すご～く昔の話です。
私がまだ大学生だったころのお話です。
東南アジア青年の船という、２か月間の航海で、帆船・日本丸の中で、東南アジア諸国からと日本からのユースがともに暮らし、ともに語りあうという内閣府のアクティビティがありました。（今も続いています）
大変だったことも、楽しかったことも今はとてもいい思い出になっています。
そんな中で、面白かったエピソードをお届けします.
I hadn't noticed how interesting my old experience was!
I took part in the SSEAYP (The Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program) when I was 19 years old. It was a friendship program for youth from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Brunei. The aim of this program was to develop mutural understanding among the youth from these countires by staying together on the same ship and in the same cabins. We learned a lot of things about internatinal cooperation sharing our lives on board and introducing our own cultures.
When we got to Malaysia, we got off the ship and some of the participants from Malaysia and I were walking to the host family's house where I was supposed to stay that day. Suddenly I noticed a fantastic fragrance coming from the banana trees here and there. The bananas became yellow on the trees and the aroma came drifting through the air. I realized that the bananas there smelled very good but exported bananas that are eaten in Japan don't smell as good because ordinary exported bananas are picked when they are still green. That makes a big difference between them. I was moved and said to may friends from Malaysia. (because the working official language was English)
"Mature bananas on trees smell good!!"
They laughed and told me,
"You should say 'ripe' bananas, instead of 'mature' bananas."
I understood but
surprisingly I didn't feel embarrassed at all and I'll never forget it. Experience is the best teacher and I think it is the best way to learn new languages.
After long time, I remembered this episode and smiled. Mature bananas....!!!