We’ve been in Charleston about seven weeks now and I’ve been working for six weeks. I suppose one might say we have settled in now. It has been five months since we left Japan, yet it feels like it was another lifetime. I have my pictures of the daily scenes from that life, but it all seems so distant and removed. I’ve read in the blogs of other expatriates that returning to one’s home country is a difficult experience. I agree. The expatriate has a life-changing experience, but it is one that he cannot share. As cliché as it sounds, it is largely an internal experience. But life moves along.

Yes, we do get alligators up this way, thought not in the numbers that one might find in Florida.
I have noticed a very interesting cultural trait of the people of North and South Carolina, and even perhaps Georgia…or maybe the entire Southeast. Everywhere you go people are wearing bright-orange shirts with a tiger footprint on the shirt, the logo for Clemson University, or something similar for their favorite institution of higher learning. On the rear window of cars there are various stickers, ranging from the animal footprint in orange, to bold text spanning the length of the window stating “UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA” or “FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY”. Automobile license plates are available at extra cost from the state governments with a university’s logo beside the license number. There are vehicles with small flags attached to the side of the cars with a university’s colors and logo. It would seem that this need to promote one’s institution of higher learning is the ultimate form of pride. Were those four years in college so good? It is fascinating to me. For a region that has a strong individualist culture, the desire to be recognized as part of an in-group is still very strong.
So the weather here in coastal South Carolina is…schizophrenic. One day it will be sixteen degrees and you’ll be fooled into believing that autumn has arrived. Yesterday it was twenty-eight degrees and feeling like late summer, minus the humidity though. Having spent all of my life in regions with very distinct seasons, I find myself missing the yellow leaves lying on the sidewalks of Hachioji or Nerima, the dried-up and post-harvest rice paddies in Sakado, the yards blanketed in fallen leaves and the crisp aroma of the autumn air in coastal Virginia…these are the images that spring to my memory when I think of Autumn. I sometimes find myself looking at pictures of Montréal and rural Massachusetts and I’m struck by the beauty of the season. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to have grown up in Singapore or Port au Prince, or Chennai, where there is no season like Autumn. The only way I can tell it is autumn here in Charleston is that the tips of the palm trees are fading from green to yellow.
I do miss public transportation in some ways. Oh how I despised riding Tokyo metro from Nerima ward to Kasumigaseki! With the trains packed to the door, the heaters blasting hot air, and the stench of one hundred men in their winter coats and dark suits sweating all at the same time with that dead tired look in their eyes…I don’t know how they tolerate it for 40+ years. Yet I loved the Tobu Tojo line ride from Kawagoe to Sakado, watching the small urban area slowly transform to a rural setting with a clear view of Mt. Fuji during autumn and winter. I did not mind the bus journey from Keio Hachioji station to my former company’s location in the middle of the Hachioji suburbs, watching the seasons from the window of the bus and enjoying the feel of a part of Tokyo still left in the 1960s. And I read so much on my commutes here and there!
Moving to the automobile lifestyle is quite an adjustment. My commute is a short, sweet twenty minutes, so I mostly listen to the radio. Since I’m not so into music, I try to catch the world news. Charleston is so removed from the global world, and has a completely different feeling from Washington DC or Tokyo. If you don’t follow the news or read foreign papers, you might even forget there is a world outside of South Carolina. I currently have a 90-day trial for XM satellite radio which I am enjoying, but I don’t think I’ll go with the service for the $10 monthly charge. I enjoy the BBC World News Service, but I can listen to the BBC world report or NPR on the Internet when I get home, or I can try to catch public radio news when the local channel isn’t broadcasting audio books or classical music.
Speaking of automobiles, we had to purchase one after moving out of my parent’s place. We shopped around looking at Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, Honda and even some American makes on the Internet only. Though I wanted something like a sporty-looking sedan, we realized that with Liam we needed something bigger so we can haul around his stroller and still have room for luggage and what not. In the end we went with Toyota’s entry-level sport utility vehicle, the RAV4. It is simple, like with most Japanese vehicles, but we particularly liked how user-friendly the vehicle is. The height of the vehicle is just right for loading a baby in the car; it is not on a truck axle like most SUVs. It also has a smaller gasoline tank and is more fuel efficient than many other makes we looked at. That was a big factor for me because after taking into account the monthly payment and auto insurance, I didn’t want a a huge monthly gasoline bill.

Our dear investment and my first major “life” purchase
We just have one car right now so Chie has to drive me to work and pick me up in the evenings. I’ve looked up the bus routes and there is no bus servicing the area I live in unfortunately. Next year I hope we can add a second vehicle, hopefully a used vehicle that I can use for mostly commuting. I never really thought about it, but immigrating to the USA is really a challenging task for those not financially well off with a lot of money in the bank already. *Most* middle-class people in the USA often get assistance from their parents in arranging their first vehicle, or while they’re young they work and save their money and purchase a car while living with their parents (i.e. no rent). My point is that by the time two people decide to move in together and start a family, they both have two vehicles already and are usually in a stable position. Imagine being an fresh-off-the-boat emigrant from India or Brazil, and having to start from scratch with a family to support yet having nothing but a rental contract for an apartment. It is easy to see why big cities with public transport are attractive, even if the taxes and cost of living are higher. I have a new found respect for immigrants who move to a new place and try to start over.
Well, I hope that autumn arrives with the brisk air soon…