Home Stay

Home stay
Once again we packed our suitcases so that everything except our weekend bag could be sent back to Tokyo. Today was the day that many of us felt both anxious and excited about. We were off to meet our host family and spent the night with them. As we arrived in the meeting room, all of the families were seated on one side of the room and check us out as we walked in. They must have had photos of us because as we walked in, they seemed to recognize us. After a formal introduction each of us was matched with our family. I was staying with the Kondo family, a 35 year old couple and a 6-year-old son. We both were excited to finally meet and head out. The father spoke some English so we were able to communicate somewhat with the help of our dictionaries. The weather forecast today warned us of a typhoon in the evening and we were already witnessing the heavy rains.

I headed back to their apartment. I soon realized that all of the rules I had read about and all the worries I had about messing up were uncalled for. Other than taking off their shoes (which is what I do anyway) they didn’t use slippers or special “toilet” slippers in their home. We headed off to the grocery store to get things for dinner. The place was very crowed and I was surprised at how the little boy would wander away with the cart and the parents didn’t seem to worry. I on the other hand, was constantly worrying that he would get lost and tried to follow him without losing site of the parents (I didn’t want to get lost myself!) Once we got what we needed we headed back and I had my first Japanese cooking lesson. Because of the heavy rains I spent the rest of the day indoors trying to communicate with the parents and playing with their son who was really interested in trains, cars and maps. They opened the gifts I had brought and were excited about the books on Philadelphia. I also showed them photos, which I tried to explain in very simple English.

The time I had been dreading finally came in the evening when the father asked me if I wanted to take a bath. I had worried about this for weeks now and pondered over the procedure and how it would all work out. I knew that usually the guest bathed first and then the father and the rest of the family, all using the same bath water. I was thrilled when the father then said that I could go anytime and take a bath or a shower, which ever I preferred. I immediately answered that I would take a shower and would go last. This was going much easier that I had expected.


The next morning the father left for work at 4 am and we woke up at around 7am. The mother had prepared a beautiful breakfast of rice, salmon, miso soup, salad and eggs. The rain had cleared and it was another gorgeous day. There was a big festival going on in Inagi, so we got ready to go to town. A friend and her two sons came over to go with us to town. The festival was made up with numerous musical performances, food booths and a huge flea market. It was a lot of fun walking around and checking out the different things. I saw many of my friends who were there with their families and exchanged a quick hi and “how are you making out?” A lot of people were in the same situation trying to communicate while others had families who were English teachers and quite fluent. The time passed by quickly and we soon headed back home to get ready to drop me off at the community center. We took a few more pictures and headed back. As we said goodbye the mother had tears in her eyes and I thanked her for everything and promised to write. As we boarded the bus we waved back to the families that sent us of. (Waving is a big deal here; every time you leave a place your host walks you outside and waves until you are out of site)