B.J.／クライスト・ザ・キング・アングリカン・カレッジ （オーストラリア ビクトリア州）
B.J.／Christ the King Anglican Collage (Victoria, AUSTRALIA)
本人が書いた文／Original text／本人原文／본인이 쓴 글
This is my Mum and me when I was a baby. I was born in Northern New South Wales, in a town called Coffs Harbour.
This is a photo of 4 generations of women in my family. My great grand mother, my grandmother, my mother and me. I was named after my great grand mother (Bettina) and my grand mother (Jane), so my name is Bettina Jane. Everyone just calls me B.J.!
When I was 2 my Mum, Dad and I moved to Japan. We lived in Tsu-city, in Mie, for nearly 5 years. Some of our friends let me dress up in a kimono and have a picture taken.
I went to Kindergarten in Japan for 2 years with other Japanese children. Here is a picture of me dressed as a demon. If you look carefully you can see the picture I drew in the background. I loved Sailormoon, so everything I drew looked like Sailormoon.
When I was 7 years old we returned to Australia. I went from living in a crowded place like Tsu-city, to living on a farm. My primary school in Japan had a few thousand students. When I started school in Australia I went to a small primary school that was surrounded by farms.
Here is a picture of ALL the students in the school, from preparatory (kindergarten) to grade 6. It was taken when I was in grade 6. There is only one teacher in the school. She teaches all the students in the same classroom.
We live on a farm near the Murray River. This is me at the beach. Notice that the sand is white. I like swimming in the river because the water is clean and not salty, and there are no waves. It gets very hot here in summer, sometimes 40 degrees Celsius, so it is wonderful to be able to go swimming.
I love being outdoors and adventuring. In junior high school I was a member of the Australian Girl Guides. Because it was too far to go to meetings every week, I did Girl Guides by mail. Sometimes we would get together to camp and do activities. This camp was about 350 km from where I live. We canoed, did archery and many other activities. It was really great to get together with the girls I wrote to when we had our "meetings by mail"
My family also enjoys camping. This time we went to Kosiosko National Park. There was no one else for kilometers around. Kangaroos visited us during the daytime and at night a wombat came and looked at our camp. There was no electricity, so we used a gas light and cooked on the fire. This is my little brother, Joshua. This was taken on the first day of spring. As you can see, it was very cold.
This is my brother, Joshua, my younger sister, Christen and my Dad. Dad is about 194 cm tall. When we lived in Japan he used to bump his head all the time!
When I was in grade 4, I started playing the cornet with the Cobram Brass Band. Every time there is a special event in town the band plays. My sister also used to play in the band. Sometimes we went to other towns to take part in concerts in parks. I think it was nice for families to relax in the park and listen to the music.
When the Olympics came to Australia the Olympic flame was carried to many small towns. Sydney is over 600 km away, so we couldn't go to the Olympics. When the flame came to Yarrawonga it gave us a chance to share personally in some of the excitement of having the Olympics in Australia. This is a picture of my Uncle Michael, my brother, his two friends and me. My sister is peeking up between the two runners.
I wanted to show you what it is like to live on a farm. If you look carefully at the picture, just below my hand, you can see some buildings. These are our neighbors. We only live on a small farm, so it is only about 2 km to the nearest neighbour. Some Australian farms are hundreds of times bigger than this. Our house is about 30 km from my high school in the town of Cobram. I don't often get to see my friends after school, as it is too far to travel. There are no trains or buses out here, so Mum or Dad have to drive us everywhere.
Last summer there were a lot of fires in Australia. My Dad, Mum and I are members of the Country Fire Authority, so we are often called to fight fires. This was a fire near our home last year. It looks beautiful, but it has a terrible effect. Fighting fires is part of country life in Australia.
   
   こんにちは！わたしの名前はベッティーナ・ジェーンですが、みんなにはB.J.とよばれています。ふだん、自分の人生をすごいなんて思ったことがありません。でも、ほかの人と比べてみると本当はけっこうおもしろい人生をあゆんできたんだな、と気づかされます。

   わたしはニュー・サウス・ウェールズの北部にあるコッフス・ハーバーという小さな町で生まれました。わたしが2歳ぐらいのときに両親がワーキング・ホリデーで日本に行くことを決めました。お父さんがラッキーなことに三重県の松阪で仕事が見つかり、日本に5年近く住んでいました。

   小さいころは、自分はなんでほかの日本人の子と見かけがちがうのだろう、と不思議に思っていました。友だちはみんな髪の毛が黒くて目が茶色かったけど、わたしは金髪に茶色い目。そのころセーラー・ムーンがはやっていたので、わたしはセーラー・ムーンのように金髪の日本人なんだと考えることにしました。幼稚園と小学校ではほかの子どもたちと同じように日本語を話していました。家では英語を話していましたが、日本語のほうが楽でした。お母さんは日本語がけっこう上手だったけれど、お父さんはあまり日本語がわからなかったので、ときどきコミュニケーションが大変でした。妹は保育園に通っていて日本語を最初に覚えたので、もっと大変だったと思います。そのころはわたしたちの生活がふつうだと思っていましたが、今となってみればとても変わった状況だったと思います。

   わたしたちがオーストラリアに帰ってきたとき、オーストラリアはわたしにとって異国になっていました。オーストラリアに住んでいたときのことを何も覚えていなかったのですべてが新しく感じました。日本語を話せる人はいないし、学校の勉強はすべて英語だったので大変でした。日本と日本の友だちが恋しくなりました。

   うちの農家から4.5 キロのところにある小さな学校に私は通いました。全校生徒は16人しかいませんでした。日本で見たことのあった『大草原の小さな家』を思わせるようなところでした。3年生から6年生のときまでの4年間、ずっと同じ先生でした。その先生はとても熱心で、わたしの英語力が上がるように一生懸命教えてくれました。

   わたしはいま、高校の11年生です。いまはお母さんがわたしの日本語の先生です。オーストラリアではほとんどの中学と高校がいっしょになっていますが、わたしの高校はとても小さく、5年生から11年生の生徒が全部で105人しかいません。11年生は14人います。

   いまではオーストラリアの生活になれましたが、今年のおわりにはクラスメートといっしょに日本へ行くつもりです。ほかの生徒たちもいろんな国へ旅をすることによって人間同士の理解を深めることができればいいな、と思います。わたしが日本の一員として育ったように、みんなも他の国の一員と感じながら育つことができたら戦争はなくなるかもしれません。今度日本へ行くとき、学校から1,000羽の折り鶴を持って広島に行きます。これは小さな一歩かもしれません。でも千里の道も一歩から始まるのです。
   
Hi! My name is Bettina Jane, but everyone just calls me B.J. I think my life is pretty ordinary most of the time, however, when I hear about other people's lives I realise how interesting my life has been.

      I was born in a small town in northern NSW called Coffs Harbour. When I was about 2 years old my parents decided to go to Japan for a working holiday. My Dad was lucky to get work in Matsusaka, in Mie, so we stayed in Japan for nearly five years.

      I grew up thinking I was a strange looking Japanese child! All my friends had black hair and brown eyes, but I had blonde hair and brown eyes. Sailor Moon was a very popular TV show, so I decided I was Japanese just like Sailor Moon, with blonde hair. When I was at Kindergarten (Yochien) and primary school, I spoke Japanese and did classes with all the other children. When I was at home I usually spoke English, but usually it was easier to speak Japanese. Even though Mum's Japanese was good, my Dad could not understand very much so sometimes it was very frustrating. It was harder for my younger sister when she learnt to talk, as she went to day care (Hoikuen) and spoke Japanese naturally. It all seemed normal to me at the time, but now I see that it was a very strange situation.

      When we returned to Australia it was a new country for me. I did not remember living in Australia when I was little, so everything was different. No one spoke Japanese, and the study at school was difficult because it was all in English. I was often very homesick for Japan and my friends.

      I went to a small school about 4.5 km from our farm. There were only 16 students in the whole school. It reminded me of a show I had seen in Japan, called "Little House on the Prairie." My teacher was very good and worked with me to help me build my English skills. I had the same teacher for 4 years, from grade 3 to grade 6.

      Now I am in year 11 at high school. I study Japanese with my Mum as my teacher. My high school is also very small, with only 105 students from grade 5 to year 11. In Australia junior high and senior high are usually in the same school. There are 14 students in year 11.

      Now I am comfortable living in Australia, although I hope to return to Japan later this year with some other students from my school. I wish that other students could travel and see different countries so that people would understand each other. Perhaps if people grew up feeling part of another country, as I feel part of Japan, then the wars would cease. When we go to Japan this year we will take 1000 cranes to Hiroshima from our school. It is a small step; but a journey of a 1000 miles begins with one step.
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