ミシガン州ホーランド高校に留学中の谷川さくらさんから第２回目の留学報告が届きました。

 ミシガンに留学中の谷川さくらです。さて、前回のレポートから、またたくさんイベントがありました。Halloween, Thanksgivingなどなど。今もたくさん友達と遊んで、たくさん思い出を作っています。本当に友達には恵まれました。だいぶここでの生活に慣れて来ていますが、まだまだだなと感じることも多いので、日々努力です。今回のレポートも、したことやったことを書くのではなく、私の思ったことにフォーカスして話します。

前回のレポートを書き終えてすぐに友達の誕生日パーティーがあり、すごく楽しかったのですが、その時に私のヒアリングスキルが乏しいせいで、私が間違った解釈をしてしまい、少しトラブルになりました。それで、コーディネーターと家族と揃ってお話ししなければならなくて、そこで言われたのが。チューターをつけたほうがいいのでは無いか、部屋からもっと出て勉強ばかりせずにもっと交流するべきだ。と言われました。正直本当に悔しすぎて、悔しくて、悔しくてたまんなくて、こんなに努力しているつもりでも、これでは不十分だと現実を突きつけられた感じがしました。自分が本当に情けなく思えて。そんな時でも笑顔で、ずっと笑顔で何の言い訳もせずただ受け止めることしかできませんでした。コーディネーターは、最後に、私がいつでも笑顔でいることを褒めてくれました。どんな辛い時でも笑顔でいることで、事はいい方向に行くと信じて、私は常に笑顔でいます。それからは、自分のできる限り、妹と遊んだり、リビングルームで宿題をしたり、たくさん交流しようと努力しています。今は、この私の努力がいつか報われると信じて、続けるしか無いです。その次の週にそのコーディネーター主催のHalloween partyがあって、その時も、自分の英語のできなさに本当に悔しくて。アメリカに来てほとんど悔しいとしか思わなかった３ヶ月でした。周りと比べてはいけないと良く言われますが、どうしても比べてしまいます。でもそれが私の頑張るきっかけになってくれますが。

私はずっとアメリカ人は気持ちを察することができないと、自分で意見を言わないとわかってくれない、と言われ続けていたのですが、私の周りの友達は、疲れてるの？どうしたの？と、とても気を使って声をかけてくれたり、これで元気出して、とお菓子をくれたりします。ほんのちょっとの変化にも良く気づくので、この優しさと気遣いには本当にびっくりしました。アメリカ人だから、日本人だからというステレオタイプは持たずに、その人自身を見る必要があると思いました。

私のマザーは病気気味なので、あまり外出をする家庭ではないのですが。それを気にかけてくれている私の親友のマザーがいます。わたしの第２のホストマザーです。ほぼ毎週土日は彼女にどこかに連れて行ってもらっています。彼女は彼をウクライナから養子に採っていて、とった理由であったり、彼を養子にするためにお金を集め、養子にする前に英語が話せなかった彼に対して必死にコミュニケーションを取ろうとしていた昔の話などを聞いて、すごく素晴らしいなと思いました。

授業ですが、英語の授業の時に日本についてスライドショーを作り、アドリブでプレゼンテーションをしました、すごく楽しかったです。前に出てお話ししたりするのは昔からすごく好きだったので。授業は前回に引き続き、先生がたも日本に興味を持ってくれる方が多く、日本はどうなのかと質問をしてくれる事も多々あります。その度にみんなの日本の学校生活などに驚く姿を見て、すごく面白いです。もっと英語力をあげて上手に説明したいところですが。授業はなんとか頑張ってオールAを保っています。

本当に書ききれないくらい、前回よりもさらに濃い日々でした。この締め切りと同じ日にもう一つエッセイを書かなければならなくて、それは、アジア人の留学生のためのエッセイコンテストのようなもので、賞を取ることができれば、カルフォルニア旅行のチケットを手に入れられるそうなので、わたしのできる限りを尽くして頑張りました。マザーに最後添削してもらったところ、私のエッセイをすごく気に入ってくれて嬉しかったです。その結果報告は次のレポートの時にお話ししますね。今週はとても忙しいです。これが終わったら、明日のUSヒストリーのお勉強が待っています。前回は日本語の方が長かったので今回は英語の方で詳しく書きました。

 

Hello, I’m Sakura writing report from Michigan. It’s been already three months since I came here, and Christmas is coming up soon. I think My English is getting better little by little, but I don’t think it’s enough to say “I can speak fluent English.” Anyway, after turning in my first report, I had a lot of events like Hallo Ween, and Thanks Giving. I hang out with my friends really often and make tons of good memories. I really appreciate my friends who make my days better. I’m getting used to where I’m living in, but I still need making more efforts to be a fluent English speaker. I would like to focus on what I thought throughout my experiences just like my first report and write this report. On finishing my first report, I had my friend’s birthday party which was really fun. However, I misunderstood what she said, and a trouble occurred between my host mother and me because of my poor hearing English skill. Therefore, I had to talk to my coordinator and my family, and she said to me “why don’t you have tutor.” And “you should not only study and do homework in your room but also interact with host family more.” To be honest, when I hear these two things I almost cried, because I was so frustrated. I was literally really frustrated, because I thought I’ve done well and worked so hard, but it made me realize that’s not enough still. The only thing that I could do is just keep smiling and accept what she said. After that, I’m trying to talk to my host parents more recently. I’m playing with my sister as much as possible, I’m doing my homework in the living room. I’m getting on well with my host family these days. I hope these my efforts will pay off someday. I think all I can do is to believe myself and keep working hard. Even if I face a hard obstacle I’ll never forget to be smile, because I know there is no use crying about that. It is not that easy, but I know being smile makes things go better always. My coordinator praises my smile always. My host family often says “Everybody likes you because you are always smiling.” that’s why I can keep doing it even though it’s hard.

Next week, I went to the Hallo ween party organized by my coordinator. I really wanted to prove that I don’t need tutor, but I was really frustrated again when I saw an exchange student from Germany enjoying talking to coordinator and other host parents. I know it is not that good to compare myself to others, but I can’t help doing this. and these experiences make me want to work harder, and t is becoming my trigger of keeping to study English, so I could say comparing is not that bad thing.

I was said that American people can’t get what people feel and think, so unless I don’t tell anything, they can’t understand what I think. However, one day when I guess I looked so tired on the way go home after school, and then my friend who go to school every day with me spoke to me “would you like to go to store to get something eat?” at that time I wasn’t really hungry, but I knew that he was considerate of me. I responded “yes.” In this way, there are many friends who can consider of everyone else like Japanese people. It was a surprising and bland new thing. “Are you ok?” and “Are you tired?” every time when I look tired my friends speak to me something like that. I realized that just because they are American people, doesn’t mean they can’t consider of people’s feelings and thinking.

              One of my best friends is a boy from Ukraine who adapted by American family. My host mother can’t move too many because of her disease, so his mother take me to many places to do something almost every weekend instead. I could call her my second host mother. I really appreciate her and him. It was really interesting to hear why she decided to adopt him from Ukraine, and how did she adopt him…etc. she cares about him so much in spite of she has two her sons already. His real mother and father dead, and he hasn’t contacted with his brothers for a long time, but he is always positive, and live confidently everyday even though he lives in different country. I have my family who is waiting for me coming back, so I have to appreciate this comfortable environment. I just remembered that I have to write about my school life. Few weeks ago, I had a presentation about my country in English class. It was really fun, but really scary to speak in front of a lot of native speakers. There are some teachers who are interested in Japanese culture and differences between Japan and America. Every time they ask me about something like that I really enjoy seeing their reaction about culture differences. I’d like to advance my English skills and explain way better than now though. For now, I get A in every subject somehow. I hope I can keep my grade.

I’ve experienced so many things that I couldn’t even write just a little bit of my experiences on it, and it’s been extremely busy this week. I had to write another essay for essay contest, it’s just for Asian exchange students, so I tried in this great opportunity. And unfortunately, it was same due date as this report, and I had to prepare for my history test and do my homework, but, If I get first prize I can get tickets of California trip, so I worked on the essay really really hard. In the end, I had my host mother correct my essay, and submitted it safely. After reading essay she said ‘I was so impressed with your essay.’  I was really happy to hear that. If I can get my trip tickets I will let you guys know about that. My Japanese part was longer than English in my previous report, so in this time, I’ve tried to write English longer. I didn’t have enough time to make sure if my sentences are correct. Please don’t care about my messy parts… thank you for reading, see you next report.