​A trip to Japan

My story is about people interaction. I traveled around the world, and I always was amazed how close people might be, regardless race, age or culture. They find something to share or relate to.

The bond we found on a resort in Japan, somewhere in the mountains north of Tokyo may raise eyebrows. A manager in that resort became a friend of us, for the last two days we were guest there, because of an adventure he had few weeks before… that marked his life profoundly.

…My wife and I were talking Romanian language, and a certain guy, that happened to be around, startled every time he heard us. At a certain point he could not stand it any more and asked us in English: “Excuse me, what language is that you are talking?”

“Romanian,” I answered.

That guy almost melted, and trembling a little bit, he pulled out his wallet from an inside pocket. He said in Romanian with a very heavy accent “good day” (just to prove he knows few Romanian words), then he turned to English “look inside,” and handed over the wallet.

I took his wallet and opened it. My wife and I looked inside, and saw some pictures showing him in a lady’s company. The photos showed both in a restaurant or her trying some kimonos or simply walking the streets. She was in her early thirties, tall and slim, blonde, about 10-15 cm taller then him. The guy was in his early forties.

My wife’s instinct kicked-in, “My guess is that she is Romanian.”

“Yes,” answered slowly the manager, barely controlling his emotions, “her name is Ada” (well, not her real name, just the way I will call her for the story).

And the manager told us Ada’s story.

Few weeks before… he had his 10 days vacation. He decided to spend some time in a big city. He was alone serving food in a restaurant. At the nearby table was a good-looking blonde, that seemed very distressed, looking helplessly around. He dared in English: “Can I help you with anything? Are you all right?”

The lady knew some Japanese, so, their conversation was mixed, English and Japanese. “My name is Ada. I am Romanian. I came here for a contract that did not materialize, and I do not have money to return home.”
The manager did not give us many details, but we understood they were together for few days. He payed for the plane ticket to Romania, and spent tons of money with her, not only what he had in his pockets, but a lot of money from his account.

I tried to understand if he felt good about it or he was hurt by the adventure. “Do you think you will ever see her again?”

His face lightened with pleasure and exiting expectations. “I’d like to see her again. I will save any penny I can until I have enough to go to Romania and see her one more time.”

I did not want to speculate about anything, it was 2002, and after Romania opened its borders in 1989 a lot of people spread around the world, for good and not so good reasons. Our dear fellow, the manager, had the time of his life in his vacation and his memory should remain happy. I changed the discussion to casual.  

We told him that we would like to travel around and next day we would like to go for a visit to Zao mountain, taking the train, but the shuttle bus from the resort to the train station in the valley was not very convenient because of the schedule. He told us that the only way down was the shuttle.

We were a little bit disappointed, and he offered right away to drive us to the station himself with his own car. I wanted to pay him like for a taxi, but he refused categorically.
All that time when we saw each other in the resort, or in his car to the train station, we chat a lot of things, like friends.
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