Would you like to interact with foreign people living in your town?
The Kanoya International Exchange Association is holding a 2 day, 1 night homestay program (Wahoo Japan) for foreigners living in and around Kanoya City.
This event aims to promote lasting ties between local and foreign residents as well as increasing international understanding throughout the community.
It is the perfect opportunity to get in touch with people from other cultures.
Date
6th (Sat) and 7th (Sun) September, 2008
Schedule
- Introduction to Japanese cooking and Japanese games(500 yen per person) 10:30-15:00
- Homestay 6th (Sat) 15:00 7th (Sun) 17:00
Location
Kanoya Higashichiku Gakushu Centre
(Meet at 10:30am on the 6th)
Number of Particpants
We are looking for approximately 10 host families.
Cut-off Date for Applications
29th of August 2008
Inquiry and Registration
Event Report
Day 1:
Without even looking in her direction, they came over to me with nervous looks on their faces and said, "Um ... what should we say?". These were the first words that came out of my two sons' mouths when they met our home stay guest Diana (an ALT from New Zealand).
We had practiced some simple greetings beforehand, but when my sons actually met Diana they both froze and were too shy to say anything. Luckily Diana came over to us with a big smile on her face and greeted us with some Japanese that she had just learnt. After our initial introduction we split up into our cooking teams, made some traditional Japanese dishes and then ate lunch together as a group. Once lunch was finished we went to the main hall to learn about various Japanese games and dances.
There was a Japanese drumming demonstration and we also tried Otedama, a Japanese juggling game. The language barrier was no longer an issue and everyone had a great time.
After taking Diana back to my house and introducing her to family we went shopping at the local supermarket. My sons and Diana decided to try and find products that were made in New Zealand. Other than the Kiwifruit in the fruit section, they also found sweets and wine that were made in her homeland. I had heard that Diana liked beer so we headed to the liquor section, although it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be as I had really hard time explaining the difference between ‘beer' and ‘low-malt beer'.
After our trip to the supermarket, we took Diana to a Karate event that my eldest son was scheduled to participate in. Diana thought all of the elementary and junior high school students looked gorgeous in their Karate outfits and was especially pleased that she was able to see the students' group performance. We also took some photos with Diana in front of some Japanese folding screens (the venue also doubled as wedding centre). Once again my family and I ran into trouble when Diana asked us, "So what is the reason for this event?" The event was actually an awards ceremony, but I didn't even know the word for ‘medal' in English let alone the reason why the participants were receiving such rewards. Once again I had a difficult time explaining what was happening.
The awards ceremony finished and we decided to get some dinner at a local Tonkatsu restaurant (Diana previously told us she loved tonkatsu). We ran into problems again though, when I asked her what type of tonkatsu she would like because my Japanese/English dictionary didn't have the words for ro-su (sirloin) or hire (fillet) in it. I didn't really know what to say but for some reason I uttered, "which do you like, meat with fat or meat without fat?" to which she replied, "without fat please". I was relieved that she actually understood me! Diana ate everything on her plate including the decoration cabbage and after returning to our house and having a bath she showed us photos of her family as well as a video about New Zealand. Both of my sons were used to her by now and I heard them laughing together loudly even when I wasn't in the room.
Day 2:
Our house rule on our days off is ‘get up at whatever time you wake up' so we all had a nice sleep in. For breakfast we had white rice, miso soup and grilled fish. Diana smiled and said, "I had a good night's sleep" as she finished her meal. Once everyone was dressed and ready to go we went next door to the baby's home where I work (The baby's home is a facility that looks after children who for some reason or another can no longer live together with their parents). For most of the children this was the first time they had ever interacted with someone from overseas. However Diana's nationality or the colour of her skin didn't stop these kids from having a good time with her.
Because Diana had only just arrived in Japan we decided to take her sightseeing around Kanoya city and the Oosumi area. First we headed for Kirishimagaoka Park. Unfortunately the roses were not yet in flower so we strolled around the park slurping on rose flavoured ice cream whilst talking about the park's famous ‘Rose festival' and Japanese Hanami (cherry blossom viewing). After playing on the outdoor equipment for a while we went to Kamikawa Waterfall park in Kinko city. Diana seemed to be really happy to be surrounded by nature. We went through the back entrance past the small waterfall and then sat down at the large waterfall while soaking up the negative ions (and the splashes of water!). Diana also had fun playing with my sons in the river.
As I didn't want to make the same mistake as the previous day, I refrained from even trying to explain the difficult concept of Nagashi Soumen (flowing noodles) and instead decide that we should go back to Kanoya city for some Ramen noodles. After finishing our late lunch we took Diana back to our house for some group photos, said our goodbyes and promised that we would meet each other again.
The purpose of the Wahoo Japan event was to allow foreign residents to experience everyday life with a Japanese family and I think this is precisely what Diana experienced during the 2 days that she spent with my family.
(Host Father - Hisashi Kugawa)