Second Trip to the USA

Each time my family went back to the USA (usually every four years), my father would take a different route. Although I was only six at the time, I can recall elements of our travels in vivid details. For instance, I recall the fright I felt at discovering the most enormous cockroach I had ever seen as we crossed Hong Kong harbor in the Star Ferry. I also can remember the flow of the muddy warm flood water swirling around my calves as we walked down the streets of Bangkok. I recall the sweetness of coca-cola sipped from a glass bottle at our guest house.This was a different Asia than I had known in our Japanese mountain town, but one I savored just the same.

Back in the USA, we moved into a upper story of a farm house in Middletown, PA. This was around the time of the Three Mile Island meltdown. I didn't know much about that. I slept in a tiny bed that my grandfather made for me, tucked into a closet-like corner. I was proud of that bed. I liked to go downstairs and play games with Grandpa Hertzler, the owner of the farm (who lived beneath us). I also traipsed through the fields dodging cow-pies and explored the barns, building hay-forts and swinging from a rope tied to the rafters high above.

That year, I went to Miss Barbara's kindergarten class at Mount Calvary School. I remember a boy in my class had his apendix taken out and showed us his scar for show and tell. We also sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful for our parents - i thought it was at my graduation but it makes more sense that it was at some sort of Christmas pagent.

The following year, my brother was having some trouble and so we moved to Millersville, PA and spent more time with a woman who seemed to be able to help his learning disability. I attended Lancaster Christian School for the first grade. This is where i learned the Pledge of Allegance to the American flag, crossing my heart and trying to stand very still. We followed it with the pledge to the Christian flag, which seemed to be equal or of greater importance. I was always nervous I would say it incorrectly because I was a foreigner. I also noticed that my teacher, Miss Swanson's knees seemed to bend backwards. I tried to stand like her but my knees simply bent forward like normal people.

At the end of that school year, I was excited to move back to Japan.

written by

Sparkplug on February 23, 2007 from Nagano, Japan

from the travel blog: Nomadic Pushpins

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