So, I've Ventured Back to My 29th Year of Life to Channel Where I Once Was at the Age of Chitunga, Who Is in His 29th Year, Too

I was still teaching in Kentucky. I had the same students for four straight years and when they graduated, I was nervous of how I was going to react/be. I applied for a Fulbright Memorial Scholarship and was granted a fellowship in Tokyo, Japan, where I traveled overseas for a summer, worked with schools, and visited a family from Japan who hosted me in their home. I simply remember feeling like I was the jolly Green Giant from the canned vegetables commercials because I felt so enormous and large amongst the people, especially on the subway systems. It was, however, the opportunity of a lifetime. 

The young man I held in my arms at that time, recently born to the family, must now be college age, if not already graduated. What I remember about the time is that I had a first-generation laptop (Apple & it was white), but I needed to find a phone jack in order to send and receive emails which I did once a day from the lobby of the Akasaka hotel, where I stayed for part of the time. I remember, too, that kids walked the street typing messages into their phone at the side of their heads (which I though was strange, but later turned out to be what we now know was texting). 

I also had a homestay with the Saikonos family in Nappon, including Naoko, who was a college student at the time. Her father was a carpenter and I especially loved his woodwork in Buddhist temples. They treated me like gold and I was thrilled to host them while still in Kentucky and then meeting Naoko, her parents, and her daughters while they visited NYC and I had moved onto Fairfield University.

I remember it being excessively humid, the food being brilliantly delicious, and that Naoko's father knew little English but spoke to me in shots of his favorite booze. My feet hung over my bed by a foot and a half and their toilet was more complicated than R2D2. There were so many buttons and mechanism; in fact, when I hit one button, I learned what a bidet was. I was drenched. 

I also remember that to fit in the bathtub, I had to basically fold myself in thirds. This memory all came about when I said to Chitunga, "You know, your roadtrip with Alyssa to New Orleans from Syracuse, and then by yourself to New Orleans, will fuel you later in adult life, when you zest and oomph for travel dissipates some."

Here I am, age 29, totally clueless of the trajectory ahead, but full of optimism for teaching, international relations, global literacy, and experience. Naoko's kid (pictured in the plaid pajamas here) are now approaching their teens). You can make any of this up and I'm simply glad for the Class of 2001...causing me to love them so much...that I needed something to do once they graduated. This resulted in the Class of 2002's work with the Crane House in Louisville: paper crane and sushi-making, epic haikus, and a collaboration for Maxine Hong Kingston's Woman Warrior. Phew. It was yesterday, but now it is back to today.

At the time, we didn't have iPhoto, or Facebook. If we took photos, we still relied on printing them at a photo shop. I had to look at my albums to find the photos that I did. This was pre-social media, and a timestamp of their own. 

Lord...it really does go way too fast.