Lissette Lorenz

My little sister turned three a couple days ago. I Skype called my family in Miami to sing happy birthday to her. My mom had just come home with a cupcake with a candle in it. My dad placed the cupcake and my sister in front of the computer so that I could see them while I sang. I missed my little sister’s birth and her second birthday because I was in Oberlin, starting new school years. Now I missed her third birthday because I am in Japan. I will miss her fourth birthday as well. These facts make me more than a little sad.

It cheered me up a bit to hang out in the kitchen with my host mom and host sisters after I made that Skype call. I am visiting them for a couple of weeks. We shared a year of our lives together when I studied abroad at Kansai Gaidai in Osaka my junior year, and we got very close. While no one can replace my family in the States, being with my host family brings me great comfort.

My host family also inspires me to want to improve my Japanese. I have to admit, I lost a lot of desire to study it during my summer language course. While that was partly because the lessons were a tad on the boring side, it was also because I didn’t have anyone around me that I felt a strong urge to want to communicate fully with who didn’t speak English. Everything was so temporary during those six weeks, after all. Everyone I met in the program has already left, and I already moved from Inokashira to Machida. There was no time to settle down.

See, I’m at a level of Japanese in which I can get by. I’m solidly intermediate. My comprehension is decent, and at this point mainly vocabulary is holding me back. My speaking is not as decent, but I’m good at explaining around words I can’t remember and at playing charades when all else fails. My level of Japanese is no longer bad enough that daily interactions in Japanese is painful, and thus, my impetus to improve has been mostly removed.

Visiting my host family for a couple weeks, however, has reminded me why I should keep practicing: so that I can communicate well with people that I care about, and who care for me. Since I no longer live in Osaka with my host family, but in Machida–in a one bedroom apartment, all alone–I will have to start forming new, meaningful relationships with the people around me if I don’t want to become depressed and lonely. And since most of the people around me are Japanese speakers and not English or Spanish speakers, having a better handle of Japanese will help me form those relationships smoother and quicker.

Though at this point I have to mention that I am really thankful to have the other fellows, my senpai, as well as other mentors in the Shansi family here in Japan, showing me the ropes and making me feel welcome. If it weren’t for all of these lovely people already here in Japan, welcoming me, helping me, and laughing with me, I may have broken down in bitter tears of loneliness and longing before I could finish singing the happy birthday song to my little sister.