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授業の課題で、
ハワイでのアパート探しについて、
エッセイを書きました。
日本語に訳そうとしたのですが、
どうも不自然な日本語になってしまうので、
英文を載せさせてください。
ちなみに、これは４度目の原稿（最終原稿）で、
文法などのミスはチェック済です。
"Looking for a Place to Live in Hawaii"
I would like to write about my room hunting in Hawaii. It was like an adventure for me because I had hard time and also learned a lot. It was difficult to find a good, inexpensive living situation here in Hawaii. Moreover, I gained more confidence in English, made some good friends, and had a feeling of happiness when I finally got my own room.
The adventure started when I decided to study at HPU. I had some choices – homestay, living in the dorm, living alone – but I didn’t choose any of them. I was worried about money, so sharing an apartment was the best choice for me to save money. At the end of March, I started checking “e-Ads,” which has many rental ads on HPU Campus Pipeline. I was surprised to know that rents in Hawaii are incredible. I was often saw rents over $1,000 a month and surprised. After checking e-Ads for about a month, almost every day, and exchanging email with over ten people to ask many questions about the rooms, I finally found a living room for $350 per month including utilities. I was about to tell the owner that I would like to live there when I told my family about it. My sister said to me, “You are stupid! Whoever makes a contract without seeing rooms and roommates?” I was shocked to hear that, but she was right.
After I got to Hawaii, a real adventure started. I called a girl who had a $350 room and asked her to show me her room. It was my first experience to call someone in English I had never met. I was relieved when I heard the girl’s voice because she was very friendly. It was interesting that her impression in email, on the phone, and face-to-face were all different. In email, it seemed that she was not very good at English, but she spoke English fluently when she talked to me. She was an easy-going person from Korea. The apartment in Punchbowl was nearly as I had imagined. I liked the room, but there were two problems. I remembered the words of a Japanese girl, an HPU student, who talked to me the other day. She told me that it’s difficult to keep my private life if I stay in a living room. In her opinion, it’s not easy to stay in a living room, especially for Japanese who care about other people a lot and become tired. I also remembered my father’s words: “Security is very important. Even if you don’t have to pay much money, it’s nothing if you lose your life.” It didn’t seem that the apartment had good security.
I continued hunting for a room. I had also asked another woman to show me her room for $400 a month when I was in Japan. I called her and decided on a time to see her and her room. I was expecting that she had blond hair because her name sounded English, but she was from India and had long wavy black hair. I felt that she is a warmhearted person when I read her words in her email. When I saw her and talked to her, my first impression was confirmed. Her room in Makiki was very nice, with good security, except the fact that it was a living room. There was a bamboo screen to hide the bed space, but I was not sure if I would be able to relax there. However, I thought I would get along with the kind roommate. After thinking for about three hours, I called her and told her that I would like to stay with her. She seemed to hesitate for a short time, and then, she said that she would like to have time to think about it. She said I also would be able to see other apartments. I was wondering whether I would continue looking for a room because I was tired after about forty days room hunting.
Moreover, I had another reason for being tired. I had been staying at a youth hostel in Waikiki because I could not find a place to live and I could not afford expensive hotels. It was my first time to stay at a youth hostel, and I enjoyed meeting and talking to people from various countries all over the world there. However, there was a big problem for me. I had to share a room and a bathroom with five other women. It made me feel stressed because I had to be careful not to make noise when some of them were sleeping or not to be in the bathroom for a long time. Further more, I couldn’t feel relaxed at the room due to the lack of privacy. I was eager to find a room and leave the hostel as soon as possible.
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