Pacing back and forth in my room, I anxiously waited for the new girl to arrive. My mom has always left me with minimal information---the name and the country of origin--about each guest in the past. After what seemed like eternity, my anxiety was finally met with curiosity.
Ding dong!
I pulled open the polished, maroon door. Immediately, my family and I rushed to greet a shy, Japanese girl standing in the doorway that I soon came to know as Sakura.
(transition)
Japanese youth, I had learned from my studies, were generally extremely studious, preferred order to spontaneity, and possessed personalities more polite than fun. (Transition) I wondered if we could be friends. These notions swirled in my head as I pulled open the polished maroon
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English wasn’t her first language, and her shyness only made things more difficult. Despite my best efforts, I failed to get more than a few words out of her. When my friends called me to hang out, I felt “tied down” with Sakura tagging along. I felt guilty too, because as much as I wanted her to feel comfortable in America, I was afraid that her awkwardness would undermine my existing friendships. I began to lose hope that Sakura and I would ever become friends.
One day, I went out with Sakura to teach her the English names of the neighboring streets and buildings. To my surprise, she began to ask me questions about the places we visited -- what specific buildings were for, or why there were so many cars on the road. Each time I explained an answer, Sakura’s eyes lit up with curiosity. Before long, we were discussing cultural differences, our lives in high school, and our favorite sports.
A barrier seemed to melt away. At the dinner table, I explained each dish to her in detail. She taught me about Japanese kanji and their national White Day, while I introduced her to colloquial American greetings and popular culture icons Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. I discovered that I loved learning about her culture as much as I loved sharing mine with her, and I began to act as her translator to bring our understandings of community a little closer