The Dallas Morning News - Collin County Edition - Sunday, 10 September 2006 - Linda Stewart Ball - Staff Reporter

TEACHER BRINGS HOME EMPATHY

Few us willingly step outside of our comfort zone. Whether it's whom we hang out with, where we live or what we eat, we prefer the familiar.

That's why Stephanie Allen-Adams' story intrigued me. The Plano educator leaped across language and racial barriers when she moved to Japan "just to try something new."

It was 1992. Ms. Allen-Adams was a 39 year-old single mom who had only dreamed about living abroad. She didn't know where she'd live or how she'd get there; it was just a dream she wanted to fulfill. 

Then she landed a job teaching English at a Montessori school in Yokkaichi Japan. "The opportunity just fell in my lap," Ms. Allen-Adams said.

A Chicago native, she neither spoke nor read Japanese when she plucked up her then 6 year-old son and left the states for the Asian port city.

She shares their journey--its triumphs and tribulations in a recently published book: A Magnificent Exchange...Two Years in the Life of an American Family in Japan, which she dedicates "to all those who have ever struggled to understand and to all those who have ever struggled to be understood." I'm sure a few folks around here can relate.

According to a 2005 survey by the U.S. Census, 109,056 in Collin County--about 17 percent of the county's population--are foreign-born. The majority emigrated from Asia, and more than 34,000 immigrants have come here since 2000.

If they suffered culture shock, Ms. Allen-Adams can empathize. She had the opportunity to "walk in their shoes," so their story became her story.

Hopefully, by the end of the book, everyone who reads it will also be able to empathize. 

A Magnificent Exchange is an engaging, uplifting story; one that truly inspired me. Hopefully, all who read it will come away feeling the same.