I went on a working holiday to New Zealand in October 2023. I made some friends online, and I improved my listening and speaking. I wrote about it here. Finally, I hung out with one of them. I’m going to write about it. You can check out Working Holiday Story 9 here.
How I became friends with a girl
I didn’t want to spend money to talk with people in English, so talking with natives in online English-speaking services was not my choice. Instead, I used an app, “Good Night”, where I talked with random strangers in the world in English. She was one of them. I made 3 friends who I spoke with often. She was an English native, and was from New Zealand, my destination, so I decided to talk with only her. New Zealanders have strong English accents and I needed to adapt to it. Talking with one of them was ideal for me.
I just talked with her often like every 3 days and long like longer than 1 hour at a time. We talked a lot and became good friends. After I went to New Zealand, I was in a room in someone’s flat. I didn’t want to disturb my flatmates and didn’t want them to hear our conversations, so I went out and talked with her about once a week.
We went to a zoo
We were best friends, though there was a language barrier between us. I could talk about everything with her, and I suggested we hang out together. She was kind of hesitant at first, but she decided to meet me.
We met each other at a train station. I knew her voice, but not her looks. I was nervous at the station. She recognized me and talked to me from behind. We didn’t decide what to do. We had considered going to a zoo, so we took a bus and went there.
It was a bit strange that I felt her as a stranger. Over the phone, she was my best friend, but in person, not. We had a voice call too frequently and too long. I imagined who she was out of her voice and what she had said. My imagination was not equal to a girl I met. But, still, she felt like my friend. I enjoyed walking around the zoo. I needed to ask her to repeat what she said again and again. My English was not good. We didn’t talk as much as we did on the phone.
After that, we went back to the city center by bus and we said goodbye. It was a nice day and was satisfied. My life in New Zealand was almost like a repeat. I worked at the same place and slept in the same house.
We went to a shopping center
Next, we went to Silvia Park shopping center. We went to theater for a movie. I couldn’t understand the story because of my poor English. Then, we walked around the mall, visited many shops, and bought food. The place was noisy and lively with people. She whispered while we talked. It made it more difficult to understand her.
I was with her, but I felt like I was alone. There was a language barrier, but I enjoyed being with her.
Now
I don’t know if she truly enjoyed being with me. Our communication was not smooth at all. I still talked with her over the phone after we met, but she sounded unhappy talking with me and felt distant from me. I finally stopped calling her. I’m really grateful to her. Thank you so much.
After I came back to Japan from New Zealand, I kind of wanted to be away from New Zealand and English. My experience in New Zealand was not good for me. That’s why I don’t contact my of my language mates.
Comments