This youtube video shows, WCI Norwegian alumnus, Henning Rodtwitt teaching sign language to the LOC members and host families as a part of the community event in Suita city, Osaka. During this event we also had great messages from past WCI participants expressing their appreciation and love for Suita. World Campus-Japan is not just a 5 session program! There is always WCI preparation and events going on all year round! Check this out and hope to see you in Japan!
Celiana Dolovitz Meneses (Venezuela):
World Campus – Japan has been an amazing experience for me because it has giving me the chance, in two years, to experience 4 different families.
A family of a hard working LOC who happens to be the mom of one of my life time best friends Yui. What an amazing chance to get to know her family.
Another hard working and super Host mom, who has a huge list of host kids all around the world and a husband that it is truly a dad for I am sure all of us who have been part of their family.
A family of hikers and mountain climbers that gave me not only cooking classes but also tips to go up Mount Fuji! ~ Grandpa greeted me everyday with a few words in Spanish and mom who accepted me after having many doubts taught me sign language… priceless.
Finally, a family of 3 generations of girls that included a new born baby. I was part of the family picture, a memory i will never forget! I now have a sister for life, thanks Aya and your family. Thanks to all for giving me your smiles, a place to sleep and most important, your trust! I learned a lot in each and everyone of your homes!
Love you all!
Ellery Oosterberg (The Netherlands):
大阪は一番 Is written on one of my Facebook profile photos. However that is how I feel after visiting Japan last summer. Even though Osaka is a big city it still has the warmth hand of a smaller town. I lost count of how many times I went to Nanba or Umeda, so much do I love the city.
It is also to my great Host family from Suita that I fell in love with Osaka. They are the ones who showed me around Osaka and her great secret spots. And to be really honest I think it says something that I went back to Osaka during my 2 breaks.
As for this message, which is written in the cold weather of the Netherlands, it is a short one however I will return to Osaka next year to show my appreciation to Osaka even more!
I love you all and I miss you all! And also the best Christmas wishes to everyone!
Best greetings ,
Ellery Oosterberg
Iris Spruit (The Netherlands):
Hello!
Thank you all for the great time we had in Suita. We did some fun activities and although it was really hot, I enjoyed it. Not only the activities we did in Suita but also my host family made my time in Suita a great time. They were really nice to me and we did a lot of fun things. I miss them and I would love to come back to Suita and see them again. I really feel like I’m part of their family.
I hope we’ll meet again someday!
Iris
Paulina Meza (Mexico):
I send lots of love to my host family in Suita! I enjoyed my stay very much, and everyone made me feel welcome. Thank you for having me over during the summer! I hope to see everyone again, thank you also for your effort. I really appreciate it and will never forget my time in Suita! Best vibes!
Today we went to the Toyota factory. Although it was short, and we only got to see a small part of the factory, it was very impressive. The most amazing thing we saw was a line of robots that all moved at the same time and burned pieces of the car together. I felt as if I were in a science fiction movie. After that we went to the Toyota museum. It also looked a little futuristic. We saw a robot that had lungs and could play trumpet by itself, and many other cool things.
We had lunch all together in a Chinese restaurant – it was good! In the afternoon, the participants either had a half “personal day” or a half “host family day”. Together with Dieter (Belgium) and Maria (Norway) we went to the Osukannon shopping street in Nagoya. We visited a temple, and after on we went to a Neko café and a maid café. A Neko café is a café where you can pet cats and just relax. It was very calming, but we had the most fun in the maid café. A maid café is a place where you are served by girls in cute maid costumes. We got to eat delicious cakes, and we had the time of our lives – it was a great experience! The maids drew pretty drawings on our plates with chocolate and strawberry sauce. I recommend everyone to visit a maid café at least once – you won’t regret it!
The ten-day-long program finished so quickly in Abiko. Today our Toyota program starts. After say good-bye to the tough Abiko people, we were driven by bus for 7.5 hours, and then we arrived at Toyota, Aichi prefecture. After the greetings by the LOC and Hiro-san, the matching started. However, this city’s matching was carried out by a game. Everyone took off their name tags, and we started the game without introducing ourselves. The first game was a “Leader Jyan-ken” – Rock, paper, scissors. Of course, the normal version isn’t fun enough, so each movement was some feature connected to Toyota City and the surrounding cities. The movements were “car”, “maple leaf”, “canoe” and “peach”. We were taught those movements, and if the movement we did was the same as the leader – the person in the middle of the circle – did, the person was out of the game, and the final person left was the winner. Next game was “数合わせゲーム”. We danced to music, and after that a person called a number from 1 to 10 in that person’s language. We made a small circle according to the called number, and if in the group there was a host family and the person they were going to host, happily the matching was a success. The host families already had some information, so to check if they had found their person, they asked us some questions. Some people meet quickly, however was I one of the last four people. Then a host family called some information, and I could finally meet them. The five days we’re going to spend in this city is too short, but I hope we can enjoy every single day as good conclusion to World Campus International 2012.
Today was a great experience! We were given the opportunity to help out the community by setting up the Kappa matsuri (kappa festival) that was held that day. In the morning we pulled our half-awake bodies together and set up a big amount of bamboo candles, including the ones that we made earlier this week. This took a fair amount of time, as we decorated a path that would be crossed by about 10.000 people that day. Although we were exhausted after clearing the job, the result of our work that would become visible by nightfall, was totally worth it. When it was time for lunch, we joined in with the locals and fished for our soumen (noodles) that came floating by on a 60m long bamboo structure. Those who lacked the dexterity to fill their stomachs with soumen were saved by the LOC with McDonalds meals. With our bodies reenergized, we joined the Kappa dance parade for which we learned the dance earlier this week. Some of us were dressed up as Kappas or some other funny creature and others were holding their country’s flag. It was entertaining to see thousands of local people react on a group of foreigners like ourselves, dancing one of their traditional dances. I’m very happy that I got this rare opportunity to be so involved with local culture. After the parade, people gathered at a central area in the park where food and drinks were sold and soon people started dancing and singing, giving it a real local festival feeling. The day ended with an amazing fireworks show, which was the cherry on the pie that I would love to re-eat someday.
Finally, Arigato event! I might have been a little tired in the morning, because I forgot to bring my “show cloths” at my host family. But my host father, Shigeru-san, brought it and I was saved. I did not have any problem in rehearsal, but I started to get nervous when I saw a big audience, and I made a mistake while dancing. However, I could say to myself “Daijobu” when I found Shigeru-otosan wearing green T-shirt in the audience. Though it was exhausting day, everybody put a great energy and had so much fun together.
