Essay
Only in New Zealand
Earlier this year, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, gave a commencement speech at Harvard University. Given how small New Zealand is, she joked that of the 30 New Zealanders in the audience, it was likely that she was related to at least one of them. After almost three years, I was finally able to visit friends and family in New Zealand recently. And I was reminded exactly how wonderfully small New Zealand really is.
One evening, my partner and I waited in a quiet inner-city street in Wellington for a friend to pick us up. In front of us was a man whose car battery had died. A random stranger who happened to have the right cables was helping the stranded man and his family. As the car rumbled to a start, the men celebrated by punching the air, and then formally introduced themselves. Then, my friend pulled up just behind Helpful Guy’s car. We got into her car and told her about Helpful Guy. She looked closely at him. “I think I know him,” she said, and checked her company’s intranet. “Oh, that’s Greg from sales.”
On the way back to Japan, as we were waiting in the check-in line at the airport, an older Japanese woman in front of us started chatting to us in English about arrival procedures and baggage. She asked me in Japanese if I would prefer that she used Japanese. I replied in Japanese that either language was fine. She said that her Japanese had become strange due to living in New Zealand for so long. I thought she was pretty friendly.
On the first leg of our journey, for some reason I wondered, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Friendly Lady was my high school Japanese teacher.” The seed was now planted. And the feeling that she was my former teacher began to grow.
At the next airport, we kept bumping into her on our way to passport control. Like a skilled stalker, I somehow managed to sneak a glance at her boarding pass and saw her name. No way! Kojima-sensei! In the passport queue, I asked her if she used to teach at my old high school. She said yes. I broke airport guidelines and removed my mask. “Sam!” she exclaimed. It was so surreal and wonderful to catch up with her after all this time.
As everyone starts to travel and socialise more, connecting and reconnecting with people is something I’m looking forward to. After 25 years, I reunited with my high school Japanese teacher while on my way back to Japan. What are the chances of that happening? Well, if you’re in New Zealand — actually pretty high. (Samantha Loong)
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