TBT: Musing in Japan: With Buddies at Nogeyama Zoo

 After all this time, I forgot to mention that each of us EAP students were assigned to a group of buddies based on compatibility. We all loved this buddy system because it helped integrate us into the Japanese society. We became good friends with our buddies, who would take us to places we wanted to visit or eat. Pretty much they were like friends we would have back at home with whom we would simply hang out with. Understandably, most were juggling part-time jobs while attending college, and could not always join us on all our excursions. Here you see me with two of my buddies at Nogeyama Zoo.

I had a total of four buddies. To the left of this picture is Shiori and the right is Ayano, who was deathly afraid of holding the baby chick in her hands, but decided to overcome her fear after hearing our cheerful encouragements. Minako was the first buddy I met when I arrived in Japan. She was so sweet. I did not meet often with Toshiya because he had a part-time job and was not always able to play with us. None of us EAP students knew that our buddies had secretly been putting together an end-of-term scrapbook of all their experiences with us. It was quite heartwarming really! I was so moved I felt tears prickling my eyes. We all had spent four months getting to know each other and everyone. It was painful to know we would all be leaving soon. I still look back on the scrapbook with warm, fond memories.