Translated by Herbert Meck
Today we introduce you to Yoshi from Japan. Yoshi is one of our volunteers at ClubIn and told us more about himself in this interview:
How did you actually come to ClubIn?
Yoshi: I had a friend from Spain called David who worked at ClubIn. We met at a language café. Since he is very interested in Japan, my home country, he suggested at some point that we meet outside the language café – at ClubIn. That’s how I got to know ClubIn and I liked ClubIn very much.
How did you later become a volunteer at ClubIn?
Yoshi: Bianca first asked me if I would be interested in becoming a volunteer. I was often a visitor at ClubIn and thought, why not? So I became a volunteer at ClubIn.
What surprised you most about ClubIn?
Yoshi: What surprised me most about ClubIn was that all visitors are open. For example, if you are Asian, dark-skinned, Latin American, Eastern European, shy or not, it doesn’t matter, because everyone is very open, interested in other countries and able to talk to each other. To sum up: International meetings work very well at ClubIn, I find that surprising. In Japan, the society is quite uniform, 99 per cent are Japanese. So I expected that most people would be rather closed to other cultures and have little interest in learning more about other countries. But it’s not like that at ClubIn.
What moment at ClubIn will you probably remember for the rest of your life?
Yoshi: Every time I go to ClubIn I learn something new and also about other countries. I will probably always remember the workshops you do as a volunteer in ClubIn. The other day we did a workshop about the LGBTQ+ community and about communication strategies. This is very important for my life and that’s why I will always remember it.
What 3 words come to your mind about ClubIn?
Yoshi: International, Open and Friendly.
Great – thank you very much for taking the time.
Yoshi: Yes, of course!