The Background

For those who don't know, we've been to Japan before. My brother has studied Japanese and visited several times before (he currently lives southwest of us, but it's a bit far), and we had the fortune to fly out to visit him in 2006. We loved it so much that we returned less than a year later to the Kansai region of Japan - pretty much in the center of the country. We stayed mainly in Kyoto, but visited Osaka, Hiroshima, and Tokyo also.

At the end of the summer of 2007, we had a friend whose mom was the local coordinator for a foreign exchange student program. They were getting desperate to find a few final hosts parents, with less than a month until the students were to arrive. Pretty much on a whim, we applied, even though we were only 24 and 25 at the time. I think Angela casually mentioned we'd love a Japanese student. She probably did..

We were fortunate to be chosen immediately, and that our student, Yua, would arrive in …..(drumroll please)……. TWO WEEKS. Quite a shock and rush to be prepared. But it all worked out, and Yua was soon a part of our family. She attended the local high school, and we tried our best to cook and care for her, and expose her to American culture. She was already fluent in English, and even her classmates didn't know she was an exchange student! The school year went quickly, and the girl who turned 16 shortly after arriving in our home was soon "graduating" and on her way back to Japan.

We kept in touch afterwards, and were fortunate to have the opportunity to return this year, with our three little ones in tow. Her family runs two international schools, with a third opening officially next month. We will both end up teachers in various capacities, and our kids will all attend. The school immerses the children in both English and Japanese, so they will likely pick up Japanese quicker than we could ever hope to!