Kaori writes

I was in Canada for about 10 months. I lived in Waterloo with my family from March to December last year. They had lived there before I went to Canada, because of my father's job.

I went to English school every morning. I had a class from 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock every day. The school was for immigrants, who want to work in Canada. They came to Canada from various countries, for example, China, India, Iran, some European countries and so on. Most of the people were older than I. Some people came to school with their small children. They didn't know English at first. But they had to find a job there, so they studied English very hard. And they became able to speak English. I think that there is the difference between them and I. It is the mental attitude for learning English. Of course, I want to become to speak English, but I can't match them, because they can't make a living unless they learn English. In the school days, I could see the situation of immigrants like them, and I thought I should learn their eagerness.

In the summer, I took a course called 'English For Success' for a month at University of Waterloo, near my house. I studied with people from many countries. They included many Koreans, some Mexican, French, Polish, Chinese, Japanese and more. They were almost the same ages as me. I felt the differences and something in common about the national character of each country. For example, in the construction of sentences, there are differences between the language of European countries and that of Asian countries. On the other hand, I sometimes felt we were human without any distinction of country. We often talked about that. I had a very good experience in the course.

During my stay in Canada, I was a teaching assistant (TA) in a Japanese class as a volunteer in University of Waterloo. There are some Japanese class there. My job was to help the teacher, that is, I handed some copies to the students, answered questions from them in class and check their assignments. There were about 25 people in the class. Some of them were very interested in Japan and wanted to teach English in Japan. But other people didn't know about Japan or misunderstood Japan. One of the students said that there was a one-child restriction in Japan. He confused Japan with China. It was interesting, becauseI saw what foreign people think about Japan. And I learned two things in the class. The first is about study of languages. I noticed a little how I should study foreign languages, by teaching my native language to them. The second is about my country. Japan has two aspects, that is, techniques and tradition. Japan is made by mixing old things with the new one. I'd never thought that while I was in Japan. It was not until I went to Canada that I began to think over Japan. I could grasp the character of my country outside Japan.

Every experience while I was in Canada was very impressive and important for me. I believe that I could absorb much knowledge, many experiences and feelings which I found in Canada.