A Volunteer Mate

I went to Matsue Castle for volunteer guiding yesterday and I talked with a volunteer member who joined recently. He was in his sixties.

He said that he started to learn English when he was 48. Suddenly, his company asked him to go to a language school without working. He had to learn English for a year there. And soon after one year had passed, he went to London to establish a local company. 

When the new office started, he became the president of the British company. Among its 150 employees, he was the only Japanese in the company. He said that he couldn't believe he could run the company with his English ability at the time. 

People can do anything when the time comes. 

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                        にほんブログ村

Duty for Guiding

I've been busy and tired these days. My duty for volunteer guiding in English is approaching, but I couldn't practice for it. I'm not sure I can do it well. 

I have only ten days left for the first duty. I think I should take some online English class and speak English a little. 

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A Rude Question

I joined a meeting held by a volunteer tour guide group yesterday.  An American young guy gave us a lecture about foreign tourists. He was a 23-year-old New Yorker. 

After his presentation, he allowed us some questions. The questions should be related tourism or so. But some member asked a weird question. He asked, "before World War 2, we have lots of reminded original castles here in Japan. During the war time, the U.S troops were bombing many Japanese city and destroyed historical landmarks including castles. Now, we have only 12 of them. What do you think of that?"

The atmosphere there was frozen. Obviously, he shouldn't ask that kind of question at the time. If he really wanted to ask that, he should ask him after they made a trust relationship and in private. 

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                        にほんブログ村