Living in America 5
More than half a year has passed since my last post, and today marks one year since I came to the US. For about half a year after I came to the US, I would search for things like "Life in America is hard," "Life in America is stressful," "I want to go back to Japan," and other things that made me feel even more depressed, but I no longer do that. (lol) My hands were numb, my neck was stiff, my teeth were clenched... My body was screaming so much that my family couldn't help but worry when I returned to Japan. (lol) I felt like I had postpartum depression, but I tried to understand that this was a part of the process of adapting (of course, not everyone does), and this made me feel lighter, and more than anything, I was able to reset myself by returning to Japan. When I returned to Japan, I felt extremely healthy, and I was able to reaffirm that the cause of my illness was stress. For better or worse. (lol)
This fall, my second son started attending preschool, and for the first time in a year, I was able to have some free time. By taking him to and from school every day, I was able to see my children's efforts and daily life. On the third day of his schooling, my son stopped crying when we said goodbye in the morning, and I was able to relax and concentrate on my own time. I am grateful for all the friends and teachers I have had, and for the foundation of my son's heart.
◆Rediscovering the charm of people in American lifeWhen I returned to Japan for a short visit, I was asked several times, "What is so stressful about this?" but I thought it was simply because my personality did not match American society. Considering the size of America and the differences between states, I don't think I should describe the following as "American" , but I found a society that was almost the opposite of the honesty and sense of security I felt in Japanese society. (The uncertainty of package delivery, the need to return items even if they were delivered, the incomprehensibility of medical insurance system quotes, the shortest hospital appointments being one month out, high childcare fees considering the length of time they were provided, etc.)
For me, while I feel that the social system in Japan is the best , I feel that the people are even more attractive in America. Basically, there are many things that I don't understand because there are many things that I've never done before, and I need to ask for help before I can speak English. When I asked for help, everyone I met in Seattle and Bellevue was kind, without exception. Sometimes there are people who use unreasonably rough language (this happens everywhere), but the more they stand out, the better the people are. When the parents of my child's school found out that I hadn't been in America for very long, they exchanged contact information with me, saying, "If you're in trouble, please contact me anytime," and when the Japanese parents found out that I didn't have a car, they said, "If there's an emergency, please contact me anytime, I can give you a car." The inconvenience and the fact that I couldn't solve many things on my own made me think again about "what kind of person I want to be" at the end of my 30s. I couldn't be more grateful. Every day wasn't easy, but I was able to have experiences that went beyond that.
◆What I will work hard on from now on My health has stabilized, and I have more time for myself, so I have been able to set goals in life. I have goals in koginzashi, but in terms of daily life, I want to improve my English speaking skills. I don't mind making mistakes, so I can speak with confidence. That's about it. There were no vacancies in the course at my level in English as a Second Language (English as a Second Language ), but I was lucky enough to be able to participate in ABE (Adult Basic Education), a course to learn liberal arts in English, so I am a student there twice a week. I can understand English at a daily level, but when it comes to speaking, I tend to be big-headed and can't speak naturally. My level is obviously low, but I learned Czech through living Czech, so I'm not afraid to speak it. I hope English can become like that too. Languages are not so easy that you can learn them just by living in an English-speaking country, so I'll try to make an effort to make the language my ally!
Today I've been updating you on Satonobou's current situation, but I've managed to stay healthy and live life with goals in mind. (laughs) The other day I took a survey on Instagram, and there were more people interested in pincushion kits than I expected, so when I return to Japan next summer, I'm thinking of preparing pincushion kits in addition to book covers.
Little by little, more and more people are asking me questions, telling me little things we have in common, and telling me fun things. I would like to use my experience living in America to help in my field (Kogin embroidery, Aomori store information, etc.), so please feel free to send me a message. It would be good to create a contact form on this site as well. (lol) I will talk to my husband about it right away.
▶️Materials Research Blog
▶️Shop (We plan to expand the digital design lineup in the future, except when we are temporarily back in Japan)
▶︎Goldfish Nebuta Kit Design and Instruction Data Sales
(We have added a design sample to the work examples)
・Minne sales page for Kind-faced Goldfish Nebuta
・Minne sales page for Brave-faced Goldfish Nebuta
▶︎Goldfish Nebuta Kit (Full Set) koginbank Online Shop
▶️Instagram (We share the simplicity and fun of Kogin embroidery through videos, etc.)
Satonobou