Sunday, November 18, 2007

"Friends Abroad"



We joined a really fun group called "Friends Abroad".  Students come from the mainland of Japan to learn about Okinawa and for one day come spend the day with an American family to learn about American culture.  We have had them come 2 times now and have had a great time.  The first time we had the 2 girls above, Haruka and Saori.  We took them to eat at Chili's, shopping at the BX, played board games and made cookies.  We had a fun time and they loved Tayson.  The 2nd time we had the boys, Ryu, Hiroyuki and Nobuyuki.  This time we knew a little bit more of what to expect and had even a better time.  We took them to see the jets, shopping at the BX, played video games, made hamburgers, went to the park and taught them how to play football, miniature golfing and went to TCBY for ice cream.  It was such a great day and by the end we were sad to see them go.  The kids spoke fairly good English.  Occasionally we had communication issues, but for the most part we figured it out.  (No thanks to me, my Japanese is extremely limited)  The boys loved Tayson and by the end of the day were calling him crazy boy because he would do crazy stuff to make them laugh.  They actually warmed up enough to us to give us hugs goodbye (very huge breakthrough for Japanese people because they don't show public display of affection).  We have signed up several more times to have kids come because it's such a good experience.  (Plus they pay us which is why we can take them out to do activities)

1 comment:

Brynn said...

That is so cool Kara! What a great experience for all of you. I am jealous!