Mixed Feelings

I’ve heard people say that I’m lucky to grow up in a different country. In some ways, that’s true.

Great things

For example, speaking another language can come in handy. It might make getting in to college easier. And it can be fun, too. When I talk at home, sometimes a word doesn’t pop into my head right away, so I mix both Japanese and English and it ends up as a weird sentence. English class at school is easy. Sometimes my teacher lets me be the English teacher for a while and that’s fun!

Not-so-great things

But there are not-so-great things, too. For example, I have English and Japanese homework when usually you only get one or the other. I go to school at Shimizu Elementary School, where I am the only American. When the new first graders come it is awkward: When they first see me, they stare. But they get used to me pretty fast.

I don’t know many people in America besides family, so when I go to America to visit it’s lonely, except when I play with cousins. And of course, the airplane rides are not fun. We usually fly on three airplanes to get to Minnesota and three back to Kumamoto. That’s more than 17 hours on a plane.

But it’s home

Anyway, even though there are things that are not fun or exciting, I love living in Japan. It’s my home now.