Sister

There’s this joke with my friends and family that originated in undergrad that I have a tattoo on my forehead that says “Yes, please come talk to me.”

Somehow, whenever we were at parties at Ohio State, we noticed that interesting individuals would find me at parties and come to talk to me. 

I was usually too polite to shut these conversations down even though they sometimes made me uncomfortable. 

On occasion, I’d snag one of my guy roommates who was also at the party to pretend to be my boyfriend and use them as a decoy to turn away these awkward interactions. (Thank you Alex!) 

Now, as an adult, I’ve gained confidence and actually have come to love and appreciate these types of interactions. 

I’ve also realized that it’s in my design to connect with people. 

As an Human Design line 4, I’m here to people. 

It’s nothing to be out and about at the grocery store or at work or really anywhere and people just talk to me. 

It’s also a hereditary thing. 

To the point where my dad usually chuckles when he sees my mom has started talking to someone and he just walks away to continue the shopping. 

The thing I learned in Japan was that my tattoo translated across languages. 

We made a last minute decision to go to Tokyo Disney at the very end of our trip. 

We’ve been to Disney World in Orlando several times, including doing the Behind the Scenes tour the last time we were there, so we were excited to see how the park in Japan stacked up against this one in the US. 

Nick and I were lining up for the night parade and trying to find a solid spot. 

I’d read online that the porch area outside of the Country Bear Jamboree was an ideal spot (the experience that was that show was also a whole other story in itself ) so we made our way to that part of the park. 

As we were realizing that everyone sits down on the ground to watch the parades at this Disney location, I was hesitating a bit as I didn’t love the idea of sitting on the asphalt in my cream colored skirt. 

A cast member noticed this and pointed for us to come sit on the front ledge of the porch.

She helped us understand that we could either sit there or stand there in very broken English and a little bit of Interpretive Dance, as Nick likes to call it, as she demonstrated sitting and standing, making us both smile.

We thanked her and took these fabulous seats. 

A few minutes later, I noticed that she had a flashlight out and was shining it on the ground to show something to some other guests and a cast member. 

I honestly thought they had dropped something and were looking to find it and I carried on being in amazement with the fact that they sat on the ground for these parades to be sure everyone could see. 

I have a wonderful Instagram post from a previous Disney experience about a gentleman in the US who had no regard for the fact that I couldn’t see ANYTHING while he stood directly in front of me during the fireworks show for a comparison of cultures there. 

A few minutes later, the cast member with the flashlight made eye contact with me and waved me over to look at something on the ground. 

“Secret Mickey” she said as she pointed to a small Mickey in the wood grain of the porch. 

“Oh my gosh!” I said, realizing that this was what she was showing the other guests earlier. “Are there more here?”

“Inside” she said, pointing to the building housing the Country Bear Jamboree. 

“How many?” I asked.

Pausing to think either about the number or about how to say it in English she responded “100!” smiling broadly.

“Whoa! Do you know where they all are?” I asked her.

“Oh no!” she said, laughing.

“How long have you worked here?” I asked, hoping to continue out conversation.

Pausing for another moment, she said “5 years.”

“Have you always worked in this part of the park?” I asked.

I’m always so curious about the inner workings of Disney and I know a lot of the cast members love to talk about their experiences at the park.

She looked very puzzled and shook her head saying “Only little English, sorry!” indicating that she didn’t understand my question.

“No problem!” I responded, just happy that we had made it this far in our conversation and built this small connection.

You see, I had been itching to talk to people the entire time I was there but was a little nervous about the language barrier so I had held back. 

I love talking to people while were out, especially in other countries, but I try to do so in very respectful ways. 

I’m not just going to run up to you out of the blue and start asking you about your life story but if the opportunity presents itself for me to compliment your nail polish color or outfit or we can make eye contact and both bond over whatever is happening in that situation, I’m probably in. 

She walked away after our interaction and I assumed she actually had to go do her job and that was okay, I was just happy we were able to chat for a few minutes and I realized that my tattoo on my forehead had translated language barriers. 

Back to waiting for the parade to start as Nicholas lamented that he hadn’t grabbed a beer ahead of this parade and we questioned if the other Japanese guests with the giant turkey legs just assumed that was what Americans ate on the regular. 

A few minutes later, the same cast member comes back with a small handheld device with a screen. 

She sat down next to me and I saw on the screen that it said “I went and borrowed this because I wanted to be able to talk to my sister properly.”

The word “sister” caught my attention and genuinely made my heart smile. 

I’m not sure if that’s a common thing in the Japanese culture to call people sister but honestly, in that moment, I felt so connected to this woman even tho we could barely speak the same language. 

That was my absolute favorite part. 

Here we are, 2 people from 2 very different walks of life, cultures and even countries, just trying to understand each other. 

Trying to be patient and kind to one another through smiling, over emphasized gestures and this tiny little tool that allowed us to speak into it and cross through all of those perceived barriers. 

We chatted back and forth for a few minutes as she shared more about her job at Disney and she gave us several recommendations for the best places in the park to watch the firework show that would happen in about an hour. 

One of them including a location where “you’d feel like you were watching them from a tropical island.”

She was very excited to tell us about that one.

I thanked her so much for speaking with me and I watched that parade with such happiness after that interaction. 

“The funny thing about is that you probably just made her night. She’s going to go home and tell her family that she was able to have a conversation with an American tonight and she made your night too.” Nicholas commented. 

I’ve cried during pretty much every Disney firework show or parade that I’ve seen and I stayed on brand with this one, tearing up as I watched the lit up floats go by. 

The only difference this time was that I was reflecting on this beautiful moment of two humans determined to rise above the narrative of division our society puts upon us to find true connection and understand one another.