Buddies

How often do people my age get to be friends with foreigners or gaijins?

After we were welcomed warmly by the National Institute of Technology Akashi College singing the De La Salle Hymn, we were led to our classrooms where we would meet the students of the school who would be our classmates for the next week. In each class, each one of us was assigned a buddy who would try to introduce us further to the school and to Japan. In our class, Electrical Engineering, I was assigned Yamato, a wide guy shorter than me with his hair dyed brown. He felt welcoming in the first two periods that we were speaking, introducing me to Hiragana and a few Kanji and Katakana characters, but a few periods after, he already started to feel indifferent and I was disappointed that he wouldn’t try to engage in conversation with me as much as he likes to with the others in the class, including the other delegates in my group who were girls and as compared to the buddies of the other delegates even in other classes. It was nice to see that others were having a great time with their newfound friends although it was sad that I couldn’t experience the same for myself just yet.

A few days later, I was able to engage in conversation with Kent, Nagisa, and Hiruki who were the buddies of the delegates in the same class. As we were having classes on microcomputers and programming and even when we were touring in Kobe, I was able to engage in conversation and share a few laughs with these three that felt more natural and welcoming than with Yamato. It may seem sad on his side but I assure you that he is having a great time conversing with the female delegates in our class.

Although this may seem bittersweet, I’d rather look at it in a more positive light; I may not have had a great time with my own buddy, I still managed to enjoy my stay with three others. I will always keep this in mind especially in social gatherings or on other occasions that might turn out to be just like this. I do hope that, in the future, I’d be able to find my own buddy who will be as interested in me as I am with them.