SonofEva goes to Japan!

Oh I hadn't seen your comment, I'm reading 'em!

I have not read one single sentence of this thread with the exception of the title and I am willing to wager that Eva's son is now smoking crack behind some cheap Japanese hotel.

Call me physic.

Physic.

They don't have "crack" in Japan; just seaweed, but it's about as adictive.

Ask about "onsen" does the haost family do "Onsen"

I seriously doubt they'd ask SonofEva along if they do, dadpad. The mother lived and worked in the US for a few years before she married, so she's very familiar with American customs. And (like us) they've been to orientation sessions to learn how to make their foreign visitors feel comfortable. I can't think of anything that would make 13-year-old American boys more uncomfortable than being expected to participate in nude bathing with their host families!

I'm laughing now, just imagining the look on his face!!!

Okay, here's a deal for you. I promise to copy the e-mail here if they ask him. That message would be a doozy!

As a matter of fact, many public baths in Japan have separate areas for men and women. Some are still "old style."

From a parent of 3 exchange children
http://www.cultures-shocked.org/forum/showthread.php?t=108 (post 16 page 2)


How tough is it to say goodbye to your child for a year?
Excrutiating.

How did you handle it?
Poorly.

Here are WV Mom's tried and true tips for parents of outbounds:

1. Talk to your kid every single bloomin' day. I did that, and when their friends wondered if that wasn't limiting their "cultural experience," my kids would look sad and talk about their mom's mental illness.

2. Remember that if they weren't there, they'd be in college, doing what you did.

3. Thoroughly clean their room the day they leave. You grieve as you immerse yourself in their essence, but you also get pretty pissed by what you find. Which goes a long way toward erasing your grief. Don't forget to look between mattresses (which is where rookies hide their stash) and in their outlets and wall switches (for the more advanced).

4. Find a pen pal whose kid is on exchange and be sad together (I love you, Sandy!). Make sure your pen pal knows the answer to everything is, "You're right, everyone else is wrong, and I'll inflict great bodily harm to anyone who says otherwise."

5. Adopt a martyred look when you talk to parents of nonexchangers and talk about how lucky they are that their kids have no sense of adventure.

6. Amuse yourself, and make your child feel more at home in their country, by making friends with their host mom and teaching her to say, in English, "Are you bloomin' kidding me?! What in the world the matter with you?! You knew better than that the day you were born!! You are so totally out of the will!!!"

7. Become a regular on this board so that (1) you can get the support you need and (2) you can keep your mom-skills sharp by yelling at exchangers who are being stupid.

There's more, but that will get you started.

Then theres this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR3uVdh_Wi4

Your daughter was in that, dadpad?

She was indeed. Scary aint it.

she's back in Sweden now looking for work.

Got an sms from her yesterday


"When was my last tetnus injection?"

My reaction? Oh Christ!!!! what's happened

I would've thought the same thing! But it's probably just a question on an application. (Deep breath, dadpad.)

SonofEva didn't send a message yesterday, but sent two today!!!

"Today I didnt have anything special for breakfast or lunch. We went to a science museum, an art museum and a couple of parks. We mailed the sword today and it will arrive before i will so i will want to see it along with you all when i get there. For dinner we had lazonia."

(Isn't that funny...the way he spelled "lasagna"?!)

AND

"Today was a culture day. We prepared and ate japanese food, we practiced japanese caligraphy and we all put on kimonoes and i got a group picture. For dinner we had chicken."

Eva
Your son is typical of a child memorializing the important things in life:

FOOD!

BBB

Maybe. It could be that he's just a typical 13-year-old boy and hungry all the time. Or...it could be that he's reporting on that for his food-obsessed father.

I don't know how I missed this thread. How exciting for sonofEva! What an amazing thing to get to do.

I love it that you go to Japan and eat lasagna too. How crazy is that?

When does he get back?

He'll get back on Sunday evening, Father's Day. We are counting the days.

The mother of his host family lived and worked in Ohio for several years before she married. She is undoubtedly very familiar with American food. (Plus, she is quite fluent in English...a BIG plus!) The city he is visiting, Utsunomiya, is only 50 miles from Tokyo, the world's largest metro area, so they have every kind of food in the world available. (Except Mexican, apparently. That was a real novelty to the students who visited here. They were quite used to pizza, hamburgers, Thai food, German and Italian food, etc.)

You are right. This is an amazing opportunity for SonofEva. Especially for only $1,500. (These student exchange trips are a real bargain.) Plus, he is seeing and doing things he would never get to experience as a tourist. We are thrilled for him!

The latest news. (Forgive the spelling, SonofEva's worst subject)

Today I went to school with ___. It was very, ummm, interesting. All of us (American students) always had like at least 5 people around us asking for our e-mail or home adress. Also everyone was asking the question Do you have a boy/girlfriend. They put us at the front of the autotorium and the 1000 some people asked us questions, like what's your favorite color or Do you like japan. Then i watched ___ practice kendo. I didn't like it. It was way to offencive and left your chest open way too much. And it was today that we met the mayor.

(Note: Kendo is the martial art that uses bamboo swords and full padded body armor.)

(Second note: I am sooooo tempted to write back: "So, DO you have a boy/girlfriend?" Is there any more embarrassing question for a 13-year-old?!)

Wow, this is great - what an amazing opportunity for the kid. I'm glad that he knows that you'd want to know all the details, Eva. I want to know too!

Today's entry...

There were 3 of us (from Tulsa) that went to ___'s school. Today was kind of the same...we went to school again. Well i did get to play dodgeball. Then we went to the going away party which was kinda cool. There was this one kid maybe 5 years old. I swear the kid ate 6 pounds of sugar. Also we sang Oklahoma and twinkle twinkle little star for everyone.


(Note: They held a party for all the students, host families, organizers, etc. He has one more full day in Japan, which will be Saturday there. He will be with the family. Then home on Sunday.)