The Korean friends in Sydney.

From the middle of October 2009, another English course started at my language school. My daily lessons became from 9 am to 3 pm. There were some Korean students in the new class. Their English was much better than us. I wondered why they could speak English well compared to Japanese morons including me.

One of Korean students named Bell (his English name. I don't know why many Korean people have English names.) told me that the first of all, many Korean youth who wished to get out of Korea studied English very hard in Korea for a few years. They then went to the Philippines. In the Pilippines, the education fee was very cheap. So they took one on one English lessons for half a year or so. Their next distination was Australia. After that they decided to get a job in Australia or entered into an Australian university or move to other countries.

This was the general escaping route for Korean people from their home country which was as cruel and hard as the Japanese society.

I always said to a teacher funny things during the lesson. Soon some Korean students became my friends.

Bell: "The poverty gap is very prominent in Korea now, and there are too many people there." "Korea is a hard country to live in peace." "I don't like lazy people, but I like Australians' life style. It has a nice balance."

Generally speaking, they were not rich compared to spoiled and rotten Japanese students at the language schools. But their pure determinations to settle down in a foreign country and study English for their future was ten times bigger than Japanese students, if not more. Some of them worked as janitors to earn the fee of language school. Although I didn't like Korea well at that time, I had to highly appreciate their efforts and strong determinations.

One day, Bell, I forgot his Korean name, took me to another language school that was free. There were many Korean students there and they were studying English very hard. I was surprised at the gap between Japanese morons and earnest Korean students.

A Korean man taught English students, but the sentences he wrote on the white board were very anti Japanese.

For example.

A: Japanese people are fucking sadists, why do you wanna live in Japan?
B: I wanna walk around Tokyo in nice dresses. It's is cool.
A: Are you serious about what you are talking about?
B: I am quite sure.

Like this.

All students there except for me were Korean youth. This Korean teacher did not know that there was a Japanese student lol. The moment the teacher wrote them on the whiteboard, Bell who had not expected this at all looked at me in surprise. His face looked sad. I queitely murmured to him "Don't worry Bell, I don't mind at all."