Hey everyone! It's Kelly!
So today I wanted to address a question I get all the time.
Also, before I start anything, I just want to say
I'm really sorry that I can't answer all of your questions
I get so many e-mails and so many comments
I will be doing a live show soon so there will be a teaser up for that.
So, stay tuned!
Because I really wanna answer all of your questions and..
I think a live show is the best way to answer all your questions.
So, the one question that I really wanted to address is...
What my parents think about me being in Japan.
and
How I got my parents to allow me to go to Japan at a young age.
So, there's a little bit of a story behind it, um...
and it goes back to my high school years.
Yes, I am 25 years old
and I'm an adult now
RESPONSIBILITY!
So, when I went to high school, they offered Japanese.
and, I didn't wanna take Spanish because everyone was taking Spanish
I wanted to learn something totally different
So, I took Japanese
I wanted to be a Japanese language teacher
I wanted to be a Japanese teacher because I had some very inspirational teachers
and that's just something that I wanted to do
Anyway, I took Japanese classes when I was in high school
and I enjoyed them very very much
I really wanted to learn more about the country and educate myself
a little bit more and see if that was the thing that I wanted to do with my life
SO, I signed up for a program that was two weeks
I had to write a little message about why I wanted to go to Japan
Which turned into a little bit more of an essay
I think it was a pretty dang good essay
My parents were willing to let me go because I was with a big group of people and..
it was just a safe way to go
My Japanese teacher was like, I'll tell you at the end of class if you got it or not
I didn't wanna tel anybody until the end of class
She looked like something was wrong and I..
My heart... I just knew...
that I didn't get in
The reasoning for this was...
because I had a peanut allergy
The person that ran the program was from a different school
and he didn't allow me and a girl with diabetes to go
The fact that I couldn't go because of this issue
Kinda crushed my dreams a little bit about going to Japan
I was just a little shocked
We did ask this question about weather or not it was possible to go
If you had an allergy or a disability or something
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's not going to account for any decisions that we make
That has nothing to do with any decisions that we're going to make at the meeting
It's totally ok, you should apply!
So, I wish that he would have said, no
and you shouldn't apply
Instead of giving us that reason that because I have a peanut allergy..
I can't go
after I went through all of the process
So I think that's why it kind of pissed me off a little bit
My Japanese teacher took control of a program at our high school
that related to an exchange student program overseas in Japan
I did the interview and surprisingly enough, the person that rejected me before
was also conducting the interview
I just wanted to show this guy that I was mature and I had the drive to..
live in another country and the patience to live in another country
Luckily, I got the letter saying that I was able to go to Japan
and I was selected as a student to go overseas
I asked my parents if I could go for four months
and four months is really a long time to go to Japan
I realize not that I'm older that..
my mom was just nervous about me going to a totally different country
that she didn't know anything about
I think my parents sometimes think that this is a third world country
I don't think my parents realized what Japan really was like and they
were nervous for me to get a plane, a fourteen hour trip
to Japan as a young girl
When I told my mom that I wanted to go, she freaked out
But the thing that I did to convince my parents that..
I was mature enough and ready to go to a different country was..
by writing this long letter about..
what I wanted to do with it
It wasn't just me going to Japan as a vacation
It was something that I wanted to do to see if I wanted to pursue being aJapanese teacher in college
So I wrote that in my letter and I sent it to my dad
because when I have a problem my dad is always the mediator between our family
So, I wrote my dad a long letter
and he read it and he wrote me a kind letter saying..
I understand what you want to do
I'll talk to your mother
we'll discuss it and then we'll decide
So, they discussed it and talked about it and talked about it
and finally they gave me an answer and that was to let me go to Japan
and I was sooo excited but...
it was an expensive program
and I had savings since I was a child
all if it was gone
because of that
from birthdays, Christmas, if if I didn't have all of that I don't think my parents would let me go
If you are struggling to convince your parents to go
They might have a very good reason why they will not let you go
One, it's because you are young and they are worried about you
I'm actually very surprised that my parents let me go
because, I think if I were a mother, I'd be very nervous too and I would..
contemplate it
Number two, it could be a money issue
DOn't be upset that you can't go because your parents don't have the funds to take you to another country
I think you need to have a really good reason to go
and I think you have to think about the money that you're putting into this trip
So, your parents may not have the funds for it and..
that's understandable
If that's the case and you really really wanna go
and you're serious about it
The best thing to do is just to start saving
to work hard, to tae extra jobs if you have to
If this is what you really want to do just save up your money
for Christmas, for birthdays, everything
and eventually you can go. There are college programs that are quite affordable
So, I'm pretty lucky, my parents really want me to do what I want to do with my life and..
They want me to succeed
It's not that other parents don't want their kids to succeed
It just depends on the situation
finances and everything
So, we had the funds to go
I had the funds to go
I used my savings and..
my parents really thought about it
All I had to do was show them that I was mature enough to and that I was serious to go
Now I'm here! I'm doing what I love, I'm teaching English
This is what my passion is
So, I know it's not a crazy story or anything like..
I ran away from home because I was upset
and then I ran away from Japan
I just talked to my parents about it and I showed
them that I was serious about it
What my parents think about me in Japan today
They miss me terribly
And there's not a day that goes by where my mom walks passed my room and cries her eyes out
and it's very hard to be away from family because
I'm missing things
I'm missing my cousins growing up,
I'm missing birthday parties, Christmases
I haven't gone home in two years
Mostly because it's extremely expensive and..
I've been moving around Japan a lot
I lived in Aomori, I live in Nagoya, and I'm actually thinking of moving to Tokyo soon
I'm trying to juggle it all and it's been very tough to go home
Hopefully next year. Sorry mom!
So, that being said
My parents are very proud of me
I have no doubt in my mind that they are always thinking of me
If you are interested in my mother and what she thinks about me being in Japan
She has a very professional and lovely blog
and I'm going to link her blog down below
It's called "Life After Mom"
It's about her kids moving on and what she's doing now with her life
She's a writer and that's what she studied in college
She wanted to be a journalist
and she's doing proofreading right now
so she's really good at writing
and, yeah, her blog is very good
So, if you are interested in Strawberry mama
I'm going to link the blog down below and
in order to subscribe to her blog
I actually didn't know that you could subscribe to blogs
But I think that a lot of people don't know that you can subscribe to blogs
but you can!
What you need to do, is go to her blog and there is a place in the blog
and you can type in your e-mail and just press enter
and you have subscribed
There's a lot of interesting things that she writes about
So, if you're interested in supporting my mama,
I will link it down below
So, anyway thanks for watching! If you liked this video please hit the like button
and don't forget to subscribe
See you next time!