I have been so excited to have the Japanese students here. i teared up at the host family meeting, teared up as i entered the airport, and again as they walked across the tarmac . know the excitement of entering a new Country, surrounding myself with a new culture. i thought this was going to be a breeze, but it's turned out to be more challenging than i anticipated. the google translator is not translating correctly, and when they do try to speak, it's so soft and un-prounounced that i really have no idea what they are saying. we spend our time going places and they just have to follow. i want to know what they want to do, what they want to see, and try. i don't even know if the things we are doing with them are new. who knows..maybe they fly kites at home. maybe their neighbors have horses. maybe pizza, pancakes, barbecuing hamburgers is old hat to them. and i realllly want to know what they think of all the bunnies, chicks and eggs everywhere around town. do they think americans are obsessed with bunnies and colorful eggs, like they are with Hello kitty? or do they know it's Easter coming up? I was hoping by the time they left, i would speak a little more Japanese, and they would speak a little more English. I asked the boys what they thought we should do tonight... "Sleeping Beauty" ballet, or the Firework show at Wildhorse? they thought the Ballet. i said..."it's just dancing in another country..." and Jake said "I'm pretty sure if they go to a dance production in Japan it would be more along the lines of their traditions and culture." i hope so. i just hope that i am exposing them to the kinds of things i should be. they both said they loved shopping in their emails, but today we walked the entire length of downtown, went into almost every store, and the girls walked in, sometimes found the nearest bench to sit in, or just walked aimlessly. i tried to find out what they like to shop for, but we couldn't figure it out. the only thing that really seemed to excite them was Starbucks. i couldn't tell what they were asking for, so i got out a peice of paper and pen, and they wrote "milk tea". i asked the barista if she knew what that was. she talked amongst the other associates and they came up with a steamed milk with green tea. they asked if the girls wanted syrup in the drink. i showed the girls the syrup and they excitedly said yes, smiling and giggling. once they took a sip, they both giggled...one plugged her nose and the other gave a look like i had put drizzled ketchup over her ice cream. Nik offered them to try his double chocolate chip with mint frappacino with whip, drizzled with chocolate. they LOVED it, so that is what they got. they both drank about half of it and then tossed it. the boys and i joked " NOOOOOOO....that's a $20 dollar drink you are tossing", but we just let them throw it away. o well. we tried.
Shopping was a flop. i guess downtown Walla Walla just isn't Tokyo. Although, i do have to say Inland Octopus was a hit. lots of money later, and we left with kites, frisbee, whistles and lots of laughs. priceless.
when we got home from shopping (eating, actually) the boys grabbed the frisbee and were ready to run across the street and throw it. i went to tell the girls and they were both crashed and sound asleep on their bed. i guess we wore them out.
tomorrow we are going horse back riding and they are going to make us Japanese noodles. this really is the most amazing thing for me to experience. i have been choking up for 4 days now, thinking of the experience my boys are having, and hoping that the girls will treasure their time also.
Sianara for now.
