Skip to main content

Michael- Last Day in the Office

Last Day in the Office

Today is my last day in the Institute for Language Experience, Experiment, and Exchange office here in Tokyo. It has been an amazing year and something I truly will cherish for the rest of my life. I can't believe how quickly these last few months flew by.

My major work this summer has been with the monthlong programs to and from America. It was great to have a chance to bring 4-H delegates to Japan and help them experience life with a Japanese family. Meeting these delegates and planning for they exchange was something I enjoyed so much during this year. I am so proud of everything they tried and how they challenged themselves. I'm sure it is an experience they won't easily forget.

I also got a chance to help prepare the Japanese members for the monthlong programs in America. Whether it was participating in camps, clubs, or just reviewing their paperwork, it was a chance for me to help these delegates in their own preparations. Now that they are safely into their homestay programs, I hope their anxieties have settled and that they are able to truly realize the information I tried to provide them.

I really can't believe that I am leaving Japan in 3 days. At the beginning it might not have, but now Japan definitely has a secure place in my heart.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stephanie-こんにちは!Konnichiwa! Hello!

こんにちは!Konnichiwa! Hello! My host sister Asuka and I in 小えど, Japan Hi everyone!  My name is Stephanie, but in Japan I've already been given the nickname  Su-chan  す-ちゃん    (su from Stephanie since the Japanese pronunciation is su-teh-fah-nee, and -chan is added to the end of a name when you are speaking to a younger person or a friend), so you can call me Su-chan! I am one of the five Hippo interns working in the LEX headquarters office in Tokyo this year. In addition to me, from Wisconsin, the intern team is made up of Tino from Mexico, Sakun and Ken Ken from China, and Hiu-chan from Korea. It's great to have such an international group!    Before coming to Japan I attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in fine art. During that time I also worked for Wisconsin 4-H International Programs, which is how I first learned about Hippo through the 4-H/Hippo summer and yearlong exchanges. Last summer I had the opportun...

Daniel- Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 「メリークリスマス」 (Daniel) A knock came at the door around eight in the evening, just as we were finishing eating dinner.  I yelled out, " IRANAI~~~ ", meaning "we don't need it", pretending that it was some late working door-to-door salesman. My host mom laughed and went to answer the door. She came back carrying a huge USPS box from America. Oops. Just kidding. I need that. I really need that. My parents in the US decided to surprise me for Christmas by mailing me a box of my favorite items from America. They somehow managed to pack a pair of pants, two jars almond butter, five boxes of gum, four giant chucks of  halva , and four packages of chocolate. I have no idea how my parents managed to shove all of that stuff into such a small box. But knowing my parents, there is always a way. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to receive my gift. Although my parents told me about the package beforehand, its physical presence was so overwhelming. I fe...

Stephanie- Mi papa De Mexico en Japan

Mi papa de México en Japón! This last week was exciting because I got to see Javier, my host dad from Mexico again! He's one of the coordinators of LEX México so he came to Tokyo last week for work and vacation, and it was really nice to see him. Almost two years ago, I went to México as an LEX intern for 3 months, and stayed with Javier's family in Mexico City. It was a great experience, and one of the main reasons I decided to apply for the LEX internship in Japan. I did a lot of the same things as an intern in Mexico as I do here in the office like help check documents and work with the exchange groups, and of course had the opportunity to live and work in an environment where I was always surrounded by and communicating in Spanish. Though my experiences as an LEX intern in Mexico and Japan have been different in some aspects, one of the things that has always been the same is the people. All the LEX members I have met in both Mexico and Japan have corazones grandes ...