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Subject: [FOLKLORE FAMILY] Japanese Goodbye
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2002 13:21:47 EST

>
>
> Japanese Goodbye
> By Julia Booker
>
> I looked up at the signs, trying to decipher which
> train I needed to take to Narita Airport. After ten months
> backpacking through Africa and Asia, using every form of
> transport from donkey to rickshaw, I was on the final leg
> of my journey, the flight that would take me home to
> Canada.
> I was feeling the weight of my huge pack. Knowing
> that I would soon be shedding the burden on my back, I
> finally allowed myself to purchase gifts for my family.
> The Japanese language was a complete mystery to me, and I
> stared up at the board, searching for any symbol that
> appeared familiar. Anything at all.
> I must have looked like a lone weary turtle stuck in a
> pond of suits. Everywhere salary men were rushing to catch
> their crowded trains. Everybody, everything was moving
> fast. No Zen here.
> And then, out of the mass, a woman stopped and asked,
> in English, which way I wanted to go. She took me to the
> station master. She spoke to him in Japanese, found out
> the platform number, the price of a ticket and the time of
> departure. I had half an hour.
> I thanked her and bid her farewell, but she said she
> had ten minutes and insisted I join her for a quick tea.
> She told me she had been born in Japan, but had spent
> a year backpacking in New York and knew what it was like to
> be a woman traveling solo. We excitedly traded stories but
> soon our brief chat was over. Her train was leaving. She
> hurriedly paid for both our drinks.
> "Save your money," she said and wished me luck. And
> then, she was gone.
> I stood up to go, pulling the load once more onto my
> back. Suddenly, she reappeared, out of breath, with a
> square box wrapped in white and red paper.
> "You aren't vegetarian are you?" she asked.
> "Uh, no..." and she pushed the box into my hands. It
> was warm.
> "For the train. Goodbye." And she was gone, again.
> I had seen these specially-prepared boxed meals for
> sale in the stations. They looked delicious but they were
> beyond my budget.
> As I waited on the platform, my pack didn't feel as
> heavy. Even though I had been given one more gift to
> carry, I felt lighter-blessed with the taste of warm food,
> the dreams of my homecoming and the generosity of a
> Japanese woman I would know only this once. And I never
> even caught her name.
>
>



.·:*´¨`*:·..·:*´¨`*:·.
*: * Richiele * *
*·. .·*
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