こんにちは！そして初めまして！英会話と英語教師の真意久(マイク)と申します。英語を学んでいる、学びたい、読みたい人々のために英語のブログを始めさせて頂きます。
このブログは連続小説の様に、私の日本での人生についてを書きます。経験した事、学んだ事、大切な出会い、それらのお陰様で、私の人生がどのように変わったかというストーリーです。
１５年前に始まりました…
Drawn to the Light
Chapter 1
Departure
(トロント・ピアソン国際空港、私の出発…)
Some 15 years ago…
An hour ago I had said goodbye to my mother at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. A short flight later and here I was, on my own, walking through the long white corridors of Detroit’s Metro Airport. Already feeling lonely, I arrived at the gate for my flight to Osaka, Japan. My new roommate, I had been told, was taking the same flight as me. I looked around the lobby and found him, a tall, thin guy, 22, 23 years old like me. He was an American named Lincoln. We had taken the same interview together in Toronto the month before. We had talked a little then. He was not a very friendly guy, but neither unfriendly. Like a lot of young guys going to live in Japan he was reserved, quiet, a little afraid of people, a little afraid of life. Kind of like me.
“Hi,” I greeted him.
He looked up, recognized me. “Hi.” His voice was flat, cold. He had dark brown eyes. His pale white skin made them look darker.
I smiled, but I did not know what to say next. He did not say anything either. If only he was a nicer guy, more talkative guy, then I could feel a bit easier. A new friend to look forward to. But he was not very friendly.
“Are you excited to go to Japan?” I asked, trying to make conversation. Was I excited to be going to Japan? I was not sure myself.
“Yes. Of course.” He did not sound very excited. His hard thin lips tried to make a smile. It looked a little painful.
He did not say anything more. I did not know what else to say so I sat down. There were not many other people at our gate, most of the seats empty. A few Asian people, Japanese I guessed, some American people, ten or fifteen people in total.
A woman started to make an announcement. She wore a red and white uniform. She spoke in English. Our flight was ready to board. Please line up and have your tickets ready. Then she started speaking in another language. It was just sounds to me, but it sounded calm, warm, beautiful, much more than her English. She was speaking Japanese. I glanced at my roommate and he was smiling, just a little. This time it did not look painful.
We got in line and I was soon seated on the airplane next to a Japanese man. Getting on an airplane makes almost anyone feel excited. For a moment I forgot my loneliness. For a moment I started to imagine where I was going, what my life would be like tomorrow. I read somewhere that when you move to a new place, it is like a chance to become a new person. If that is true then moving to a new country is a chance to become a new person entirely. I was moving to a place where no one knew me and I knew no one. I was moving to a city I had never seen before. I was leaving everything I had known until now behind. No, I had already left it behind, at the airport in Toronto. This hour or two spent in this Detroit airport felt like I was in limbo, a place that was not real, a moment in between. Was I going to a place that was real? Not yet. Japan was real, of course, but not for me, not for my life.
Not yet.
英会話と英語教師 Mike Coupland (マイク・コープランド)
オンライン英会話レッスンに興味ある方是非私の個人ウェブサイトをご覧になってください🙏：
www.atelier-eigo.com