Tagged With: Cultural Differences

Travel, Soul Mates and a Book about Mormons

I just finished reading Elna Baker‘s memoir, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance.  In it, she recounts the struggles she faced as a 26-year-old Mormon virgin looking for true love in New York city.  She’s a funny writer and her insight into the Mormon faith was interesting and informative.  Now 30, Elna is no longer … Continue reading »

Categories: Cultural Differences, Expat Life, Travel Lit | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Help! I Was Born in the Wrong Country!

   ”The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” – Maya Angelou    Since I wrote that post about personality types and their corresponding countries, a lot of you have found this site through google-searching “Where in the world do I belong?” … Continue reading »

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The 999th Reason Why I Hate Kanji

I woke up this morning at seven, stepped into the shower, and sleepily pushed the button that turns on the hot water heater. Or so I thought. Suddenly the bathroom erupted into chaos. Sirens blared, an automated computer voice started shouting instructions at me through the vent over the bathtub and I screamed in terror. … Continue reading »

Categories: Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, Japan | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments

Flower Girl

There’s a new celebrity in town and her name is Sakura. She’s tiny, delicate, a pale shade of pink and every one’s clamoring for a chance to be photographed with her. She’s the new Paris Hilton and she’s got this country so love-struck, one could say it’s bordering on obsessive. People travel thousands of miles … Continue reading »

Categories: Cultural Differences, Culture Shock, Japan, Weird and Wacky Tokyo | Tags: , , , , | 10 Comments

Are Japanese and American Children Really all that Different?

I spent all of last week shuttling back and forth between my old job teaching (mostly North American) pre-schoolers at an International school, and my new job, teaching ESL at a Japanese after school preschool program. The whole experience was exhausting (imagine working for nine hours straight, all of your students under the age of … Continue reading »

Categories: Cultural Differences, Japan, Teaching English in Japan | Tags: , , | 7 Comments