On the plane, I was too shy to ask the Kiwi flight attendant for wine, so I just pointed to the apple juice I saw instead.
Even though it was my very first inflight meal, I was too nervous to eat much at all.
Yep — it was a flight totally dominated by “the timid version of me.”
When I arrived in New Zealand and went through immigration, the officer asked me,
“What food do you have?”
But I somehow heard it as,
“What fruits do you have?”
So I confidently replied, “I don’t have any fruit.”
(Yeah, the nerves were off the charts.)
But even with that little mishap, the immigration process was surprisingly smooth — no intense questioning or anything.
And the moment I stepped out of the airport, one thought hit me:
“Wait… I actually made it.”
I mean, duh, I’d just been on a plane for 11 hours.
But still, it didn’t feel real — like I was still dreaming.
It was my first time overseas, after all.
For the first few months, I went to a language school to learn English and try to make friends.
As a shy girl with little confidence in her English, life wasn’t easy at first.
But slowly, I started putting myself out there — initiating conversations,
unexpectedly scoring 19 out of 21 points by serving alone in a volleyball match (and accidentally getting attention across campus),
and even giving a class presentation about my love for the All Blacks.
Before I knew it, I’d made friends — from Thailand, Chile, Korea, China, and so many other countries.
Things started to feel… fun.
By the time I had settled into life in NZ — and just as my savings were dangerously running low — I started working at a Russian café.
There were definitely some “interesting” moments with the Russian owner,
but overall, I genuinely enjoyed the work and was grateful for the opportunity.
Before I even left Japan, I already had plans to fly home briefly —
I was asked to give a speech at my childhood friend’s wedding.
And I’d also decided that, after returning to NZ, I wouldn’t go back to the same city.
It felt like a waste to live in just one place in such a beautiful country.
That move…
ended up changing the course of my life.
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