Is it a 鳥? Is it a 飛行機? Or is it...

SuuPaa, as in "supermarket", also refers to the shortened form of "Super Pat", which is me. I'm super. I just flew to a country I've never been before and decided to live here for 10 months. That either takes someone extremely courageous or extremely crazy. (Maybe both?)

"Chan" would be the affectionate or familiar suffix one would add to a name in Japanese, usually for girls or babies. That's right: the country in question is Japan. Why? It'll make more sense as I go, I think, rather than spelling it all out upfront. In any case, Paa-chan was the nickname given to me in Japanese class (because Patricia was too long and the usual "Pat" or "Trish" would be too hard to pronounce).
(Update: the meaning of "paa" isn't very flattering, it turns out. Was laughed at by my teacher. He's a cool guy though. Anyway, I'll stick to Pat.)

Unfortunately, I haven't proven myself to be so "super" during my time here. For one, I can't seem to be able to finish a meal, whether that's because of remaining jet lag or unfamiliarity with the food or my inadequacy with chopsticks that causes me to eat half as quickly as everyone else and fools my stomach into thinking I ate just as much. With a fork you can just go ahead and shovel it all in, but with chopsticks there's only so much you can pick up in one go, at least for an amateur like me.

Another unwanted surprise came as soon as it came to actual conversation. And here I thought I did well in class! It turns out that, outside the classroom setting, even the vocabulary I know by heart is immediately rendered undecipherable. What? Crab? Club? Grab? Nani?? When you're living on your own in a place where your native language isn't spoken it's imperative that you grow accustomed to common phrases. My host mother has had to translate her own words into English every day since I've been here. I'm sorry, family back home: I bring dishonor unto thee. But let's be honest, I have 10 months; there's no way I'm going to keep bumbling around like a fool until the last day. Right? Eh? Anyone?

I am, indeed, in Japan. For real.

The garbage truck here sounds like an ice cream truck. I looked out the window one day when I heard the familiar chimes before I quickly realized an ice cream truck wouldn't make sense so early in the morning, for one, and squeezed between the narrow streets of the neighborhood, for another. That's probably the one disappointment I've had so far. Everything else has been pretty amazing: from a typhoon that arrived the day after I did to the views (I can see a mountain from my house!) to the food, which, although delicious!, has been far too much for me. I cannot understand how some people think the Japanese diet is small. Maybe it's just more filling?

I've learned to say "いっぱい" (ippai) to describe nearly everything. My stomach is full of food. The hallway is full of people. My life is full of confusion (pfft, as if I knew how to say that in Japanese). One thing is for sure: my experience here will be full of lifelong lessons. There will be disappointment. There will be heartbreak. Mostly, there will be ample opportunity to grow into someone who doesn't shy away from difficulty.

スーパー ちゃん, Go!