Author: Kato Taichi

My New Zealand life has finished. When I look back over the past month, I think the best part of this study abroad was my encounters with people. I met so many people that changed my perspective. I made friends with some people from other countries. Sometimes, we ate out for dinner. We talked about each other’s countries. I really enjoyed taking with them. When we talked  about Japanese politics, I couldn’t explain it very well. So I decided to study English and about Japan more. We also went to museums and talked about art and culture. I had a very nice time. My best memories from New Zealand are the times I spent with my friends. Everything in New Zealand was new and exciting. I felt excited just walking outside! The blue sky, the giving trees, the wide roads, the lovely sunset, the beautiful sea, the street art, the Maori traditions… I was always happy. I especially liked the clouds. They were so graceful. I had never seen anything like that. That was my favorite thing about New Zealand. This will forever be another sky of mine, Aotearoa.

I work at a childcare facility now. I play with children most of the time. It’s really interesting because I like children and they are so cute. They play outside most of the time. That’s good for children because they can move a lot. I was surprised because there is no time that children do the same thing at the same time except for “mat time”, which is when children and teachers sing songs and read picture books. That’s the New Zealand way. Education is cherished for fostering the individuality of children. On the contrary, everyone doing the same thing together is valued in Japan. I think the former is better than the latter for children. The Japanese way brings up adults who have no courage. They cannot do things which are different from what others do. It’s not good, so I like the New Zealand way. I really enjoy working there. However, the amount of time I speak English has decreased, so I try to keep talking to the children even though some of them ignore me. It’s a little bit funny.

My host father is a man named Paul Freeman. He was born on October 14th, 1944. He is from New Zealand. He was a soldier when he was a youth, and he worked for the CIA. He was a very excellent agent. He was thanked by the governments of several countries. Now, he is retired and is enjoying the rest of his days. He does housework, and he often cooks dinner for us. His cooking is very very good. I love it. He likes playing computer games, and watching cricket and movies on TV. I often watch movies with him and we talk about them. I enjoy that time. His wife is a woman named Sarah Freeman. She was born on June 9th, 1965. She is from Fiji, and she works as a senior hair stylist. She has been a stylist for 36 years. I think she is a good hair stylist because she is always busy. Sunday and Monday are her days off. On Mondays, she cooks curry rice for us. I love her curry. She likes taking  photos and playing computer games, and she swims almost every day to keep herself healthy. She is very kind. She always speaks slowly to make it easier for me to understand. I enjoy talking with her. I love them.

On Friday, I went on a school trip to Piha beach. I had been looking forward to going there. On my way there, I drew pictures with my friends. We drew strange pictures, and they made us happy. I like drawing strange pictures, so I enjoyed that. We arrived at Piha and went to see a waterfall. We walked up a mountain path for about twenty minutes. That was so hard. After arriving, we saw the waterfall. It was lovely. Then we went to the beach. I was surprised because the sand was black. It was twinkling and was so beautiful. The sea was also beautiful. I wanted to go for a swim, but I couldn’t because the sea was too dangerous for swimming. Some people were swimming though – I guess they loved the thrill of it. Thrills make life interesting, I think. I want to swim there someday. And by someday, I mean a long, long time from now. It was a wonderful day.