Greetings from Omura! Imagine blue skies, palm trees, native flowers … the definition of utsukushii (beautiful). Omura was not only beautiful from the outside, but also on the inside. Its inner beauty was revealed by the smiles, kindness, and my wonderful host family!
During this WCI – Japan tour I have been blessed with great host families. I find that as we share our respective cultures, we discover how similar we really are. My (Yamamoto) family in Omura was awesome! They were so welcoming and natural, I was surprised that it was their first experience as a host family. From the first day I was encouraged to call my Okaasan and Otoosan ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’ and was welcomed as one of their own. The first night I remember leaving my toothbrush in a case to the side, and finding it in our family toothbrush holder in the morning – what a nice surprise! I remember enjoying each day as we shared stories, jokes, conversations, drawings … we had so much fun as a family!
The day before last was Arigato Evento and ours was extra special because it was my Mama’s birthday! During our show, my family went on stage for a family interview. Then, it was my turn to give my thank-you speech. Despite my efforts to maintain composure, I was overcome by emotion and tears smoothed my cheeks. After our show, Mama was invited on stage and we sang ‘happy birthday.’ We got emotional again and it was so perfect. Our hearts were melting with joy and our eyes showed it. I gave my Okaasan orange Gabelas (her favourite!), lilies, and carnations (my favourite!) … I am so thankful that I got to become part of such a wonderful family. I will always remember our fun memories. Thank you Yamamoto family! See you again soon.
Grace Cornejo (Canada)
Host family days are always interesting. Most of the time, the families are really excited and have extravagant plans to show you the most famous sites of the area, like a castle or amusement park. On occasion, you will just want to spend some quality time at home with the family, playing video games, watching a movie, or just hanging out. All family are different and such, all host family days are unique.
Even though I have experienced quite a few host family days in my time with World Campus – Japan, I am still surprised by the variety. In Toyota city, my host mother, Masako (Princess!), offered a rather unique experience for me on host family day. She is actually studying Mandarin, so in the morning I sat in on her class. Although I am also studying Chinese, I never expected to be in a Chinese class taught completely in Japanese in Japan. It was just so odd and unexpected but that is also what makes it so enjoyable and unforgettable. The randomness of it all continues to amaze me.
Guang Yeung (USA/China)
This was my third time as a host family for World Campus – Japan. Their visit here in Abiko was 10 days and the time spent with them passed by very quickly.
I learned lots of things throughout this program even though it was my third time. What the members of WCI left for us was “Kizuna”, or a meaningful bond. It is also an original song written for WCI, which is sang by all the members.
After seeing off the bus which members were on, the host families in Abiko were still there, not wanting to leave. Later on, many host families started to say to each other “let’s meet again!”, “let’s set a time to discuss our feedback of this program”, “please come and visit my house!” and so on. We had a great time with the WCI members but we also had a chance to get to know other host families. And this was a valuable as well as meaningful opportunity for me.
Because of this program, I would like to reconsider my perception of my city again. I believe I can find something new in this city, and I am so excited now.
Takeshi Tsubata (Abiko host family)
Interacting with host families is always a unique and different experience. This is my third time traveling with World Campus – Japan, but I have no procedure on how to deal with new host families. You have to feel your way every time. I have experienced many fun families, we are always very nice and polite to each other. We have a great week together, and you we leave with new impulses and a cool new view on the Japanese and world culture.
Sometimes though, your family seems to match your personality better than other times. One of my favorite English words is “awesome”. I love animals. I love music. My sense of humor is usually hard to understand.
During my stay in Uda city, I was introduced to the Ensatsu family. The procedure on finding host families was to look for a certain item that would be in one of many boxes. Mine was a dog collar. At once I got a vague hope that there might be a dog in my coming family.
When I finally got home with them it turns out they have 4 dogs and 5 cats. The amount of joy that met me every time I entered the house from the animals was great. The family itself too was equally cheerful at all times. My host father’s name was “Osamu”, which sounds just like “awesome”.-a word the whole family immediately caught on to.
They bravely tried my Norwegian cooking, which usually comes with some skepticism.
On host family day they took me to the ninja village in Ueda, a day I know I’ll never forget. They helped me in every way they could when I needed to go see the dentist.
The last night, they even played some songs for me. I played and sang some songs I liked in return, and they listened with great interest. They even made amazing drawings in my “host family book”, that I know I will cherish forever.
It’s a funny thing about likes and dislikes. If there’s something you dislike it’s easy to put your finger on it. But when you really like something, it usually becomes part of you without you noticing at once. All of a sudden, our time together was almost over. I found myself really not wanting to leave.
And now that I had to leave, I spend a lot of time thinking about how I want to live my life when I come back home. It’s amazing how much joy you can bring to a family just with words, simple jokes, and a smile.
I am so thankful I get to spend time with all of you; Masako, Osamu, Masumi, Akari, Minori and Eri. I will never forget your kindness, honesty and great sense of adventure and humor. To me, those are all the tools you need to be a great world citizen.
And I know leaving the house is a challenge with 9 animals to take care of. But if the opportunity to come to Norway should arise, my door is always open. And I will definitely be back in Uda to see them.
The bond that is created in only one week is amazing.
(Henning, Norway)
This was the third time for us to host for WCI. Each time, we look forward to encountering young adults from various countries around the globe, and this has become one of our fun annual events. This is because by being a host family, we gain many things that could not be learned by being abroad for business or as a tourist. It is created through meeting and living with a new family member from another country and culture. We look forward to discussing and feeling our life styles, cultures and ways of thinking in various daily life situations.
This summer, my eight year old daughter started studying English at her own will. This was probably another result of our encounter with WCI and becoming a host family. Although we support WCI as a host family, I always feel that we gain even more from all of you from WCI.
This time, Christine, a Korean American came to our household. As she is majoring in Japanese at her college, she spoke great Japanese to us. Since she has a lot of interest in the Japanese language and culture, we discussed many and various things everyday. I think that this time was also an important one for us to look back on our own country. Our time spent with Christine will continue to be our family treasure.
We hope that WCI will continue on with evermore richened activities. We also look forward to gaining family members all over the world. A final, big thank you to World Campus International!
(Yasuhiro Takahashi, Toride City)
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World Campus International, Inc.
Dai 2 Ebisu Heights #101
4-17-8 Ebisu
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
150-0013
Japan
Contact Us in Japanese:
+81 3 3473 1120
Fax: +81 3 5475 5842
hyasui@worldcampus.org
Contact Us in English:
+1 303 495-2078
Toll free USA / Canada:
+1 866 595-6323
Fax: +1 303 495-2069
yhufford@worldcampus.org
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