Friday Night....er.....Maybe The Day.....

After Jumaat prayers, I went to the English class. Just to enjoy, not really to learn. Nothing new you can learn there, anyway.

To my surprise, the class was canceled. Oh. Never mind then. I proceeded to sit anyway.

In the class, there were only 3 people. 2 Japanese girls, and a Korean. Well, his name's Kim (I don't remember his full name) and he prefer to be called Jeon (pronounced Jun). He, along with the Japanese girls, whom I don't know of their names, are of the same Department as me-the Department of Letters-and we both started to talk.

We talked about a lot of things, and I was surprised with the amount of general knowledge he has.
He seems to know almost a little bit of everything.

He said that he used to be in the United States-no wonder his English is perfect and sounds American-for a year. Even though it was just for a year, he encountered lots of things there.
Racism, drug abuse, fighting on a daily basis, and so on.

Man, if you want to study in America, based on my Korean friend's experiences, I think you ought to think twice.

We also talked a little bit about religion. Well, he noticed one thing. In this large city, Osaka, there are hardly any churches. (He's a Christian Catholic, by the way)

There aren't any mosque here, either. Unless you call a small house full of kitab fiqh, Quran translations, and halal food a mosque, that is the case.

But the most interesting part of our conversation is regarding the Japanese level of English.
I thought I am the only one in my English class who thinks of this, but he happened to think exactly the same.

Actually, we conversed in Japanese, although we had the option to talk in English. Maybe because it feels better to speak in Japanese? Don't know; it's a mysterious thing.

The contents are roughly these:

"I can't take it! Those Japanese are not speaking in English; they're just pronouncing inaudible things!"

"Why they learn English? To marry the white people, they say. What kind of reason is that?"

"Why they take International Communication, you know? To meet and talk in English with the white people, they say. I can't accept that kind of motivation! I AM a foreigner, too, and I speak English on an almost native level, too. Talk to me!"

"You want to speak English? I can teach you how to f***ing speak in English, you m*******....."

Ok, the last part is in English, and he was so pissed of, that he uttered mother******.

-shock-

And I thought he was a kind of cool, serious and diligent student.

Yes, he is, but he has this kind of side, too.

It was fun talking to him. I enjoyed the conversation very much, so much I didn't realize that one hour had passed.

Through the conversation, I realized one thing. This world is so big, you just can't comprehend everything. Yet, it's also a small one too, that people from very different a background and very far a country can meet and be friends.

The message: Racism is so yesterday.