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Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Zi Ning's Homestay @ 11:33
Hello! This is Zi Ning and I am here to share with you my homestay experience!
Danielle and myself were allocated to the Yamada family. Both of us were very excited when we saw that they have 3 kids at home! However I was a little worried about the communication barrier as I only knew how to speak a few sentences of Japanese.
However, we came to know that Mrs Yamada actually knows how to speak Chinese as she was born in Hong Kong, English as she had studied in Canada, and Japanese after coming to Japan for a work attachment before she settled in Japan!
Our first group selfie!
Other than Danielle and I, there is another Canadian guy called Andrew. He also happened to be in a homestay programme with the Yamada family. We were both super glad that he is with the family too as we were able to communicate in English, and it is also very nice to make a new friend from another country while we are all in a foreign country.
After they picked us up from the school, we went to visit a soy sauce factory! Unfortunately, the soy sauce factory was closed. So instead, they showed us a video on how soy sauce is being manufactured.
Soy sauce ice cream
Picture taken by Andrew, our unofficial cameraman.
Afterwards, we went home to rest for a while, played Jenga with the kids, and then met Mr Yamada who just came back from work!
As Mrs Yamada had to accompany their eldest daughter to her ballet lesson, Mr Yamada brought us to their favorite spot to watch the sunset.
I complained non-stop while we were climbing to the top of the cliff, but I did not regret it as view up there was breathtaking!
We then headed home for dinner. While we were waiting for dinner to be ready, we taught the kids some of the Singaporean games we played while we were growing up. That picture shows the kids playing the Scissors, paper, stone game.
I also captured a cute moment when Mr Yamada was closely supervising his son while he uses the knife.
We then enjoyed a very filling dinner prepared by Mrs Yamada.
Picture taken on their rooftop. Their house is actually located right beside the sea!
As we had too much for dinner, we all decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. We found out that their house is very close to Daishin Inn, which is the Inn that we were staying in for the previous 3 nights too!
The night walk is also my favorite part of the homestay because I really enjoyed their company. I really like the weather there as well, as I was able to walk for a long period time without feeling warm and sweaty.
This picture was taken seconds before Danielle shouted at me because I was laughing at her for having to remove her shoes for the 10th time that day. ):
Random tip: Wear slip-on shoes when you are in Japan because for most of the places you are visiting, such as temples etc., you will be required to take off your shoes before you enter!
We then tucked in and had a contended night of sleep!
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Our second day group selfie!
We went back to view the sea and it was drizzling because a typhoon was approaching that night.
And I think this little guy really liked me because he kept holding on to my hands.
What's up? Spiders! Everywhere! :O
We then visited the Inubōsaki Lighthouse, where we had to climb up a hundred steps before we reached the top.
We also regretted wearing our dress and skirt as the wind was crazy up there! But again, we managed to get an entire view of the sea and Choshi, which was really cool.
Afterwards, we went to AEON to do a little shopping before we headed back to school.
We then shared our last dinner together and had a teary farewell.
This is the first homestay I have been a part of and it is fascinating to see how other family function and their way of living. Even though it was only for a night, I learnt and created a lot of memories with the Yamada family. :)
This concludes my 2 days of homestay.
