Alternative to language

Six years ago, I went abroad to study English for the first time. Although I'd just stayed for a month during summer vacation, it was a big challenge to me, because I'd never been to any foreign countries and had never even gotten on a plane before. My destination was Vancouver in Canada. No transfer but I had to go there alone. I was way too excited and nervous at same time.

My host family were nice people, but I sucked at listening and speaking in English. I could say what I wanted to simply but couldn't catch what they said almost. I hesitated to ask them to repeat themselves and just pretended to understand it.
When I was in my room, disappointed with my skills, my ten-year-old host brother knocked the door.
"Let's play chess!"
Although I knew next to nothing about it, I kept him company after school since I wanted to get to know him through his favorite hobby.

It was not easy for me to make friends in language school either. How did I do? I played tennis and soccer with them on weekends. At last, we were close and did things like going on a Rocky Mountains tour together.

I realized that language is not the only tool to communicate with people. Skills such as games, sports and music can be a common language beyond the border.

That's a great realization!

Alternative to language

It was 6 years ago that I went abroad to study English for the first time. Although I only stayed for a month during my summer vacation, it was a big challenge to me because I'd never been to foreign countries, and had never even gotten on a plane before. The destination was Vancouver in Canada. The flight required no transfer, but I had to travel alone. I was way too excited and nervous at the same time.

My host family were nice people, but I sucked at listening and speaking in English. I could say what I wanted simply, but I almost couldn't catch what they said. I hesitated to ask them to repeat their words, and I just pretended to understand them.
When I was feeling disappointed at my skill and in my room, my ten-year-old host brother knocked on the door.
"Let's play chess!"
Although I knew next to nothing about it, I kept him company after school because I wanted to get along with him through his favorite hobby.

It was not easy for me to make friends in language school either. How did I do it? I played tennis and soccer with them on weekends. At last, we were close like a group that had joined a Rocky Mountains tour together.

I realized that language is not the only tool to communicate with people. Skills such as games, sports, and music can be a common language beyond the border.

-----

Hi Ryu, Everything that you have written is easy to understand. You should have no difficulty communicating with an English speaker. The only repeated error is a lack of pronouns (I, them, it).

You use some American colloquialisms, but I think that it is a good thing because they make your writing sound more personal.