My Homestay Experience

Hello all,

Today I will talk about my homestay experience during our Japan Study Tour

On Saturday, May 11, we arrived at Keiai Junior High School where we would meet our host student. Our school has tight bonds with Keiai allowing us to spend a two day cultural exchange. In March, we hosted them and met our pen pals.

Anyway back to the homestay, my host student was Yuuki. After spending a fraction of the School day with him, he took me and Shoh (Yuuki was hosting both me and Shoh) to Kokura Station where we met up with Ridge and Brady, as well as his pen pal. There, they took us to Aruaru City, which was a anime mall. There were a wide assortment to figures, mangas, animes, cosplays, and consoles that made GameStop look like nothing. After shopping for a few hours, we had to attend and perform at a banquet for us arranged by Keiai Junior Highschool, so we trekked to the hotel that hosted the banquet. There, I met me and shoh’s  host family. Even though my Japanese wasn’t the best, we were all able to communicate and share laughs.

(Photo taken by me) Tonktosu Ramen とっても美味しい (delicious)

On Sunday, Yuuki took us to the Fukuoka Science Center where we downloaded a app to make the pictures on display become realistic. When a person gets in the photo, the AR would make the picture a funny animation. An example would be falling off a giant hand. After witnessing all those illusions, they took us to lunch. Because Tonkotsu Ramen is a very popular dish in Fukuoka, they wanted us to try it. Like they described it, the broth was extremely rich and creamy とっても美味しい(very delicious.)

(Photo by me) Me, Shoh, and our homestay student

After lunch, we did a lot of much-needed omiyage shopping at Canal City Hakata and Hakata Station! I was able to buy a lot of Fukuoka snacks like menbei (rice crackers.) Shoh and I were even able to play in the arcade! We tried getting plushies from the claw machine but failed :(.

After a full day of exploring and shopping, we went to a Japanese Barbecue restaurant. The food there was really good! After dinner, we played wii games with Yuuki like Mario Kart and Taiko No Tatsujin. Even though I fell in the water multiple times in Mario Kart, we still had a lot of fun.

Overall, I enjoyed the homestay experience a lot. I am grateful for all the fun and memories we did with the family, and I am happy I was somewhat able to communicate in Japanese with them. I am also grateful that we got to experience the area in another point of view and that we can keep

 

Thoughts about Hiroshima

I Hi Edubloggers,

At this time, I wanted to write something before we actually go to the Japan Study Tour. One of the sites we will go to is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. I feel like going to sites like these and the Okinawa Peace Memorial will not only teach us how tragic it was, but remind us not to repeat the ignorant mistakes of the past.

Before writing this, I read a few articles about the experience of those fortunate to survive and tell the story. In the perspective of the  survivors, it was extremely devastating and shocking. Imagine you are walking to your school or workplace to see a brilliant flash of light and a ear-piercing explosion from the A Bomb.

Obviously, it was completely tragic because many innocent people lost their lives from the detonation of the nefarious invention, and if they didn’t lose it from the explosion, they caught radiation sickness slowly and suffered  over months or years. It is especially tragic for the interviews from the news articles because they were just teenagers awaiting a profitable future.

Photo Credit: takahito Flickr via Compfight cc

I also believe that these stories and efforts are enlightening because it rings a sense of hope and resilience since the people had to pick themselves up. Even after, japan started having a economic boom making a quick comeback. To me, Japan is like a Daruma or Okiagari-koboshi Doll. and no matter how many times you push it down, it goes back up. We as Americans can learn a lot from their dedication,

Photo Credit: Henk Binnendijk Flickr via Compfight cc

These stories and interviews (Below) have helped me by sort of knowing how lucky some people are because of a late train. It is the experience and first person perspectives that help accentuate the experience and make it even more heart wrenching and dire it was. It also gave me a small preview on the damage dealt to people.

● http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Jun/21/ln/ln05a.html
● http://www.squamishreporter.com/2015/09/13/how-sachi-survived-the-hiroshima-bo
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● http://www.squamishreporter.com/2015/09/13/how-sachi-survived-the-hiroshima-bo
mbing/#.XMi4fYpuihC