Well, something ELSE interesting happened I should say.
Four young people came in to visit The Spit this morning. Two of the girls were from Japan and the group was a pretty nice bunch of kids. The two from Japan were very friendly and one in particular was asking a lot of questions.
Some time went by after they left to go down to the water and I went about talking to visitors and doing some other things around the visitor kiosk. I was bent over doing something and one of the girls came up to me and asked me very nicely if she could ask me some questions. I said “Of course!” and she started to ask me in very broken English about volunteering. I was actually able to understand her quite well even with my tinnitus. She was quite interested in it and she was saying that in Japan there is not a lot of that kind of volunteering like we have here. They may have a volunteer day that is arranged, but nothing ongoing from what I gathered. It sounded like she wants to get a visa and move over here and do volunteer work in the parks, which is always appreciated. She introduced herself and her name is Hazuki. That is a pretty cool name for a very pretty girl.
Her other friend from Japan came over and joined the conversation and helped to translate a few things between us. The three of us talked some more and it was quite interesting and a lot of fun. I have never had that type of experience before and it was cool. I excused myself to helped a few other people and they went over to look at the interpretive panels and take a few pictures of them. I caught back up with them and we talked some more. They were getting ready to leave and I asked them if they wanted me to take a picture, meaning I would take their picture for them in front of the kiosk, They said “Yes!” and Hazuki came over and stood next to me while the other girl took the picture. Then, she gave the picture to the third girl in the group, came over and said her name was (I believe) Nomie. Another pretty girl with a pretty name. That picture was snapped and we said our goodbyes. Of course I was totally not thinking and did not get a picture of us with my own camera. D’oh!
I went to help some other visitors as they got ready to leave. As they pulled away we waved and smiled at each other. Such a cool experience and definitely the highlight of my day today and one of the highlights of my time here. Maybe my picture will end up on her blog and I will be famous in Japan!
I wish you well and the best of luck, Hazuki… and you too, Nomie. Maybe our paths will cross again sometime.
