All winter I have been studying Japanese with Nihongo Master. I became totally obsessed, waking up early and studying 3-4 hours a day before work. Just recently, the idea of facing 500 plus drills in one day became so overwhelming and not-fun that I started searching for alternatives. So here I am, an elderlyish sansei born in Arizona, who has then lived disparate lives in Houston, Texas, Crested Butte, Colorado, and now Portland, Oregon. I’m studying Japanese to eventually have a less touristy experience when I get to visit Fukushima where all of my grandparents are from. In the meantime, I am enjoying going down memory lane when some odd phrase or word turns up. Who knew that we absorb so much language through osmosis? Who knew that Grandma Tanita named her German Shepherd, not after Ringo Starr but after an apple? Who knows? Maybe she really did like the Beatles?