IAICS 1

IAICS (International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies) was held at KGU from September 17th to 20th and I worked as a student assistant. It was a great opportunity to know many things about me and people who were from all over the world.

On July, Prof. Sato introduced this works to students who attended his classes. When I heard his explanation, I really wanted to be the student assistant. Then, I applied for that at the web site. However, the application was reached the fixed number of people. I was very sad because I wanted to be an official student assistant. Then I applied as a volunteer.

On September 16th, I got an e-mail from Prof. Yoneoka. It was an invitation that I could be an official student assistant because some official student assistant cancelled it. I was very happy to hear that. So I could be the official student assistant. At that noon, I visited her and helped her prepare the conference. My work was confirmation of materials. Some graduate students worked too, and they helped me type into a PC. They were very kind and speaking English well.

On Sep. 17th, a friend of mine who were the student assistant and I went to Kumamoto International Center. I was informed that my work was meeting and conducting guests, who were from several airports, at Kumamoto Kotsu Center. Before that, we had to be passed nameplates so we went there. Then Prof. Yoneoka told us to take some family who were from Persia to a hotel which was near the Kotsu Center. So we took them to the hotel. It was a first time I talked with the guest in English so I tensed a little. However, they were very kind and spoke slowly to us. Thanks to them, I could enjoyed talking with them. After we took them to the hotel, we went to the arrival stop. A few minutes later, a bus which came from the airport arrived at the stop. Some Japanese guests arrived first. Next, some group of Chinese arrived and they said they didn't know the hotel where they stayed. So I decided to take them to the hotel but a Chinese guest told me solve a problem. She said that some guest lost her ticket and told that to the bus driver. So I got on the bus and told him about that. He said that she had to pay in cash if she lost her ticket. I told her about that, and she insisted that she certainly bought the ticket so she should not pay. I wanted to agree with her but the driver was wright, so I tried to persuade her again and again. She wasn't convinced me and her colleagues tried to find her ticket in the bus for a while. I was likely to cry. At last, she was convinced me and got off the bus. Just then, one of her colleagues found her ticket!! I felt relieved to see that and I was glad because one of her colleague said 'thank you' to me. After that, I took them to the hotel. When I went back to the bus stop, other group who were from Shanghai arrived so I took them again. On the way to the hotel, one of the member talked to me with smile so I wasn't hesitate to talk with her in English. Next, an American arrived and I also took them to the hotel. Then, I challenged to talk to him about me in English. It was not easy to tell him about that, so I explain using my electronic dictionary. Thanks to it, we could keep talking. She and I went to Kumamoto International Center at 9 p.m. Then we heard the outline of our works from Friday to Sunday. Then we received lunch box and went back to our home. (646 words)