{"id":18076,"date":"2011-03-18T13:23:55","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T17:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=18076"},"modified":"2011-03-18T13:23:55","modified_gmt":"2011-03-18T17:23:55","slug":"the-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/18\/the-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><em>Renay Loper (ALT, Iwate 2006-2007) is a freelance writer and international education professional currently seeking FT opportunities.<\/em><\/em> <\/p>\n<p>As we watch the news&#8230;check our emails&#8230;and receive phone calls and updates about what is happening in Japan daily, I am sure that images and fond memories of our time there flood our minds.  Our hope, prayers, and positive energies remain with our friends, families, colleagues, and fellow JETs still in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to share a positive note and reflection that I wrote during my time as an ALT in Iwate.  In the least, I hope I can incite a smile.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Enticed by your beauty and charm. \u00a0My interest was peaked from the first time\u00a0I heard about you&#8230;only in passing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got to meet her\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>I willingly left my land behind. \u00a0Blindly following your majestic legend. \u00a0Your mystery captivated me. \u00a0I was led like a shy schoolgirl following a strange hand offering a piece of candy.<\/p>\n<p>Not knowing where my decision would land me, I went.<\/p>\n<p>Greeted by the rising sun, and the setting smiles.  You hugged me. I hugged back.<\/p>\n<p>I was consumed by your culture and charm. \u00a0Your fickle mind left me unarmed. \u00a0Your questioning eyes stare at me.<\/p>\n<p>Piercing my being.<\/p>\n<p>I want to give you my all. \u00a0Share with you everything that I am. \u00a0I am nervous. \u00a0Borderline afraid. I am forced to ask myself, \u201cwhy?\u201d \u00a0You have shared with me the intricacies of your history. \u00a0Your timeless culture has embraced me.<\/p>\n<p>Surely I can do the same.<\/p>\n<p>Greeted by a room full of your children My worries are trumped, to return no more. You have welcomed me unconditionally.<\/p>\n<p>To you, Lady Japan, I say thank you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Published <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jetprogramme.org\/documents\/pubs\/jetjournal2007.pdf\"> 2007 JET Journal <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Renay Loper (ALT, Iwate 2006-2007) is a freelance writer and international education professional currently seeking FT opportunities. As we watch the news&#8230;check our emails&#8230;and receive phone calls and updates about what is happening in Japan daily, I am sure that images and fond memories of our time there flood our minds. Our hope, prayers, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,320],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articlejournalism","category-jetwit-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkZ7m-4Hy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18076"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18082,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18076\/revisions\/18082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}