On hearing of a German contest, a lot of people will probably think of a speech contest or a written examination, but surprisingly, the assignment of the individual event of this contest was to make posters. The theme was the culture and art of the venue, Dresden. “They required originality and artistry too, so I chose “German cakes” as the theme, and did research by visiting cake shops in Dresden and eating cakes!” says Ms. Teki.

When she was asked how she won 3rd prize, she said, “Perhaps it was because I compared German cakes with Japanese sweets. Since it was an international forum, I think they positively evaluated the way I tried to introduce my country’s culture.” As a matter of fact, before the contest, the German International Broadcasting Station produced a documentary introducing the representatives of Japan, Argentina, and South Africa. Ms. Teki was also interviewed in detail. “They filmed me wearing a yukata, on my way to a festival with some friends. I was a little bit embarrassed when they came to my university,” she laughs.
Ms. Teki started studying German language in her 3rd year of junior high school. There was no particular reason for studying it, except for the fact that she had lived in Germany for a year when she was a child. In high school, she participated in an invitational project sponsored by the German government for high school students from around the world. “I went to the Nazi concentration camp museum, and I was impressed with the way the government itself tried to communicate its negative history to everyone. The fact that there were a lot of participants from Israel and Korea also had a big impact on me,” she says. She says that she will never forget climbing Mt. Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany, with everyone else before returning to Japan.

She also encountered a lot of people during the competition. Unfortunately she did not receive an award in the team event, but she produced a 15-minute play with people from Argentina, Senegal, Korea, and Thailand. “We were the lowest class in language competence so we had a lot of communication problems, but that helped us become even closer!” she says. She also made friends with the representatives of Bulgaria and Belgium who were in the same room with her. Next summer, those who received awards in this competition will be invited to Berlin, so “I want to improve my German language by then! And someday, I want to live in Germany, while working around the world,” she says. Ms. Teki’s challenge beyond borders continues.