ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

Recently, I ran into an interesting individual. After biking to a local park on my day off and hiking up a mountain and around a lake, I came upon a man who was exercising in the exercise equipment area of the park. He was doing gymnastic exercises on the bars which were pretty impressive. I was sitting on one of the hoisting-bar chairs when he came over and sat on the chair next to mine and hoisted himself up for about 10 seconds. I got a better look at him, and I could see he was much older than I was, and I am not a young man by any means!

We greeted each other in Japanese though I can only speak the most basic, rudimentary Japanese. He asked me where I was from, so I told him I was from America and teaching English in Niihama. It seemed we both had a desire to connect and communicate a little, so I told him I was 68 years old. He then proceeded to tell me a little about himself in Japanese. Amazingly, I was able to follow along and understand most of what he said. He said he was 88 years old, and that he drove to the park from his home every day to exercise and enjoy the fresh air. I told him his exercise regimen was impressive! He then mentioned the word 'shinzo' (heart) and told me that 20 years ago, he had had open-heart surgery. The doctors had also placed a pacemaker in his chest at that time. He then knocked on it with his hand, and I could hear the metallic sound of the pacemaker. We then went our separate ways after shaking hands. I was honored to meet him.

I guess you could say this was 'communication that has heart', both literally and figuratively. I was amazed at how I was able to understand the gist of everything he was saying in Japanese. Of course, he spoke slowly and used hand gestures, but if two people have the motivation and desire to communicate, even if their native-tongues are different, it can definitely be done. Ya gotta have heart!