Traveling 1000km for $300 Sushi with friends
I just finished watching the movie Wine Country. It was an interesting and wholesome comedy movie. It’s also a nice watch for people transitioning into different phases of their life, especially with their friends.
The movie reminded me of one of my students. I have this adult student who is more than 50 years old and is the CEO of his family company. He comes for English lessons with me once or twice a week. We talk about different topics of his interest and one of these days we were talking about friendship. Then he shared with me a story about his friend group.
He has this group of friends with whom he travels to Kagoshima once or twice a year. They around 7-8 people and the main goal is to eat Sushi at this famous restaurant. For him, the trip to Kagoshima is more than 1000km. But he does all that for his friends and the famous Sushi. He told me that the Sushi restaurant is almost booked every single day of the year. So they plan their trip around the reservation of the restaurant. The Sushi restaurant serves special courses from the Chef and one of the best courses is $300. $300 for one person. I found that number crazy because I hardly spend 10$ on Sushi let alone 300$. But his group was obviously different.
At first I thought his group of friends were from high school or university. But then he told me that all these friends are his friends through business. They are basically friends made while he was an adult. This part was interesting to me too. I will be 30 in 3 years and I also think about the friendships I have been making for the past decade. I do have my close-knit group of friends from school. But the friends I have made since graduating have been a different experience. They are friendships based on common interests, the same workplace, or a friend of a friend. But I have realized that these friendships end up having more depth. Although you know your school friends longer, you became friends because you were in the same school or same class. You didn’t choose them. But when it comes to friendship as an adult, it takes a lot to trust someone as a friend. Eventually, when you do it becomes a much more fruitful and long-lasting friendship.
That is why my student, despite being a very busy person, makes time to visit and keep these new friendships strong.