When I woke up on August 18th, excitement sent chills down my back. This was the day when I would be going to my first Rotary meeting at my host club, Shirakawa Minami! (Shirakawa South.) At breakfast I found out that their Rotary meetings took place in the evening so we wouldn’t be leaving until 6pm. My host dad explained to me that it was a special meeting because it was a Welcoming Party for me and a Farewell Party for Maria, who is going to Edmonton. I was expected to give a small speech introducing myself and as soon as I finished my breakfast, I ran downstairs to get my Japanese Dictionary/Phrase Book and start working on my speech.
Just as I put the finishing touches on my speech, my host grandmother (I call her Obaa-san) came into my room and told me that her and my host grandfather (I call him Ojii-san) were going out and wanted me to come along. They took me to their little garden on the edge of town where they grew all sorts of vegetables. We dropped off Ojii-san and Obaa-san took me to Nanko Park. This was the second time that I went to Nanko Park and I was still blown away by its beauty. I was able to tour it alone and at my own pace this time as well because Obaa-san went back to her garden. As I was walking around and snapping pictures of pretty much everything, two teenage girls wearing my school’s uniform passed by me. I had a sudden urge to go up and talk to them, but I was extremely nervous because I have a slightly limited vocabulary. After a lot of self talk, I told myself to march right up to them and put the first Rotary “B” to action, “Be First”! Looking back on this, I am so thankful I took action. When I first walked up to the two girls they were giving me slightly weird looks. How surprised would you feel if a complete stranger and foreigner came right up to you? Haha. I explained to them, in Japanese, that I was an exchange student and would be attending Asahi High School. What happened next was not at all what I expected. They literally jumped up off the seat they were sitting on and started to squeal and jump up and down. They had heard an exchange student had would be coming to their school and they were super excited to meet me. Their names were Ana and Konoko and they were both 2nd years like me. (2nd year in high school is equivalent to Grade 11 in Canada.) Ana will be in my class and they both tried to convince me to join their school club. Both girls insisted we take pictures together then stop at a small ice cream shop in the park. The time we spent together went by quickly and before I knew it Obaa-san was back to pick me up. She was overjoyed to see I had made some new friends as well. I can’t wait to start school now!
6 o’clock rolled around quickly and my excitement turned into nerves. I had no idea what to expect for this Rotary meeting and I was worried I would mess up my speech or something. Shirakawa Minami’s Rotary meetings took place inside a very fancy hotel in their own separate rented out room. I was relieved to see a few familiar faces when I stepped in. Of course my exchange counselor, Kobi, was there and so were Maria and her mother. Maria and I were not the only exchange students there either. A girl named Momoko sat with us and she had just come back from her exchange in France! There were between 20-25 people at that meeting and 7 were guests (not including myself). Business was taken care of first, reverse of what it is like back at my Sponsor club in Athabasca. They also did not have one specific guest speaker. What they did, and I am not sure if this is what they always do this because this was a “special party meeting”, was invite each guest up to the front podium and ask them to give a small speech. Most of the guests quickly explained who they are, what they did for a living, and would give encouraging words to both Maria and I for our exchanges. Finally the moment had come, they invited me to stand up and give me speech. I am pretty sure I was shaking when I got up to the mic.
“Konban wa. Nihon go ga sukoshi hanasemasu. Watashi no namae was Stephanie Krulicki desu. Juroku sai desu soshite Kanada karaka mashita. Arubata-shu, Asubasuka ni sunde imasu. Watashi ga ichi nen tomaru shimasu. Arigatou gozaimasu.”
“Good evening. I can speak a little Japanese. My name is Stephanie Krulicki. I am 16 years old and I am from Canada. I live in Athabasca, Alberta. I will be staying here for one year. Thank you very much.”
My speech went smoothly and everyone applauded my effort at speaking their language.
Once business was taken care of, the meal was served! I can’t list every single thing we had because I don’t know what most were called, but the meal was very gourmet. So gourmet, they served a Japanese delicacy called sashimi. This is basically…raw fish. I was way to chicken to try some at that time, but maybe I will try sashimi later on in my exchange. Maybe. Haha. Everything else that was served was so delicious; I have really fallen in love with Japanese food.
The meeting was about 2 hrs in length and I was completely tuckered when we got home. Overall, it had been a very sugoi (good/cool) day.
The next day wasn’t as “exciting”, but I still experience a lot of new things. My obaa-san took me out for a bike ride through the streets of Shirakawa-shi. Man that was scary. The sidewalks are extremely narrow and you have to avoid other cyclists and pedestrians as well as try not to fall into the road or run into a pole, all while maintaining speed. Obaa-san led me to my high school, which will be about a 30min bike ride there and back. She made me take the lead on the way home and I was doing pretty well in going the right direction. When we were halfway home, Obaa-san told me to turn around and take us back to the school. I am very glad she acted like a sort of drill sergeant because now the route to school is fairly similar and I am more confident that I won’t get lost.
After a short rest at home, I was asked by my host grandparents to help prepare that evening’s meal. We were having Kerokke!! Kerokke is kind of like Shephard’s Pie, but it has a “shell” that is deep-fried. I have actually made it a few times back in Canada for a project in Foods class. I helped shell soft/hard? boiled eggs and mashed potatoes, Japanese style! What my obaa-san did was she cooked the potatoes first, then she was able to peel off the skin with her own hands, and then she put it in a bowl where I used this long, wooden stick to mash them. It was a lot of fun.
At dinner, I think I ate 3 of these Kerokkes and my host family was laughing so hard because they hadn’t seen me eat this much since I got here. They were sooo good and they put a good end to a good, more relaxing day.
That’s it for tonight folks! Tomorrow I am heading out for my “summer camp”/Japanese Orientation weekend, so I probably will not be able to update my blog until Monday. See you all then!
~Stephanie
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