one guy, I even started teaching him some English. We did audio lessons together, and I was impressed with his abilities, considering he claimed to be physically incapable of speaking English.
There was this one girl I met, who aspired to live in America. We discussed the different places she'd be interested in living in, and I think we collectively agreed she should live in upstate New York. She was really kind, and spoke English quite well. Cool, huh?
I was in the middle of the conversation with this girl, that I met another. At this point, a bunch of people were initiating conversation with me first, which came as a surprise to me. This girl and I made small talk, and she gave me advice about places to visit in Japan. Her English was far better than the girl before! I was blown away.
This girl and I really hit it off-- we continued to talk, and eventually, we moved our conversation to LINE, a popular texting app in Japan, which I promptly downloaded for the occasion. We've been talking for a few days, and she's totally the sweetest. I really enjoy talking to her, and she's always willing to help me with Japanese, which really makes me happy. I stayed up all night talking to her that night. She's the first person in Japan who I can truly call a friend, and I'm honored to be a part of her life. It's been such a pleasure to learn about a culture so different, yet so similar to mine firsthand. It just makes me more excited to stride toward my dream of visiting Japan! Wish me luck, friends!
Yeahhh, I kinda stopped using the HelloTalk app after I met that girl. Like, it was soo difficult keeping up with all of the conversations at once, and I wanted to focus on the friendship I was having with this one girl. I did have the courtesy of telling the people I had conversations with, but the messages from new people keep pouring in, even to today. Maybe I could stand to use it again-- you can never have too many friends.
Anyway, I've been pretty good lately. Life's been fun, if not mundane. I've been kicking back and enjoying my time here in the US while it lasts. Who knows-- maybe I'll enjoy Japan so much that I'll want to stay? Maybe I could start a new life there? I know it's sort of this delusional fever-dream, but hey, you never know what'll happen.
I've found that, in life, the best things come from going with the flow. That's what I'm gonna continue doing.
It was nice having this little chat. Talk to you guys soon.
-Jacob
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