Since 1988
Hello, travellers. This is Kumi. I usually talk about sightseeing spots or Japanese culture, but let me talk about myself today. This is about how I was motivated to learn English.
In 1988, I happened to have a chance to go to Scotland to stay with a family to learn English. It was my very first flight in my life and my very first abroad. I wasn't excited. I was just scared and regretted to have said "I want to go study abroad" expecting my parents were not rich enough to send me there. The first leg was from Tokyo to Anchorage, and then to London. And a short flight to Edinburgh.
Mr and Mrs Reid were waiting for me at the airport with lovely smiles. They lived with their daughter (the same age as me), and a cat called Ginger. When the cat meowed, I thought "hmm... cats all over the world meow the same way." Somehow, I still remember that moment very clearly.
It was a lot of fun to stay with them. There was no Google translation, no apps, no Internet. All I had was a small travel dictionary, but we were able to communicate. When they took me to a supermarket, I tried to talk about Japan, like "In Japan, carrot is big." (*I probably didn't know that I should have said "carrots are.")
When I got a call from my language school friend about a meeting time change, I couldn't explain the detail to the family, so I just said: "She went, so I go." All I knew was present tense and past tense back then, but that was enough.
Every morning, Mrs Reid woke me up saying "Good morning, Kumiko. It's 7:30," so I asked her to record it so that I could bring her voice back to Japan.
At the end of these joyful three weeks, the family gave me this dog so that I can always remember Scotland.
Accompanied by the dog, I went back to Tokyo via London and Anchorage. In my dad's car on my way back from the airport to home, I determined one thing.
I will learn English more seriously so that I can describe all my feelings in detail!
It was a tremendous dream for a 15-years old who knew only present tense and past tense, but I started chasing the dream. The family and I started exchanging letters. Back then, I never thought about using English writing tutorial books, so I just picked up words from a dictionary and talked about my everyday stories. Their replies were always easy to read. They must have carefully chosen easy expressions for me.
During my high school days, I was always listening to English to train my ears. After a while, I became busy and stopped writing to the family, but my passion for English never faded. I majored linguistics at university and visited England several times to practise English during the school holidays. Luckily, I stayed with another sweet English family, and my English got improved. After graduation, I started working as a translator.
In 2004, I decided to revisit Scotland, "my place of origin." I wondered how the family was doing, but I didn't try to contact them in advance probably because I was afraid of not hearing anything from them.
However, once in Scotland, I happened to find a piece of paper between the pages of my old travel dictionary. That was the address and bus numbers written by Mrs Reid. I should give it a try! I got on a bus and headed for the house they "used to" live.
Stood in front of the door and pressed the doorbell. No answer. A lady next door showed up and said: "Mr and Mrs Reid will be back around 5:30." What!? Mr and Mrs Reid!? Are they still living here!!!?? As it was still 4:50 pm, I left a note saying "I'm Kumiko who stayed with you in 1988. I'll be back later." I spent some time at a cafe and went back to their house. The lights were now on!
Right after I ranged the doorbell, they came out saying "Kumiko!!!" We finally met each other again after 16 years. Their daughter and her boyfriend joined us and we talked and talked and talked... Mrs asked me to have dinner with them the next day. Also, Mr Reid, who was working as a taxi driver, said he'd show me around the city in the afternoon taking a half-day off.
The next day, he showed me around very beautiful sights in the city and took me to their house for dinner. Three of us talked about the things that happened in the last 16 years. On that evening, I felt I might have got closer to the goal "describe all my feelings in detail in English."
We started exchanging Christmas cards again, and we got connected on Facebook. It had been a great joy to see their happy photos and leave some comments until I found the post that tells Mr Reid passed away for COVID-19.
I'm still shocked and depressed. I had been hoping to show him around Japan... Yet, I need to stay strong and cherish my career as a translator and tour guide because everything started with their love.
I just posted this YouTube video to introduce my local area. Hope Mr Reid has the Internet in heaven and enjoys this video.
Lots of love,
Kumiko
In 1988, I happened to have a chance to go to Scotland to stay with a family to learn English. It was my very first flight in my life and my very first abroad. I wasn't excited. I was just scared and regretted to have said "I want to go study abroad" expecting my parents were not rich enough to send me there. The first leg was from Tokyo to Anchorage, and then to London. And a short flight to Edinburgh.
Mr and Mrs Reid were waiting for me at the airport with lovely smiles. They lived with their daughter (the same age as me), and a cat called Ginger. When the cat meowed, I thought "hmm... cats all over the world meow the same way." Somehow, I still remember that moment very clearly.
It was a lot of fun to stay with them. There was no Google translation, no apps, no Internet. All I had was a small travel dictionary, but we were able to communicate. When they took me to a supermarket, I tried to talk about Japan, like "In Japan, carrot is big." (*I probably didn't know that I should have said "carrots are.")
When I got a call from my language school friend about a meeting time change, I couldn't explain the detail to the family, so I just said: "She went, so I go." All I knew was present tense and past tense back then, but that was enough.
Every morning, Mrs Reid woke me up saying "Good morning, Kumiko. It's 7:30," so I asked her to record it so that I could bring her voice back to Japan.
At the end of these joyful three weeks, the family gave me this dog so that I can always remember Scotland.
Accompanied by the dog, I went back to Tokyo via London and Anchorage. In my dad's car on my way back from the airport to home, I determined one thing.
I will learn English more seriously so that I can describe all my feelings in detail!
It was a tremendous dream for a 15-years old who knew only present tense and past tense, but I started chasing the dream. The family and I started exchanging letters. Back then, I never thought about using English writing tutorial books, so I just picked up words from a dictionary and talked about my everyday stories. Their replies were always easy to read. They must have carefully chosen easy expressions for me.
During my high school days, I was always listening to English to train my ears. After a while, I became busy and stopped writing to the family, but my passion for English never faded. I majored linguistics at university and visited England several times to practise English during the school holidays. Luckily, I stayed with another sweet English family, and my English got improved. After graduation, I started working as a translator.
In 2004, I decided to revisit Scotland, "my place of origin." I wondered how the family was doing, but I didn't try to contact them in advance probably because I was afraid of not hearing anything from them.
However, once in Scotland, I happened to find a piece of paper between the pages of my old travel dictionary. That was the address and bus numbers written by Mrs Reid. I should give it a try! I got on a bus and headed for the house they "used to" live.
Stood in front of the door and pressed the doorbell. No answer. A lady next door showed up and said: "Mr and Mrs Reid will be back around 5:30." What!? Mr and Mrs Reid!? Are they still living here!!!?? As it was still 4:50 pm, I left a note saying "I'm Kumiko who stayed with you in 1988. I'll be back later." I spent some time at a cafe and went back to their house. The lights were now on!
Right after I ranged the doorbell, they came out saying "Kumiko!!!" We finally met each other again after 16 years. Their daughter and her boyfriend joined us and we talked and talked and talked... Mrs asked me to have dinner with them the next day. Also, Mr Reid, who was working as a taxi driver, said he'd show me around the city in the afternoon taking a half-day off.
The next day, he showed me around very beautiful sights in the city and took me to their house for dinner. Three of us talked about the things that happened in the last 16 years. On that evening, I felt I might have got closer to the goal "describe all my feelings in detail in English."
We started exchanging Christmas cards again, and we got connected on Facebook. It had been a great joy to see their happy photos and leave some comments until I found the post that tells Mr Reid passed away for COVID-19.
I'm still shocked and depressed. I had been hoping to show him around Japan... Yet, I need to stay strong and cherish my career as a translator and tour guide because everything started with their love.
I just posted this YouTube video to introduce my local area. Hope Mr Reid has the Internet in heaven and enjoys this video.
Lots of love,
Kumiko
