This is about the thrilling experience that I learned by my
heart in my teenage. For one year, I stayed in New Zealand and
attended the native college there. As the school bus went through
the hills and the mountains, we came to see our small college.
There were two colleges around the town. I preferred to go to the
college to which a lot of native people called Maori went. Some
schools in New Zealand were not willing to accept Maori students,
and also, many Maoris did not choose those schools because they
teach less about Maori. I could breathe "Real New Zealand air"
because they were around me. Unlike the students of other
schools, our college had such vivid students, because they were
on good terms with everybody. I was given their power and smiles
during my stay there and especially, when we were away from
college, there were much more important things that I could learn
from them.
The school bus was running through the narrow mountain road.
This time, we were heading not to school, but to the beach to
enjoy the senior camp. After the long dizzy driving, we came to
see the beautiful seacoast. It was lined so clearly as if the
surface of water were blew by a gentle giant. New Zealand is the
country that is blessed and surrounded by its nature. Traveling
around the country a lot, I realized that nature had various
kinds of colors: the greens of the trees and the blues of the
sea, without which my memory would have been poor and colorless.
As soon as we got to the camping spot, we quickly set up the
large tents. We were responsible for our camps all the time so
finding the job to volunteer for was the hardest thing for me. No
sooner had we put all our stuff in the tents messily than the
first activity was waiting for us. The activity we were going to
do was "RESCUING". Although my English was poor, I knew the
meaning of the word and it gave me some kind of relief.
The place were we located was surrounded by curvy long
beaches. It made me felt as if we were standing on the map. We
started walking on the long beach which seemed to have no end.
Our hands were full of equipment such as the thick ropes, fat
branches and a piece of cloth which was big enough to cover one's
body. When I looked back to know how far we had come, I found our
footsteps marching like the ants on the sand. The sky looked like
a palette with no ink on it. After the 30 minutes of wait we had
come to the big cliff which was blocking us from going any
further, so we decided to climb up the cliff to go on our way up
the beach. Climbing up the cliff, I followed others step by step.
Some were keen on climbing like monkeys. When I looked the sight
of the cliff, it looked as if it were the gatekeeper of the
seashore.
Now we were getting to the beach again. "It's time to start
RESCUING!" a senior student suggested to us. One girl was chosen
to be the "patient", even though she was quite plump. Then we
used our whole brain to make the stretcher for her. As we did not
want to make our patient fall, we made the strongest one out of
what we had brought with us. Putting the piece of cloth on top,
the stretcher with the big girl on it started going into the
bush. Six or seven boys carrying her on the stretcher looked so
tough. The girls, including me, thought at once that there was
nothing to worry about as long as we just followed them. The cool
and noisy air was passing by us. There was neither such a road
nor information, telling us which direction to go. Then the boys
suddenly quickened their speed without saying anything! At the
corner of my sight, I saw another stretcher was getting
nearby!
"God! They started racing each other!" I realized. Now our
boys were running down the steep cliff, swearing so badly. We,
the girls, ran so hard, trying to catch up with them, but in
vain. The girl on the stretcher looked like a stone because of
the fear. Seeing her, I could not help yelling, "Don't hurry!
Don't! " My voice was absorbed into the deep bush. The more they
want further from us, the more my voice got weakened. Tears
flooded over my cheeks and I became so miserable. The stretcher
was no longer in our sight. That was the first time I found that
boys live in a world where girls cannot step.
After a while, we, the girls, got to the beach bitterly. The
boys and our "patient" were burnt out. My heart was still beating
so fast. I stared at the boys, implying I hated them. The big
fire was in my entire body. I did not expect then the word that I
happened to hear later. It was when we began walking back to the
camp that one boy said, "I'm sorry". I hardly believed my ears.
However, I saw the devilish-looking person was changing into a
boy of the same age. His words pulled me back to the real world.
I was so surprised that only a couple of word gave me relief. I
had never had such a feeling before, I thought.
After this incident, I somehow became fond of our group. The
boys seemed gentle to anybody now. Our patient was joking and
laughing cheerfully as usual. Now I realize that the incident is
deeply embedded into my memory. Without that incident I would
have forgotten about the camp easily. Looking back at that time,
now I feel that doing silly things in youth is probably forgiven.
Without experiencing such things, we never grow up to be adults.
I recall the footsteps that I saw on the beach that day and think
that those were like the points which everyone marks as they grow
up to be adults. As the sea takes them away, our mistakes will
not be remembered.
by Etsuko Kamakura
