Neighborhood Hirakata

When I arrived in Japan, I came before orientation week began. During this time, I was placed in seminar house 3 where I had the opportunity of meeting students from all over the world. Here, I met a girl from Morocco and became very close friend with her. However, I had to leave seminar house 3 after orientation week was over, and I had to move to seminar house 4, which is located right across the park. I frequently visit my friend, and each time I must sign in. At first, the Okasan that works at the front desk was not very friendly, and she would barely say anything to me. Over the past month, I tried to talk to her so she sees that I am trying and that our one minute talk can be better. Even if it took a while, our brief interaction has improved.
When this blog theme was presented in class for our assignment, I thought about Okasan at seminar house 3 because the perception that I held about her has changed over time. Now, when she greets me, she actually asks me about my day, and our interaction is much longer. Today I visited my friend, I told Okasan about our assignment and asked her if I could write about her and take a picture of her with my broken Japanese. Without thinking twice, she responded by saying no and that I should take a picture of someone young like my friend. She asked me why I would want to take a picture of someone old and kept saying no. She thought some more in puzzlement and then discussed my requestment with her husband. After a minute of dialogue between them, they both said no. I thanked her for her time. As I was leaving, they requested for more information about my blog project. Finally they agreed upon the enough information that I provided for them. I immediately took my camera out and snapped a picture of her. Before I could leave, she and her husband wanted to approve of the picture I had just snapped. I was very thankful that she and her husband were flexible on their decisions. I think that if I had asked her in September, she would have never agreed to change her mind. I think that because she has gotten to know me, learn to trust me and like me, she felt much more open and comfortable. I think this example of Okasan is a perfect model of how time can change everything about a person. It is very important not to judge people on first time interaction and it is crucial to be open minded and flexible.