The first days I came to Japan – country of sunrise. The first place I came to was Nagato which is in the central of Japan. This is a peaceful countryside. Although it is April, the weather is still very cold now. When the sun goes down the temperature is only 2-Celsius degrees and when the sun rises, the snow is still covered everywhere even though there is sunshine. My first impression of Japan is that the streets are very clean and the Japanese drive on the left, opposite to Vietnam.
We were greeted warmly and friendly by host. They carefully took us to our room, prepared our dinner and arranged a very warm bed for us to rest for the first lesson tomorrow. To receive such loving care, I cherishingly calls my hosts “father and mother” to express my gratitude and it also helps me reduce the homesick feeling.
The next morning, when I woke up, I grabbed my mobile phone to watch the time. It’s 5:30 but the sun was rising and the sunshine go through the windows into the room. It is not wrong to say that this is the land of the rising sun. My “mother”, a farmer, who I will live and work with during my time in Japan. She came to my room and called me to eat breakfast with her family. I was a bit embarrassed to communicate because it was my first day and also because of my Japanese, it was not really fluently so it was difficult for me and my “parents” to talk. My “parents” seemed to understand my feeling, so they were very happy to tell me about last year students. These students were as confused as I was, but after few weeks their Japanese was better. I gave thanks to my “parents” and reminded myself that it will be a motivation for me to try to communicate by Japanese every day.
After breakfast, my “mother” prepared a box of rice for me to bring to school because according to timetable, we will only take one hour off during class to eat in class and then continue studying, so there is no time to go home. Then I bowed my mother to say goodbye and I was taken to school by my father. I realized that people here are kind and friendly. My dad worried that I can lost my way because this is my first time in Japan so he used his car to take me to school. On the way to school, I talked to my “dad” about the life, culture and customs of the people.
Say goodbye to my “dad”, I went to my class and met my classmates, we shared about our first night in Japan. Professor introduced us about country, people, culture and holidays in Japan on the first lesson. Besides, learning knowledge in the classroom, we also have an opportunity to practice. After the class ended, we together waited for our parents and we came back home for dinner.
Time files so fast. Everything seems to happen in the blink of an eye. I would like to say that people here are very friendly. I love them and I’m sure that I will have a lot of beautiful memories in this country.
Mai Thu, ITC
