to Haruna, a high school girl

Your comment last night reminded me of my high school days. You like English very much and so did I. You are brushing up your English by attending English conversation school after school. I had no chances to speak in English until I went on a school excursion to Kyoto and Shikoku. I had never seen any foreigners before, because I was born and brought up in a small town in the mountains.

It was when I was on board a ship that I first saw foreign people. I met an old, kind English couple traveling around the world. I spoke to them in English! I was not sure if I could make myself understood in English or not, but I had already begun speaking in English. You can imagine how happy and excited I was when they answered me in English and I could understand them. My teacher of English asked me not ask him for help, because he was not good at speaking in English!

I hope you will achieve your dream.

homestay in NZ (4)

When I went to Christchurch in NZ in November, it was late spring there. I felt very cold and asked my host family for an electric blanket and heater on the very first night I arrived. They laughed and said, "Oh, karin, you are extremely sensitive to the cold. " I was happy they were kind enough to accommodate my request. To them it was early summer. They wore half-sleeved shirts and short pants and enjoyed the sunshine, lying on the deck-chairs in the front yard-- reading or sometimes sleeping.

On November 5 there was a popular annual event---fireworks on the beach of the South Pacific. The sun set around 9p.m. and so the wonderful show started at 9:30p.m. Wasn't it the time for fireworks to end in Japan?! People from throughout Canterbury drove to the beach at night. To my astonishment they drove at the speed of 120km an hour--not on a highway but on a country road. However there were surprisingly few accidents during the night, the next day's paper said.

The crowds, cheering and screaming, enjoyed a very large number of blazing colors. I thought how much they would be surprised if they had a chance to enjoy fireworks in Niigata.