Sara Bachouros

Assistant Language Teacher in Saitama City
’16 George Washington University
Japanese and Asian Studies
Favorite Word: 猫をかぶる

In 2005, when I was a high school freshman, the friend who I rode the school bus with every morning hosted an exchange student from Japan. I can clearly remember waiting for the bus early in the morning as she taught us useful words like “pekopeko” and tried to help us hear the difference between “kawaii” and “kowai.” She was only in our town for a week, but it was the first time I really got excited about learning a foreign language. Over the next four years I hosted three exchange students of my own and even had the chance to travel to their school in Saitama for two weeks in 2008. After graduation, I entered The George Washington University and decided to continue my studies as a Japanese major.

With the help of my professors I was able to spend a year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo where I met two of my best friends. In 2013, I returned to Japan on the JET program, and I now work in Saitama City at the very same school that we had exchanges with in my high school days! For the past four years I've been enjoying teaching English and coaching the debate and speech contest teams alongside my great coworkers. Above all, the best thing that studying Japanese has given me is the opportunity to meet so many amazing people, from my classmates and professors at GW, to the friends I’ve made in Tokyo and Saitama. It even led me to meeting my husband. At the end of this June we will be welcoming this year’s group of American exchange students from my old high school and I’m so excited to see a new generation of students fall in love with Japanese language and culture.