Hello everyone and welcome to the Stir-fried
Tango. Now I know for you native English
speakers that “Tango” is a dance,
but it is not here. This “Tango”
references the Romaji Spelling of the Japanese word “単語 (たんご)” which means “words.” I’m
Richard, and this is my story.
Since I started out with an awkward explanation to some
random Japanese word, I should probably explain why. I’m currently learning Japanese – and the struggle is real. Learning Japanese, for me, has definitely been one of the hardest pursuits of my life; and I often find myself mixing up words
in both English and Japanese. So, sooo mixed up. What better name for my blog than “mixed up words” thus the Stir-fried
Tango was born. On this blog there will be many topics including, but not limited to: traveling, Japan, life, photography, studying abroad, and whatever else I find interesting. I
have no clue how this will turn out, but I look forward to having this journey
with you. Now enough with that, as my first post you probably want to know “who is this mixed-up-word-speaking guy?”
As I stated above my name is Richard and I am currently participating
in a one year study abroad program in
Japan at International Christian University (ICU). Sadly, I will be returning to the US sometime in July of 2016. Before
studying abroad and struggling with
Japanese in Japan, I was struggling
for about 2 years with Japanese in
the US, so after a discouraging two years it was time for immersion learning. I
had spent those two years planning and
preparing for the trip to Japan, but even with all of my research I was not fully prepared. I knew one of the
things I wanted to do was blog about the things that others may want to know
before traveling to other countries or places.
One of the hurdles that I was challenged with was figuring
out how to pay for this trip to
Japan. This was absolutely one of the
biggest fears I had about trying to study abroad because even with my wife
and I both working full time it was
hard to pay for life as a full time student. Sometimes we were so excited for a
new semester to start because student
loans would cover gas for the next few months. I will definitely be talking
about how to survive as a poor college student
in this blog. Now I won’t tell you
to “not worry there is a way to fix all problems,” but I will give tips that will help.
Something fun I will
include are Japanese segments in my posts. As I am working toward my skill
in Japanese, I want to practice share and encourage
others learning languages, especially those who may find it as difficult as I have,
to keep going. Don’t give up because
it is hard. The reward is well worth it. Now for those who do not speak
Japanese, don’t freak out! Most of
what I will say will probably be something I already just posted in English. This
just allows me to practice something
I enjoy doing.
Also I love taking
photos. I’ve actually been wanting that to be my direction in life, although skill wise I don’t feel prepared.
For me it is an art and an inspiring
way to tell a story. So, while I write
these posts I will also try to
include some of the photos I take, whether they are beautiful or not, the story I want to tell with them will
be. I am also interested in making
videos, but I have not decided if I will add any or not. Hopefully as we journey
together, we will learn more about the places around us and grow to see the
world in all of its beauty.
Finally, there is something I feel is very important. This blog will
grow. A lot of people don’t like change,
but people do it all the time, and because of that it should be clear that even I will fall victim to it. I will
have thoughts and opinions that change
or grow and later it is possible I won’t
feel the same way at all. Because of this, what I blog about will begin to vary
as I gain experience. While writing I may start with a few topics, but in the
future I would love to have a great many things that I can talk about and to
share it all with you.
Thank you for
reading this post. I look forward to
sharing, learning, and growing more with you in the future. Please feel free to
comment and request future topics, and I hope to hear from you soon, but most
of all thank you for being a part of my Stir-fried
Tango.
