On my first day of scuba diving class, I met a young woman from the Netherlands who was visiting Okinawa along with several other cities in Japan. She and another woman were studying Japanese and were both foreign exchange students visiting here. I offered to give them a ride if they needed it and we decided to go to the Aquarium. She took these pictures of us while we were there. I love meeting other foreigners here, people that love to travel and are passionate about learning about other cultures and languages. I needed this. I needed to revisit the things that use to bring me so much joy. I've been feeling rather dull, had sort of given up on learning Japanese and felt like I was old and unable to be passionate about anything and the sad part was I wasn't passionate about the things I use to be passionate about. I grew up claiming that languages was one of my "things" and I loved being able to speak Spanish and wanted to travel the world, and spent my high school career and some of my college career studying French. Some of my best friends I've made to this day were 2 foreign exchange students that visited our high school for a year, one of which we have been to Germany to visit since. Meeting these two young women rekindled that fire. I am going to learn Japanese, because I love that part of learning and I remembered having such a sense of accomplishment in my languages courses.
Photos credit: Verna de Groes
No comments:
Post a Comment