This is a post that didn’t originally appear on my blog in 2005.

Vivian was an English teacher from England who moved to Numazu in October 2005. She was one of those friendly, outgoing people who made every situation more fun and was nearly impossible to dislike.

Having a cell phone (mobile phone for my non North American friends) is critical to daily life in Japan. During new teacher orientation, NOVA had Vodafone sales reps on hand to provide phones to teachers. If the teacher wanted one of the few phones available, the Vodafone team would complete all of the paperwork and have the phones activated and ready to use by the end of the training session. Most teachers (including me) took this option out of convenience. Vivian decided that she didn’t like any of the phones available and decided to test her luck at the cell phone store.

Despite Vivian’s best efforts, the language barrier was simply too much to overcome at the Numazu station phone store. Choosing a phone, a plan, and signing a contract requires a fairly high level of language proficiency, and the store staff didn’t speak English. Vivian explained her difficulty to the other teachers at work and asked for advice.

One of the very cool things about expat culture is that the more experienced people generally do their best to help out new people. When I first moved to Japan, my roommates did their best to show me around and help me with everything from buying lunch to finding a barbershop. I knew that my Japanese wasn’t going to be good enough to help Vivian, but I did have a secret weapon up my sleeve: a Japanese speaking girlfriend. I texted The Penpal and she agreed to help.

Vivian and I met The Penpal after one of Vivian’s early shifts and went to the store all together. Vivian picked out a phone and The Penpal did the rest of the work necessary to get the contract filled out and the phone set up. Vivian was thankful and The Penpal felt good about being able to help.

Being far away from home can be a challenging experience for anyone; you really need to rely on other people to help. It’s rewarding to be able to return the favour for fellow travelers.