I am fortunate to live and work in two extremes-- Japan and Papua New Guinea. In every possible way they are exact opposites. One is technological, reserved, monolingual, highly educated, and very first-world. The other is traditional, out-going, multilingual, poorly educated, and very third world. Both are fascinating, professionally, culturally, and socially. In this blog I will share some of the professional, cultural, and social insights of life in my homes, with a particular emphasis on language and its interplay with culture and society.