|
Well, meeting Yamanakasensei’s students wasn’t as bad as I thought it
would be. When I first walked into the room where they were all seated,
they immediately got up and bowed in unison, which was so polite it was
almost scary! They were just being friendly though. When it came to my
introduction, I started in Japanese, but Yamanakasensei told me to speak
in English, which of course made it easier. When the other students had to
introduce themselves, Yamanakasensei made them speak in English, which was
very nerve-racking for them. I felt sorry for them. They clearly felt just
as uncomfortable as I did – to them, this didn’t feel natural either.
However, Yamanakasensei left the room briefly, we began to talk more
naturally as students – I told them that I’d been having a great time at
Sanctuary and the Irish pub!
One thing I did appreciate was when they gave me coffee. They served it in
a beautiful cup and saucer with milk and sugar, clearly to make it look
more English. I really appreciated this gesture, and even though I never
drink coffee, this cup actually tasted good – perhaps because I like the
way it was served in such a nice cup! Everyone else drank from ordinary
transparent cups; they’d obviously gone to a bit of trouble to make me
feel welcome.
The rest of the meeting was a little awkward. My Japanese clearly wasn’t
good enough to express exactly what I wanted to say, but I don’t think the
students understood a lot of the English I used (I was talking about quite
difficult things to do with Japanese and English culture), so I had to
speak through Yamanakasensei. The meeting reverted mainly into a
conversation between me and Yamanakasensei, mostly in English, while the
students just listened.
Nevertheless, I think the meeting was a good thing. At least it did get me
meeting other Japanese students, which is something I really wanted to do.
They have offered to take me out some time to eat basashi (raw
horsemeat, Kumamoto’s speciality!). I’m actually quite curious about it,
so I think I’ll take them up on their offer! The next time I see them (the
week after next), I’ll try and remember to bring some photos of Rochester
and Durham.
After this meeting, we all went to watch Marie and Chie give presentations
on their year abroad in Durham. Surprisingly, their speeches were in
English, so I could understand them completely – and very good speeches
they were too! They made me feel natsukashii, but also really
inspired me to try and get the best out of my year in Japan – all the
speeches by the other students re-enforced the theme that during your year
abroad, you will encounter many difficulties, but if you make an effort to
make friends with lots of native speakers and have the courage to use the
native language whenever you can, you will eventually reap the benefits. I
will remember that message well.
|
