life in Japan
I am writing this at where we are staying in Japan, whilst my daughter is attending a local school. It’s been wild and fast weeks already passed with full of new experience, environment and friends, so much to absolve and learn. I cannot believe this is her final week of school already!
Some of you thought that I relocated for good, leaving my pottery and husband. 😅 It isn’t the case, not to worry!
In short. It’s a short term program but it has been a wild ride to get here for sure.
In a longer caption. This is a school experience program called 体験入学 (taiken nyugaku) and something we’ve anticipated for a long time. Our original plan was early 2020, during her early stage of primary school. Since Covid took over, this was put on hold and left us uncertain, so the studio revamp plan has been forwarded instead. We then, in May, received an offer, giving us to prepare everything within 4 weeks. Felt like all was happening at once, above the finance, my husband’s second surgery added worries. But our hope far outweighed hesitation because we knew this would be great experience for her and possibly the better timing than anytime later due to her age to immerse in language. So after hectic weeks of preparing entry requirements and organising logistics in UK side, little S and I arrived my home town.
My front face might be a potter but behind the scene I am also a mother who is raising a dual cultural and bilingual child, which often get misunderstood as easy process as long as one parent is native tongue. It has never been the case and our commitment as family has been more than challenging to say the least. So the chance like this is beyond what I could explain in words and I am glad we are finally here to extend what we have been supporting our daughter to cultivate for past years.
Most of all, I truly hope that she will nurture herself through this opportunity. If you come to think about it, being thrown in to a new learning environment with a bunch of new people, in a different country and language is a big brave thing. So far she’s been doing great thankfully. Here’s to unknown journey, curiosity and new experience in abundance. Enjoy the final week, little S! 💫
At the same time, I have been reflecting my motherhood a lot. Not everything is looking delight of course, and there are also nuanced cultural aspects that can still be troublesome at times, but mostly I am telling myself that I am enough.
“Good enough is where it’s at.”
My coach mentioned this phrase a while ago, and I am remind her words every time I reflect my motherhood.
Maybe you can do that too, whether that is motherhood or not. Because we are.
