Homeward Bound

I am now on student leave with the Florida Conference of the UMC pursuing a PHD in Peace and Conflict Studies at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies with a focus on developing a pragmatic discourse analysis theory with a focus on the religious components of the Kashmir Conflict.

Our family moved to Yokohama Japan two years ago when my husband received an assignment to work here.   The move was unsettling both culturally, spiritually and personally.   I mourned leaving the local church that I loved; I mourned leaving my friends behind and all that was familiar.   I celebrated the experience of new learning, of new friends and new culture.   These two feelings left me often feeling overwhelmed with little sense of stability and normalcy.

In July this year I was able to spend almost a month in Spain and France, both for academic pursuit and for vacation.  On my final day there, my husband and I had a rather difficult and lengthy van ride to the airport(the driver had to pick up passengers located in various hotels all over Paris which took almost two hours to accomplish), which made us late for our check-in.   Once at the Charles De Gaulle airport, panicked because we were late, we could not figure out where our ANA (All Nippon Airways) check in counter was located.   After several minutes of scrambling and multiple u-turns we found an information desk and got directions.   As we turned a corner, we saw the ANA desk, with four immaculately dressed attendants helping those in the short check in line.   As we approached, one of the attendants politely bowed to us and welcomed us.   I broke into a huge smile, overwhelmed with relief and said "I am going home!"

At that moment I realized that home now was Yokohama and that while transitions never really end but just change based on the ever changing context of life, I nevertheless had transitioned from one home to a new one.   With that awareness, I have found a new intentionality of being.   My energy, not consumed by transition, could find new paths of deepening. Just as I once shared my reflections on this blog after I finally felt home after a two year transition into the local church, I now wish to share some of my reflections based on my new home here in Japan as a graduate student.