When I was in Grade 6, primary school, my mother and I went on a tour of Japan. It was the first time I have ever travelled overseas.

On the summer trip to the island nation, I got a taste of the Ginza, Tokyo, admired the spotted deer, and had a heavenly time at Disneyland. What impressed me most, however, was a stewardess on the flight back to China.

I was seated comfortably on board. An air hostess, pushing a trolley in front of her, came over down the aisle, to each and every passenger, me included, inquiring patiently about refreshments. She was doing her job as usual, but her smile appealed immensely to me. I found myself being so much carried away by the way she was that I could not take my eyes off her. A Japanese national, she was speaking English to make herself understood. At the time my English was limited. Although I had trouble following her speech well, her gentle demeanour and melodious tone held me spellbound.

A few brief exchanges on, I was infected by the stewardess’s sweetness and light. I decided to pen a note of thanks to her in English. My language ability rather inadequate then, assisted by some fellow passengers, I got the note finished. I went up and presented it to the stewardess with both hands to show my appreciation of her excellent service. In the message, I expressed my wish that she could give me a reply.

To my amazement, she did write back, in a delicate hand. In the short letter handwritten on airline stationery, she revealed that it was her first work trip to Wuhan, adding that she was planning to study Chinese in China. She pasted some cute stickers on the airline stationery. In addition to the slip of paper, a souvenir of her airline, ANA, was gifted to me.

Come the time to disembark, I went up to the front of the cabin, where I gave the angelic airhostess a warm bear hug.

Still kept in a drawer back at home, the precious memorabilia—the note and the souvenir— are strongly reminiscent of the elegant Japanese stewardess. I am only one of her thousands of passengers, but she is one of a kind to me

The encounter with the stewardess, through which I felt warmth between fellow humans whatever their nationalities, has inspired me to learn the lingua franca well.

It is my sincere hope that I will be able to come across the Japanese stewardess again sometime in the future.