Yesterday I finally entered my dormitory. But that also meant that I had to say goodbye to my host family, and I believe they deserve a little bit of merit.

So ever since I got to Japan, I've been living and spending my time with the Iwasa's.
 - Mother: Reiko
 - Father: Shigenori
 - 2nd son: Kenzo
 - 3rd son: Yoshiki


Now, upon arriving in Japan, I had, and still have, a lot of paper work to fill out. Even though some, and by some I mean very few, of these papers had English indications, it would have taken weeks to complete these. Without any help that is. Reiko and Shigenori both took many days off work, drove me around the city to get me to the desired places, helped me fill the paper work which made it almost effortless for me.

Reiko spent a day with me, taking me through the train system in Japan, in which one could easily get lost. She did all the work as I simply smiled and followed, pretending I knew what was going on. We shared many good discussions and she listened attentively, always smiling, and always giving me her entire attention, even though we were in a very busy situation. Not only that, but when we got home after 12 hours of non-stop activities, she immediately started making dinner even though I could tell she was as tired as I was. Did I mention that her cooking is always... SUPREME as my dad would say? Thanks to her, I didn't miss my mom's food, and I ate more at every meal than I should have.


Shigenori helped me all yesterday to get some of the things I will be needing throughout the year. This included going to many different stores to get a bike, a futon mattress and blanket, a router for the internet (his great idea) and many more things. He helped me set up my meal plan at Tokai. All of this would be considered easy could I speak the language, yet it is almost impossible to do this in English. Shigenori and Reiko's English is very good, therefore they could always understand my thoughts. I found out the hard way that it is not that common in Japan. Most people can barely speak English, never mind understand complex scenarios. This demonstrates once more how fortunate I was to have them helping me. After we had finished everything we needed to do, Iwasa and I spent over an hour and a half looking for a pizza restaurant, during which time we couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my "previous life" here in Japan.


Kenzo and I had some fun little encounters at home. He really liked my music that I showed him and he always smiled whenever I bothered him. Kenzo has been studying for the past year in order to be able to enter the university of his choice, ICU. And by the past year, I mean the past year, everyday, even on Sundays, from 9 in the morning to 9:30 at night. I respect him a lot for being so persistent and I wish him the best of luck. Even though he must have been exhausted when he got home, he never showed it. He would always ask me questions and gave me much of his time.






During my stay at their house, Yoshiki had to sleep in Kenzo's room so that I could have a room to myself. Yoshiki was very busy helping organizing some of the activities at his school's festival, and so I didn't have much chance to connect with him. My Japanese isn't very good, and added to the limited time we had together, it didn't allow either of us to express ourselves. This just gives me more reason to want to learn Japanese.

All in all, this family gave me something that is priceless: they made me feel at home in this country so different from my own. Their patience to explain and answer all of my questions, to try and decipher my English and Japanese, while providing me with the best of services is something for which I cannot begin to express my gratitude. Did I mention that they paid for ALL my expenses while I was there? Including my bike and everything else. And on top of all that, they gave me many other objects such as bowls, spoons, forks, towels, etc.

Thank you Reiko, Shigenori, Kenzo, and Yoshiki.

As my dad would say: "Tu ne connais pas ta chance."