I first moved to Nagasaki, Japan in the summer of '93. I was fourteen years old and far from being impressed with my new circumstances. To quote the diary I was keeping at the time, "I'm here, but it's not home. I don't think it ever will be... I wish I knew how to speak Japanese so I wouldn't feel like such an outsider." I spent the first month watching TV and stuffing myself with Pringles, or gazing at the view from our front yard. I wasn't being totally unproductive, though. With the help of the TV and a dictionary I taught myself hiragana, katakana, and a lot of slang. Eventually my brother and I enrolled in Kiyono Miyazaki's Japanese language class, to learn us some language. During this time I kept up with my high school classes (kind of) by taking correspondence courses from the University of Lincoln-Nebraska Independent Study High School.

One year later, in August '94, I decided it was time for me to go to a real school again. I packed my bags and sent myself to the city of Kobe, where I would attend Canadian Academy International School, on the manmade Rokko Island. I spent the next two years living in the CA dormitory (a blessing and a curse, mostly curse!). The first year my roommate was Carolyn Ryan from Ireland, and good times were to be had. Every Friday and Saturday night was spent out on the town, usually at Bar, Isn't It? in Sannomiya. In fact, that's where I met my fiance, Kenzo Nakayama.

The good times came to an abrupt end on the morning of January 17th, 1995, when the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit Kobe and the surrounding area. Part of the bridge leading off Rokko Island collapsed, and the entire city had lost all gas, running water, and electricity. It was two days before we at the dorm were able to turn on CNN and finally see just how much damage the earthquake had caused. We were devestated to see that our once beautiful city had been largely reduced to burning rubble. Three days later we were evacuated from the island by boat, and it was mid-February before classes started up again at CA.

That summer Carolyn moved back to Ireland, and my new roomie was Ikue Misaki, my friend from jazz band. My days were spent suffering through my senior year of high school, while every afternoon I met Kenzo for a few hours at Island Center. After my graduation in May 1996 I left Japan, but I returned for the summer of 1998 to teach English. I now live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where I am close to finishing my honours degree in English and History at Dalhousie University.