As far back as I can remember, I’ve been an avid reader. If nothing else, the storage tubs stuffed to the brim with books that sit in my parents’ attic can attest to that. From reading, comes a desire for not only knowledge, but adventure and exploring new things. I think living and working in Japan would fulfill all three of these desires at once – which is not something normally found in a single experience. Living in Japan would mean a wealth of new knowledge, from language to those particular quirks of a culture that one can only really appreciate from immersion, and every thing in between. Surely, living in a new culture, a new country, halfway around the world from the one I was born in would be an adventure, and it's certainly a chance to explore new things.
Learning is one of the cornerstones of my personality – I love learning new things, I love reading about mysteries. Growing up, I was fascinated by ancient cultures and structures, from the pyramids of Egypt to the Mayan temples in Central America and Mexico. I remember being amazed at the wealth of knowledge gained from the remnants of their societies, and entranced by the mysteries left open. Unfortunately, this knowledge is all theoretical – it's not something I can experience for myself, because the cultures that made those ancient structures have faded.
School broadened my enchantment – rather than the cultures of the ancient world, found in children's stories, I was suddenly learning about contemporary cultures. One of the things that caught my attention most with regards to Japan is that it is a country where contemporary and ancient cultures coexist in harmony. This mixture itself piqued my curiosity, as it certainly isn't something that is readily seen in the United States. On the contrary, Japan boasts some of the world's most advanced technology, alongside temples that have stood in place for thousands of years. I feel as if, between ancient and modern, classic and contemporary, I could live in Japan for years and never be short of new things to learn.
As a result of drive to learn, I've always done well in school. I often pick up new concepts more quickly than my peers, and have found myself in a situation to explain and teach things more than once. In fact, teaching is just another learning experience in my mind, as I learn while I teach. For example, I once had a friend who was struggling with a complex math formula for a class she was taking. She was supposed to memorize the whole thing, but it wasn't working – she insisted that she wouldn't be able to memorize it unless she knew how it worked. I began breaking the formula down piece-by-piece for her, and the formula suddenly became clear to me. I hadn't thought of it in pieces before, but once I did, it instantly made sense – and I was able to explain it. I don't know that I would have ever thought about the formula in that manner if I hadn't have been forced to by trying to teach it – so not only did I teach the formula, I learned exactly why it worked myself.