The hard parts of living abroad that I don’t talk about…

by Blaine + Erin on February 1, 2013 in Adventures with 10 Comments

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We wander from Zen garden to Zen garden sipping green tea and easily conversing with locals. We hop the bullet train to Tokyo every weekend to tour a new museum and see live jazz. We eat fresh sushi every morning at the local fish market and we feel more at peace every day. Wait...Reality check. Maybe living in Japan hasn’t been exactly how we imagined. Here’s the summary of our real Japanese experience, so far: Month 1: July We stepped outside Nagoya Station and were greeted with a warm, moist punch in the face (so that’s what 80 degrees and 80% humidity feels like). We arrived at our apartment after 48 hours with no shower and found nothing but a two inch thick futon. We spent three days getting over jet lag before diving into ten days of sweaty, stressful English teacher training. Month 2: August We began the month with a two week summer vacation. Fabulous! Except it was 90 degrees with 85% humidity and living in one of the most expensive places in the world was quickly draining our yen. We spent our vacation walking around Nagoya, dripping with sweat, attempting to stay cool despite the lack of air conditioning. But we did have an exceptional day at Utsumi Beach! Month 3: September We received our first full pay check! Amen! The weather began to cool down. We invested 35% of our paycheck into our intensive six hour per week Japanese course. This was the month we mastered how to make dinner for two bucks a piece. All the while, we were eating dinner on our cushions on the floor of our unfurnished apartment. Month 4: October Best month yet! The weather was cool and beautiful. We studied Japanese like crazy and planned trips around Japan. I caught a small cold, but mostly all was well. Month 5: November We took our first trip to Kyoto. It was an idyllic autumn day and the Japanese maples looked like red flames igniting Kyoto in a beautiful blaze. I caught the cold (the one that’s going to last for three months, but I don’t realize that yet). I tried not to miss any Japanese class despite being sick. If we missed one three hour lesson we would fall behind and stare blankly at our sensei as she rapid fired questions at us. My cold got worse. I missed two days of Japanese class and three days of work. November mostly sucked. Month 6: December Our Japanese class ended December 10^th and I fought to the finish (the class began with thirteen students and ended with three). I was completely exhausted and I vowed that the rest of December I would vege out. December 23^rd began our two week winter vacation! I spent the first week sleeping all day with a cold. We camped out in our living room because there's no central heating and the kitchen and bathroom are about 40 degrees. The second week we took our first trip to Tokyo! Looking back, I see that it was a bit overzealous attempting to master Japanese while adapting to a new country, new job and new culture. Moving abroad didn’t dissolve the problems of day to day life and it’s been quite a stressful ride. We’ve had many amazing experiences (Kyoto, Yunoyama Onsen, Utsumi Beach, Roppongi Hills) and we're grateful for the opportunity to stumble through life in a new culture. I think the definition of adventure sums up the experience:

Adventure (n.)

An unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.

Adventure (v.)

Engage in hazardous and exciting activity, esp. the exploration of unknown territory: "they had adventured into the forest".

  And adventure is exactly what we were craving.