I was very lucky. My Japanese professor and I became good friends. One of his distant relatives was starting a school in Japan at a national historical monument where we would be teaching Japanese to foreigners and English to Japanese.
I was chosen to go. The head of the school (we called her Kancho) wanted a two year verbal commitment. I wasn’t sure that I could give her this since I’d never spent any real time out of the States. So we compromised. I gave her a one year contract and stayed 12 years.
Before I left Boston most of my friends were flabbergasted. How could I go so far away alone? What if I didn’t like it? They clearly didn’t understand my mind set.
For me it was a chance for discovery and adventure. It turned out to be that and more!
Peace, sunsets and aloha from Maui,
Ellen
