はじめまして! わたし　の　なまえ　は　もも　です。 よろしく お願いします!

Aaaand that’s the extent of my Japanese knowledge.

Hello everyone! :) My name is Momo Chung, I’m 23 and I currently live in South Florida. I’ve studied Japanese before in the past and as a young child I spoke it a little, but unfortunately as I got older and moved from one place to another I slowly started to forget what I’d learnt. I studied it in high school as well, but due to medical complications at the time my studies were cut short and I was left to study on my own (which of course ended badly for me – shocker! :P).

I come from a very mixed family and on my father’s side I’m of Chinese and Japanese descent. (Somewhat unrelated, I am also Brasilian and Native American on my mother’s side of the family, but raised in the West Indies – so hello to any similarly mixed friends here!) It’s always been frustrating for me that I cannot fluently speak any of the languages that were used so regularly in my household growing up. In fact I’d say that’s one of my biggest motivations! I’ve always felt a sense of disconnect from the culture and the people mostly because I cannot speak to them. So wanting to be able to speak to a community I belong to and having that sense of connection and belonging is really at the top of my list. There are other smaller reasons, but I’d have to say this is what’s most important for me. I hope this babble makes sense…

Anyway, I think this might be getting too deep for a self introduction post so here’s something embarrassing and funny. For a period of about two years or so around middle school, I couldn’t stop falling backwards in chairs. It always happened in public places, too! I would sit down in a chair and try to live life on the edge and WHAM! Down I would go. Eventually my teachers banned me from sitting in high chairs or pushing back on two legs >_>

It’s very nice to meet you all and I hope to make lots of friends while I’m here! Any other newbies, or whoever, please feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to be study buddies. I’m on LINE and would love to have friends to go on this adventure with.