オーストラリア研修レポート（英文）②

Have confidence!

Koushi MIYATA(H1)

I experienced a lot of things in Australia. I went there to study for two weeks. First of all, the Australian school I studied at surprised me. It was very large and peaceful. It had beautiful grass and we always ate lunch on the grass. It was warm and soft, so it was a very comfortable. I will never forget being scolded by the headmaster because I was practicing sumo wrestling with my friends on the grass. He might have thought that we were fighting. It was a very fun experience.

I think all Australians I met had “confidence”. I have some Japanese friends living in America. They often say to me, “You should have more confidence!  You don’t need to be so modest.” In fact, I was embarrassed to have confidence. I thought humility was a virtue, but I found my friend’s words were true.

When I first reached my host family’s house, I was very nervous. I was wondering what I should do if my host family was bad and didn’t like me. My host mother showed me a room and said “It’s your room. You are free here after school.” I wanted to talk to my host family earlier, but I thought that they would mind if I talked to them suddenly. I decided with a sense of humility that I should do nothing then. I stayed in my room for a while. I felt time passed slowly and my impatience set in. But I didn’t have the courage to talk to them. When I was in that awkward situation, I remembered my friend’s words. “Have more confidence!” I took out my iPad and electronic dictionary and went to the dining room. My host brother was there. I played a game for a while, but I couldn’t focus. At last, I plucked up my courage and tried talking to him. “What are you doing now?” It was a very short and ridiculous question, but it was a big step for me. He was confused at first, though he answered my question kindly. From that day on I got along well with my host family.

For the first few days at school we only had classes with other Japanese students. So I didn’t talk with any other non-Japanese people except the teacher. But in the last week, we had normal classes with other Australian students. We had to study with non-Japanese students. I was worried before those integration classes started. On that morning, I talked about the matter with my host father in his car on the way to school. “Today, I’ll have normal classes with non-Japanese students. I’m worried about it. I will be left alone.” Then my host father only said “Confidence! You need to have confidence!” I was surprised he gave me the same words as my friends in America gave me.  “I must not forget to have confidence.” I thought about it once again. When I got out of his car, he said once more “Have confidence! Good bye!” I nodded powerfully. Thanks to his words, I spent the last few days with confidence. Confidence is very important. By talking and doing things positively with confidence, good things will happen. I could make a lot of friends at last.  They always talked to me even though I was Japanese. They usually didn’t care where I was from.

They were always very kind to me. I thought they all had confidence. So they could do anything without holding back. It wasn’t only them. For example, my host parents loved each other. They hugged, kissed and loved to whisper to each other. I had never seen these kind of behaviors in Japan. Going outside, I could see old couples walking arm in arm or holding hands. They also had confidence, so they weren’t ashamed of showing their love in public. I felt their confidence was wonderful.

Humility is important for Japanese. You shouldn’t be too proud of yourself, but having confidence is also very wonderful. You cannot be successful in life if you don’t have it. You can be a better person by having confidence and respecting others rather than humbling yourself and respecting others.