2016 Toyokawa Sister City Visit Journal - Kristine McLaughlin

My Second Family By: Kristine McLaughlin

Before this trip to Japan, like many others, I didn't know much about Japan at all—except for (maybe?) the relatively small amount of information on Ancient Japan some of us learned about in social studies class. My knowledge on modern day Japan was also very limited. I only knew about some of their common foods, kimonos (which most people know about because some kids like to wear them on Halloween), a few Japanese words such as "ohayoo gozaimasu" (good morning), "konnichiwa" (hello), and "konbanwa" (good evening), and maybe some other small cultural details of Japan. But, as soon as I got my host family profile and started emailing them, I learned one more thing: Japanese people know much more English than we do Japanese.

The day we left San Francisco, everyone was extremely excited. Although I was tired from the many hours on the plane, once I was officially in Japan, my energy level immediately shot up. When we arrived in Nagoya, we toured the city with a guide for most of the day. Then, we went onto the most exciting part—to Toyokawa city hall to meet our host families and partner delegates. When we arrived, everyone was cheering and holding up posters. It was amazing! The slight language barrier between us wasn't any problem at all, and definitely didn't stop us from talking, laughing, and overall, having an absolutely wonderful time.

During the weekend, everyone in the Cupertino delegation spent time with their host families and the host’s partner doing different, but still extremely fun activities. On the first day of the weekend, my partner, Jaimie, and I spent the day with our non-host delegate, Reina and her family. We spent first half the day sightseeing and then moved to Reina's grandparents' little camp-out area, which was near a river. We had a special lunch of Nagashi Somen (noodles that flow down a pipe and you pick it up with your chopsticks!). We spent the evening wearing yukatas (traditional Japanese dresses worn for the summer festival), played with firecrackers, and then went to the summer festival. At the end of the day, they gifted us with a photo album of pictures from the activities we did that day, which was really sweet. The day following our extremely fun time with Reina, we spent the day with Naruka, our host delegate, and her family. In the morning, we made fake food samples that are usually displayed in restaurants, which was really fun. After that, we went shopping. I think I got a little too excited though, because I ended up spending so much money in one store that I got a member card from them, and they stamped all the price units in the card. We got home very late and l just passed out. It was truly one of the funnest days of my life.

On Monday and Tuesday, all the Cupertino delegates went to Chubu Junior High School. We got assigned homeroom classes and attended different classes, as if we were real students there. Everyone was so nice and always waved to us, said hello in English, and had smiles on their faces. I loved my homeroom class and all the new friends I made at school, who were extremely nice to Jaimie and I. Along with actual classes with the Japanese students, we also had traditional arts classes with the Cupertino delegation only. It was so fun and a truly amazing experience to meet many Japanese students around the same age as me, and to see the big difference between Japanese and American schools.

The day we had to leave Toyokawa was one of the saddest days of my life. Everyone was crying, especially the moms of all the Toyokawa delegates. Our host mom was crying while thanking us for coming, which made me so sad that I started crying as well. We all missed our host families and the delegates as soon as we got on the bus. I can't wait until September, when the Toyokawa delegates arrive in Cupertino!

After leaving Toyokawa, we went to visit Kyoto and Osaka, where we saw many impressive historic temples. I'm happy that I got to take all the items I made and received during this trip back with me because every time I look at them, I re-live the endless fun memories I made with my new friends of this unforgettable experience in Japan. For anyone who has already been a part of the Cupertino delegation or plans to in the future, at the end of the day, you'll find yourself making a special place in your heart for all the new people you meet, especially your host families. I think now I understand what it feels like to have a second family.