Jennie

I opened the room. It was dark inside in orange light from few tall stand lamps.

I saw several bunk beds and some towels hanging from the beds. There were some cracks on the white wall. Nobody was there.

I found an empty bed. I sat on the bed. Suddenly I felt really lonely and scared. I started to cry. I regretted my choice to stay in the hostel alone. I had never stayed in a hostel with a bunch of strangers before, it really scared me. After giving myself 5th thought, I decided to call my mother in Japan and ask her if I could stay somewhere else.

I walked upstairs and asked the guy at the reception how to make an international call from here. He told me to get a prepaid call card at a small convenience store near the hostel. I thanked him and also asked him if he could keep my laptop in the reception room with him so nobody would steal it. He accepted my favor very kindly and told me not to worry.

I got a prepaid card at the store and returned to the hostel to make a phone call to my mother in Japan though it was quite late there, I really wanted to talk with her about the accommodation. I stood by the public phone in the basement and picked up a receiver. When I was looking up the number to push on the prepaid card, somebody talked to me from behind.

"Excuse me."

"Yes?" I put back the receiver on the phone. I saw a girl with a huge backpack on her back. She had very strong hazel eyes and a small forehead.

"I'm having a problem in opening the door with my key. Could you show me how to open the door?"

She pointed the room next to my room. So I took the key from her and tried to open the door. But it didn't seem to work.

"Hm, that's weird. It's not working. Maybe you should go upstairs to tell the receptionist that your key is not working."

"Yeah, I guess I have to do that..." She took down her big backpack from her shoulders and asked me to keep my eyes on her backpack while she is upstairs to talk to the receptionist.

She came back and told me that it was a wrong key. So instead of changing the key, she asked the receptionist to switch her room to my room.

"Great! ... by the way, what is your name?"

"My name is Jennie."

"Hi Jennie, my name is Mariko. Nice to meet you. Where are you from?"

"I'm from South France."

I decided to stay. Now I got a new friend here!

Jennie has worked in a hotel as a concierge in London before, so she spoke fluent British English with a touch of French accent.
She was traveling throughout the US.

Shortly after we settled our belongings in the room, we went out for a lunch. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to try the restaurant near the hostel which had a small outside terrace.

We sat in the table. She ordered pasta. I ordered Caesar salad. I couldn't believe how big the plate was and could not finish even half of the plate.

Actually, I was eating less than normal for awhile after I arrived in Chicago due to the stress from the change of environment. She kept telling me to eat more.

"You need to eat more. Probably your size is zero here. Zero means nothing!"

"Nooo! I'm considered really fat in Japan. I never felt I am skinny. I always wished if I was skinnier..."

"Oh Mariko, I got this little pot belly and my ex. boyfriend told me that this is actually sexy."

- Good to know, there is such a nice guy still exists in this world....

She told me I reminded her of her younger sister a lot and I have to be stronger. She was indeed a very strong girl.