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 probably 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!