Hello! I hope you're doing well. I want to tell you about something that happened at the beginning of the year in Japan. There was a big earthquake in the Noto peninsula, up in the north of Japan.

20代半ば英語教員になりたての私は「青年の船」の存在を知り胸が高鳴りました。「青年の船」とは、多国籍の若者が東南アジアをひと月船で巡る親善事業。渉外（通訳）団員も募集するというので、英語を実地で磨きたかった私にはうってつけ。

I want to share a story from about 40 years ago when I went on a goodwill cruise trip to some countries in Southeast Asia like India and Singapore.