Business Clothes

I’ve visited my mom’s elementary school several times this vacation to talk about Japan. It’s always interesting to talk to second graders and hear their thoughts on life and Japan. Students (and teachers) are usually blown away by Japanese-style toilets.

Well, last week, I did something a little different! I visited two universities. At Belhaven University, I talked to a class of International Studies majors about what it was like to drop into a country with no prior knowledge of the language.

I also got to eat lunch in the cafeteria (talk about nostalgic!) and catch up with my Spanish teacher.

At Mississippi College, I held a presentation that was open to anyone interested in learning about the JET Programme. Mississippi falls under the Nashville Japanese consulate, so they look for alumni in the area who can hold informational seminars. Nashville is pretty far away!

Early in the day, I dropped by a Japanese class and a TESOL class to talk to those students about the JET Programme. Several of them seemed pretty interested, and they had a lot of questions. I talked to a few students in the courtyard after class, too.

Starbucks time! That’s a salted caramel mocha in my Sendai cup. It was probably the weirdest coffee drink I have ever consumed. It was like someone had scraped off the top of a saltine into my drink. Last winter, I had a coffee drink with pretzel in it, but this was weirder for some reason. I think it was just because it was so much salt. But it was pretty good. And I had fun hanging out with Bro there (see what just happened?).

When we got back to the campus, the evening sky was lovely.

I was so nervous going into the session! Mostly, I was worried that no one was going to come and I’d have to just give the whole presentation to my brother. Lol.

We went in and set up the computer. I quickly decorated a table with some stuff I brought back from Japan. I took a deep breath, and people began to arrive. It wasn’t a huge turnout, but several people came from 3 universities.

When I started, I was feeling a little nervous. But I quickly remembered something.

I. Love. Talking. About. Japan.

The hour flew by! People had lots of interesting questions, which was great! I hope we will have more Mississippi JET participants soon. When you start hearing more Japanese students saying y’all, you will know we have made it.