My Japanese-filled February

CEBU, Philippines - It was February and it all started out on a usual Wednesday afternoon. My friend was bored and I was sick. We were both dragged by another friend saying that she might be able to get us free lunch. Thinking that I would be able to eat for free, I didn’t think twice and immediately said yes. But that afternoon changed my entire February.

My friend dragged me to the UP Cebu – Toyo University Spring Workshop 2013 to volunteer our help. This was a workshop for Toyo University students from Japan together with the help of University of the Philippines Cebu (UP Cebu) to further understand community development and also to learn more about the poor in Cebu. Since this workshop was offered to a group of 18 regional development students and two tourism students from Toyo University, UP Cebu saw the need to get help from UP Cebu students in assisting the Japanese students.

It was not the first time this workshop happened. Apparently, my friend who dragged me there, volunteered to the same workshop a few years earlier so she was familiar with how that thing worked and since I was sick the previous day, I was not able to meet the Japanese at the airport. I did not know what to do, I felt so left out. There with me were student volunteers from UP Cebu and 20 others speaking in a language that I am not familiar with. I was about to go when somebody mentioned that we were going to have a Cebu City tour for our Japanese visitors. Even though I was burning with fever, I did not want to let go of the opportunity to have a free tour of the City.

We became instant tourist guides. I thought that when the tour was over, we would be able to go home and rest, but the Toyo University students wanted to go to Ayala so the student volunteers were tasked to bring them to the mall and make sure to return them safely to the hotel where they were staying for the duration of the workshop. So from being instant tourist guides, we became instant babysitters.

By being a babysitter, what I never expected to become friends with our Japanese visitors. What used to be an awkward greeting became a familiar hello. What used to be a ‘What is your name?’ became an ‘Angera’. What used to be a gap became a bond.

I spent time with the Toyo University students everyday for two weeks. I was over my weekly allowance because of eating at various restaurants with them. I ended up skipping classes because we had to be at different places for the workshop. I went home late because UP Cebu student volunteers would stay a while longer to discuss all the happenings on that day. But from all of these, I was happy.

I would never forget our last night together. We ate at the house of a former UP Cebu Professor, who now teaches at the Toyo University. It was the first time our Japanese friends tried Filipino food. It was a typical Filipino gathering with all the food and of course, the lechon. What I thought would be a simple dinner turned out to be a special moment.

When we finished eating, our Japanese friends all went to the bus claiming they had to get something. When they came back, they were all wearing yellow shirts with UP hearts Toyo. They then called the UP Cebu student volunteers and handed us the same shirts one by one. When I got mine, I realized they wrote messages on the shirt. After handing out the shirts, we formed a circle, held our hands together and our Japanese friends asked us to sing Yeng Constantino’s Hawak Kamay, which we sang during one of the workshop’s activities. We had it translated in Japanese and they were moved by the song’s message. After that, everything was just a happy scene.

But as they say nothing is permanent. The time came for the Toyo University students to go back to their country. UP Cebu student volunteers and our Japanese friends did not sleep. We spent the entire time talking and playing games. But at 4:00 am, we all had to go to the airport to send off our friends.

On our way to the airport, everyone was silent. Some of us were just tired and some of us were just too sad to speak. At the airport, our Japanese friends had their things checked in while UP Cebu student volunteers and some teachers waited at the lounge for them. It took them quite some time that I thought they already left. When they went back, I never expected the flood of tears. It was a heartbreaking scene. People were hugging and saying their goodbyes knowing the possibility of never seeing each other again. Some of our Japanese friends took some photos with us. Some UP Cebu students gave gifts to them. And for the last time, we said our goodbyes and saw their figures vanish through the airport doors.

So after more than four months of being apart, my Japanese friends and I are still constantly communicating with each other. Asking each other how we are doing and talking about how school work is stressful. It’s as if we were never apart.

Because of this experience, I realized how wonderful friendship can be. It would not matter if you have known each other for a short time because the thing with friendship is once you become friends, it is hard to break that bond. Friendship does not know nationality. It does not know time disparity and it does not know cultural differences.

I find it funny how I ended up making friends when all I wanted in the first place was a free lunch.