00:01
Hello everybody, welcome to our podcast episode 3.I am Yusuke.
And I am Sandra.
And today we are going to talk about
How we met
13 years ago.
Oh my god, makes me feel so old. 13 years ago.
Do you remember?
I think I remember the highlights. The highs andlows.
And probably I am going to say, oh, I don'tremember this is 13 years ago.
That is ok?
No.
Try your best.
Let's see. Let's talk about it if we have incommon.
Maybe we have different memories.
Let's go back 13 years ago. Let's time travel.
Ok. Then, maybe I was earlier, so I will tellfirst.
I was a university student.
And just finished the third grade.
And I really wanted to go abroad to learn English.
And also play football.
And my friend was already there.
And then he told me, hey, you can actually earnmoney a bit.
I am like, really?
And then I went there and then I joined the teamand also went to the language school.
And then I studied really bad.
But then after 6 months, I was pretty good.
But why did you choose that exact language school?
Do you remember?
I don't remember.
But I had an agent.
And it was a package deal.
So he prepared homestay and language school andalso the soccer team.
Wow. All in one.
Yeah.
I mean, I still needed to do the test for thesoccer team.
But he gave me opportunity.
And then I met you somewhere sometime in thelanguage school.
Yeah.
What about you?
I finished my apprenticeship as a nurse.
And at that time, like 13 years ago, I didn'treally learn English that well.
I learned in junior high school.
But we didn't learn in apprenticeship.
And I really wanted to improve it.
So my plan was to go to the U.S. to learn English.
But then my cousin was like, wait, wait, wait,wait, wait.
You're not 21. You can't have fun in the U.S.
You should go to Australia.
Because I can't drink alcohol.
So alcohol was the reason that you went toAustralia?
Yes. 13 years ago, yes.
And then I told her, for me, it's important that Ireally learn English.
So I want to have a school with not a lot of Swisspeople.
So I really have to learn to speak the language.
03:01
And then she recommended me the school that Yusukewent to,
which I didn't know at that time.
And there are a lot of Asians?
No, I think it was a really good mix, don't youthink?
Like all the nations.
I think so, yeah.
Yeah.
So I went there and started pretty low level aswell,
like Yusuke, even lower, I think.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Wait, we needed to say where we went.
Oh, yeah, we went to Perth, Australia.
The school name was PICE.
Perth International Centre of English orsomething.
CE.
Yeah, Centre.
PICE.
Whatever.
So what was your first memory of me?
Or when did you see me?
I think I saw you in the school and I was like,
Oh, she's hot.
And I don't know how I met you,
but I just thought you're pretty.
Thank you.
And then I accidentally found that we have acommon friend.
And then I was like,
Oh, yeah, maybe if I hang out with this commonfriend,
then maybe I can see you.
That was the first move.
Yeah, and I first noticed him at the streetfestival
because my common friends that he had, I think,invited him.
And then a bunch of my friends went to the streetfestival.
And I just remember that we were all sitting onthe ground
and Yusuke was standing in the back looking at us.
And I thought, that's a bit unusual.
It was a bit weird.
And then I just remember the next day
I was like entering the school or something
and I'm a really friendly girl.
Like I'm just nice, I think.
And then I saw him and I say hi to him
because I saw him the day before.
So I greet him.
And I think that for him it was a sign.
Oh, she likes me.
She's interested.
And then I think you added me on Facebook, right?
I don't know. Did we have Facebook?
Yeah, and then we started texting.
We didn't have Instagram at the time.
No, no, we had Facebook.
And I think you asked me to have a coffee withyou.
And then what happened?
No, I think first I asked you to go out together.
Somewhere like have a drink.
And then you said no.
And then I was like, okay, what about dinner?
Because maybe alcohol was kind of like next step.
06:01
So maybe eat first.
And then you said no.
And then I think I'm pretty sure I asked like fivetimes at least.
I always said no.
Because you know, I went to Perth.
And I didn't want to have a relationship.
I didn't want to have a long distance relationshiplater on.
So I was like, no, I don't want to fall in love.
I just don't want to have any guy.
But why do you already think about falling inlove?
You're already falling in love, no?
No, no, I just don't want to have like, no, no,no.
I just didn't want to have even that chance tofall in love.
Anyways, I just remember that.
So you already thought I have chance, right?
No, I didn't.
That shows, you know, I was not weirdo.
And she wanted to greet me.
Yeah, I greeted you.
No, I just remember that I went out with myfriend.
Because every Wednesday evening there was a partyat Mustang.
Mustang bar.
Yeah, and then you could get like a big beer and ahot dog for like $5 or something.
Yeah, it was really cheap.
And then I think I was there and then somebodyforgot cup noodles.
And I think I put them on my head.
And then Yusuke was there and he thought...
He was laughing from my jokes a lot.
So I got weirder and weirder, I think.
And he kept laughing and then I was like, he'sfunny.
So being weird is the point to get the Swiss car?
No, I don't know.
But from that night I started to think, oh, maybehe's a nice guy.
Yeah, I thought so.
Oh my god.
No, no.
But yeah, I was lucky that I didn't give up.
And keep asking to do something.
And she... I was nearly gave up actually.
And then you asked me, oh, let's have a coffee.
Because you thought I'm miserable or something.
No, I started like...
We had a really like fun night at this bar.
I think we went to a club and it was really fun.
So I thought, yeah, I like him.
Mustang bar is like not planned.
Like we just accidentally saw each other, right?
Yeah.
And then I remember that we went for a coffee.
And then he told me that he really likes bananas.
So he ordered a banana cake.
And otherwise he's not really into sweets.
And then he showed me this random photo of hisdog.
Photoshopped on a giraffe.
And I was like, okay, this guy got humor.
I like it.
You liked it?
Yeah.
So his dog was a game changer to me.
Imagine like I was already doing the Photoshop atthe time 13 years ago.
09:02
And making the giraffe dog.
Yeah.
What happened after this?
After this was so easy, I think.
You brought me sushi, do you remember?
Oh, yeah.
I was working in the Japanese restaurant as akitchen hand.
And every night I got leftovers.
So I get like teriyaki chicken and sushi and...
Yeah, a lot of Japanese food.
So I never had to pay food.
And then I brought sushi the next day for you.
Yeah.
He said, Sandra, I bring lunch tomorrow.
Let's go somewhere away from the school to thepark and eat it.
I'm like, yeah, cool.
And to be honest, I had no idea about Japan.
I had no idea what kind of food they eat.
Really nothing.
And then he said sushi.
I'm like, oh, yeah, cool.
I never had sushi in my life.
And then he came with the sushi and I took a bigbite.
And I was like, that's not for me.
And I almost couldn't swallow it.
And Yusuke was shocked like, huh?
How can you not like sushi?
Yeah, it was salmon, I think.
And then another friend was there, I think.
Italian? Not yet?
Oh, we couldn't say the name.
I mean, it's OK.
Yeah, so another friend of us was there and thenhe ate the sushi.
He was really happy about it.
And I think Yusuke got me a burger or somethinginstead.
Yeah, I think so.
And then we started to hang out more regularly.
It was like October.
Oh, no.
Later October or something, no?
You just turned to 20.
Yeah, or November.
I don't know.
We had really fun memories and everything.
We went to Penguin Island.
Yeah, we did so many things.
But I always had moments where I was scared.
And I didn't want to be...
I was scared to fall in love.
I mean, I was already in love, but I was scared ofmy own feelings.
And I knew in my heart, this cannot work.
Japan and Switzerland, Sandra, stop it now beforeyou get too hurt.
And then I always pushed him away.
I'm like, no, Yusuke.
Oh, yeah.
And then you kind of avoided me.
That was the word, avoid.
I remember because we were still learning English.
Oh, yeah.
At the beginning, I think we didn't talk good, Iguess.
No.
Because there are like level 1 to 7 in thelanguage school.
And I started level 2.
I started level 3.
And then after half a year, I was like level 5 or6.
And then you were level 3 or 4.
12:01
After...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So I was a bit better.
But after a few months, you're already like muchbetter than me.
Unfair, you know.
Japanese people, you know, really difficult tolearn English.
And you guys just came.
And at the beginning, you don't speak.
But after a few months, you're like fluent.
Yeah, but look at me now with Japanese, bro.
No, but...
I think you were supposed to go back in February.
So we had like December, January.
Two and a half months-ish together.
Yeah.
And yeah, with this avoiding stuff, it was a bithard.
But overall, we had really, really good time withour friends.
And then one day, your house was on fire.
Oh, yeah.
Actually, my friends are doing barbecue.
Actually, that day, we were hanging out the wholeday.
And we decided we will have a movie night at hishouse.
And I stay over.
And then I liked him a lot.
But then he kept texting me.
And calling me and texting me.
I'm like, yo, we just spent the whole daytogether.
Give me a break.
And then I didn't pick.
And then he texted me.
Sandra, I'm very sorry to inform you that my houseburned down.
And we can't have the movie night.
And I was like, what?
And I immediately like ran, like took the bus andeverything.
And I went to his house.
And then he and his sharemates were there.
It was so sad to see.
And oh, my God.
I mean, we were like helping our roommate.
It was about to like really dangerous.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And then, I mean, if Yusuke told me if he didn'thave me, he would go home.
Because it was like three or four weeks beforeleaving Australia.
So he stayed with friends and we still got to seeeach other.
Yeah.
And that meant, oh, he's nice.
Like I thought, oh, he really does everything forme.
And we already planned to go to Thailand togetherafter a month or something.
In April, I think.
Yeah.
No, March.
I don't know.
I think March.
But what is crazy, Yusuke?
I clearly remember that before you went back toJapan, you wrote me a letter.
And in that letter, you said, no matter what, Iwill fight for us.
And I know that like I will do everything that wecan get married and blah, blah, blah, livetogether.
Yeah.
And I was like, how?
How can you say that?
Like I was too, my emotions were too much.
I don't know.
But it was nice to read that in that moment.
And then we started the long distance a little bitand went to Thailand.
15:00
I don't know how I was sure, but I just wanted totry.
But what made you sure about it?
My face?
I just said I don't know how, but.
But was it like love at first sight for you?
Kind of, I think.
But of course, I liked your face, like appearanceand everything.
But the character was critical.
I didn't expect that you were funny one.
You don't care how dirty you are to make the joke.
You are doing for the love.
Yeah.
Everything.
Yeah.
And for me, when I saw you, you had this reallycool atmosphere.
I can't describe.
At that time, you weren't kind of the type I wouldfall for.
You know what I mean?
Not to be mean, but it wasn't like.
I studied weirdo and.
No, but you had this atmosphere that was reallyunique.
And I kind of was really attracted to it.
And then.
Yeah.
And then I realized, oh, he's actually reallyfunny.
And you have a really kind heart.
And you took care of me like crazy.
And you were listening to me talking about myparents, my sisters, my friends, like everything.
And I was so nice.
I think we have kind of matched our common senseand same interest.
Yeah.
But if somebody would tell me back in Perth,Sandra.
A few years later or like a decade later, you willbe living in Tokyo with this guy.
Married and you're going to have two kids, maybeeven more.
I would be like, yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
That was how we met.
Yeah.
I like this story.
Yeah.
It was cool.
And typical overseas studying love story.
But we didn't fail.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We were kind of meant to fail, I think.
Because long distance and I wanted to finish mystudy.
You wanted to finish your study.
And back at the time, I heard many times over thiswill never work.
But we did it.
We beat all the odds.
I think.
Friends.
Around me was really supportive and reallypositive.
And they were like, oh, good job.
You got the white girl.
Nice.
Something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Then we had this long distance.
18:00
Maybe we can talk in the next podcast how wesurvived the long distance.
Yeah.
We can talk about the tips and how we did.
Let's do it.
OK.
So thank you for listening.
For how we met.
I hope it's interesting for you guys.
But this is how we met.
Yeah.
Thank you for listening.
And see you soon in the next podcast.
Yeah.
