Yup Thats Me, You're Probably Wonder How I Got Here...

The year was 1999, I vividly remember the year because the numbers were cut out of yellow construction paper and taped to the white painted cinder block wall of my 1st grade classroom. I'm not entirely sure why that stands out but maybe my brain knew that this would be a life changing time. It must have been around that time my parents sat me down at the kitchen table. They brought out a globe, the oceans were black instead of blue and the countries were all faded shades of red, orange, or green. I distinctly remember it being a pottery barn globe for whatever reason. I also remember being enthralled with the bumps and ridges of the mountains on the globe, but also amazed that so many other places could be smooth and flat.

During this family meeting, honestly the only family meeting we probably ever had, my

parents informed me we would be moving to Tokyo, Japan for my dads work. They would be heading over to the country scout out a place for us to live. I don't remember how I felt at the time. I was jus a first grader trying to process it all. Things progressed quickly, the only thing I remember when my parents left for the initial trip was laying in their king sized bed, staring up at the raised ceiling, thinking how I missed my parents during that first trip. They returned home, and I started going to Japanese lessons somewhere closer to the city. My teacher was a younger Japanese woman and we played a lot of rock, paper, scissors, in Japanese. I started learning basic greetings and numbers but that was really the extent of it and still is today. Everyone always asks me to speak in Japanese and I think it ends up being. somewhat of a disappointment. My mom supplemented my learning with Japan Mystery activity kit where I discovered quite a bit about the people and culture before we left.

The memories of our first trip to the country are blurry. We took an extremely long flight from Minneapolis and my mom packed some overly large bag for me to take on the plane with snacks, puzzles and books. No iPads or cellphones during that time of childhood but I'm sure we had some sort of inflight entertainment. There was enough room where I could sit on the floor by my parents feet and spread my bag of toys everywhere. One of our flights I remember making a friend and actually having some sort of "play date on a plane". I thought it was something short of a miracle we got to eat supper, and breakfast on the plane.

We landed in Tokyo, and things still seemed normal. It was after all just an airport. Customs was a new experience for me and I remember being so scared when they started asking questions. We had three giant suitcases that 10 year old me could have fit in filled with our clothes and that was it. The rest of our things were either in storage somewhere in the US or making their way over on a container ship across the ocean. We walked out of the airport and that's when it hit me. This was a city, and a city like I have never seen before. We aren't in Minnesota anymore Toto. We landed at Narita airport which is considered to be "out of the city", it takes about an hour to get from Narita to Tokyo center, but looking out from the sidewalk of the airport all you could see was building after building after building for miles. It was a grey cloudy day and it smelled like wet concrete. I will never forget that feeling and smell. It still makes me emotional recalling that moment. I was astounded but I think if 10 year old me could have an "oh shit" moment that was probably it.

We stayed at a hotel for the initials days before moving into our apartment in the area where many English speaking foreigners lived in Tokyo. It was a large apartment, two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, dinning room, two bathrooms, and there was a room that was not normal for American homes. We had a Tatami room and I loved it. The floors were covered in Tatami mats, woven straw mats, and the doors were all sliding doors made of bamboo and thick paper. This room even had a small deck with a garden and a tiny bonsai tree in the middle. We put a mini TV in there and I connected our original Nintendo Entertainment System to the tv. I played for hours when we first got there, I think it was my one connection to home. Little did I know that Nintendo was head quartered in Japan. I played that NES so much it ended up breaking.

I definelty have interested that vary widely from many people in the U.S. I think simply

because of where I spent my biggest formative years of my life. My Nintendo breaking introduced me to the even better and wilder stuff the Japanese already had. Gameboy advanced color introduced me to insane gaming and animation that really makes Japan unique. I had a slew of gameboy games all in Japanese, and the characters all spoke Japanese. At the time I remember being frustrated but today I think its so unique that I got to experience the authentic version of these games. Nintendo holds a special place in my heart today and getting to see Nintendo world in Osaka is on the top of my bucket list.

Most kids my age grew up with Scooby-Doo and Sponge-Bob. I got Sailor Moon, Naruto, and Hello Kitty. These shows and characters were immensely popular in the United States, I was lucky enough to be apart of these crazes in Japan, in real time, I can't even find the right words to describe how cool that is! Naruto is one of the best selling Manga of all time, selling 250 million copies world wide. The anime became hugely popular across the globe ending with a final 220 episode count. This show today is one I could rewatch over and over. Sanario and Hello Kitty burst on to the scene as well while we were living there and I recall it was my life goal as a 2nd grader, to collect all 6 Hello Kitty dolls from McDonalds. You bet I made it happen. My childhood was also filled with trips to Mt.Fuji, and Tokyo Disney Land and weekends spent with my family exploring the massive city. It has everything from ancient shrines and pop culture prefectures. There is honestly no place in the world like Tokyo.

I attended an all girls international school. There was 27 girls in my class from 16 different countries. I will forever be thankful for that opportunity, and it's truly special as very few kids ever get to be apart of something like that. I had best friends from Scotland, Yemen, Qutar, India, Korea, Australia, Germany, and France. Being exposed to these culture at my age truly did change me as a person. It changed my world view. I see some of these countries in the news headlines today and my thoughts immediately shift to these girls, their kindness, openness and the same warm feeling I recieved from their entire families. I wonder where they are now and I pray they are all doing well.

I am forever thankful for the opportunity I had to lived in Japan but I spent years cursing at the memories. It gave me the itch. It gave me the bug to want to see more of the world, eat the great food, be apart amazing culture, and see it all. I've spent alot of time the last 10 years ignoring that part of me. If I want to be involved in agriculture I told myself I was stuck, and there is a lot of truth to that, but I also think there is alot of limiting beliefs in that. Agriculture is everywhere. There are 8.1 billion people on our planet. That means there is 8.1 billion mouths to feed, in 195 countries. That also means there are at least 195 different versions of agriculture out there, and 8.1 billion stories of food to share. No time to waste anymore. Just time to start exploring and telling those stories. See you in Peru in 26 days.