The thing that went well at this exchange meeting was that I was able to look the other person in the eye and speak. In particular, thanks to our practice in reading the presentation, we were able to convey our plans to the other participants without any delay. I was also able to answer their questions in English. I was also able to express my own opinions about the presentations of the foreign students.
At first, I was confused by the talking speed of him. But I could almost understand what he is saying. Our activities are mainly about “oshi”, but it was difficult to explain because the word “oshi” does not exist in English and cannot be expressed. However, I could explain that we are trying to introduce information about Nagata and why we do these activities. Also, we asked the exchange students to explain what he is studying. He is from Germany, and he introduced us to what kind of efforts are being made in Germany to protect living things. For example, in the coastal national parks of Germany, they set areas that humans cannot enter and enact laws on environmental conservation. The content was very difficult. But by his simple English, I was able to understand almost everything. The experience I had today was unusual, so I think it is very special.
Our partner from Germany was interested in our group’s activities. Especially he said that “KOBerri︎es♪” is very good. Also, he said that he has seen the Kobe Trivia Project stickers, so I would like to make and post them so that he can see them. His presentation after our presentation was about the SDGs in Germany. The German government has many policies for animals. Among them, I was interested in the insect hotel. Many insects gather there, and birds gather to eat those. This is how the German government protects endangered birds. It was good to know the difference with Japan.