Michael- Host Families

One of my new challenges is overnight homestays with members of my Hippo Family. When I change host families in March or April, I will also be changing Hippo Families. So this is an opportunity for me to spend more time with them before I switch. I get a chance to learn more Japanese by interacting with more people and they get a chance to learn more about America. I have only completed two so far, but both of them were very different experiences.

My first one was with a young couple who had 3-year-old and 1-year-old sons. We spent our time playing with toys, going to parks, and watching movies. One of the shows we watched, Shimajiro, was a program for young Japanese kids to learn English in a simple way like Sesame Street. I was surprised by how much the 3-year-old knew! He had never really shared English in any of our Hippo Clubs, but here he was reciting the colors, numbers, and vegetables when I quized him. He knew so many words in English, but couldn't really use them in a sentence. It was almost like the opposite of me, I don't know many Japanese words, but I do know the basic sentence structure. It's one of the great challenges I have been contemplating - how do we get people to go beyond memorizing words or sentences and be able to use the language?

The second weekend, I stayed with an older (almost retired) couple. Immediately, it's evident how different the experiences could be. It was a much greater struggle to continously talk with two adults. The husband had been to the U.S. 13 times for business and we had a very interesting talk about what I needed to do if I was interested in working internationally. His perspective was that I needed to master a certain area in the foreign languages I wanted to work in. For instance, he worked with chemistry, so it was important to learn the language of chemistry in English to become a successful international businessman. While with them, I went to the Ueno Zoo and we toured the Kyu-Iwasaki-Tei Gardens where a founder of Mitsubishi used to live. It's a massive complex with a very large Western-style house and an attached Japanese-style house along with a detached Swiss-style billiard room. It was very interesting to see the history of a famous company's founder.

The Western-Style Residence of Yataro Iwasaki at Kyu-Iwasaki-Tei Gardens.

I have 2 more planned for my month or so in my current host family. They can be very interesting, but at the same time very exhausting! I hope to learn a lot.