I worked on a working holiday at a restaurant for a year. I tried to be distant to Japanese stuff to immerse myself in an English environment for my English improvement, I got famous and lots of Japanese visited me to be friends with me. I’m going to show you about it. You can check out Working holiday story 12 here.
An influence of YouTube videos
I was inspired by YouTube videos to come to New Zealand. At the same time, some of the videos recommended that we stay away from Japanese things. Talking with Japanese people might prevent us from improving our English. Even when you’re with a Japanese speaking good English, it’s not good. We have the same accents of English, so it’s easy to understand what a Japanese person says and make yourself understood. Our goal is to communicate with people living in countries where we are. We need to adapt ourselves to local people.
For a Japanese, working at a Japanese shop is easier, but I didn’t apply for the jobs. Instead, I applied for local jobs. There are lots of Japanese people coming on a working holiday in New Zealand, so there are Japanese communities. I didn’t join in those. I lived and worked with non-Japanese
I tried to be away from the Japanese language as well. I set the languages of my phone and laptop into English. I browsed in English. I like watching YouTube videos. I unsubscribed from Japanese channels and, instead, subscribed to English channels. I like watching Japanese sports, but I quit this hobby.
How it changed my English
Definitely, I improved my listening skills. I heard English all the time. I read English a lot on my phone and laptop, which I believe can improve my listening. I was able to think in English. Even now when I count numbers, I use English, not Japanese.
For the first period of my stay in New Zealand, I was kind of craving Japanese. I was so happy when I spoke with Japanese people. Later, I got used to the situation. I was able to live without Japanese easily.
I got famous
My English was not good, but I was working at a local restaurant. A lot of Japanese got to know about me. They belonged to the Japanese community, so rumors spread fast. I got famous. hey believed they could work at my restaurant and getting close to me would work to get the job. They also believed I was lonely and needed a Japanese friend. As you know, rumors can be biased and wrong. They took turns coming to me and tried to be friends with me. It was annoying. I didn’t need friends much less Japanese ones. I didn’t want to be with someone who was with me just for their sake. I hated it. I was determined to be away from Japanese things. Some of them were really arrogant and behaved like a helper to a person with no friends abroad.
I got famous. It might seem nice to some people. Like Celebrities, we can take advantage of our fame, but for me, the fame was just disgusting. It was endless. People understood me the wrong way. Stopping being famous like this was one reason why I left New Zealand for good. It was traumatizing. I don’t want to be famous again. I can be famous among a limited number of people like at work, but I hate the situation where lots of strangers know about me.
After I left New Zealand, I went to Australia and stayed at 2 farms. I’m not sure if my feeling was right, but I felt they knew about me. I wanted to get away from the fame and the bias, but I couldn’t. That’s why staying in Australia was not a good memory at all. Even now, in Japan, I’m working somewhere and feel like people around me know about me. It’s uncomfortable. It was surprising if my fame really spread through countries. Maybe, I’m just traumatized. Anyway, I want to go somewhere people don’t know about me and feel safe.
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