37th Ship for South East Asia Youth Programme (SSEAYP)

It’s been a long time since I wrote last… Sorry, I’ve been so busy!

In these days, I’ve had some great experiences that I want to tell you. So I’ll write some at a stretch ;)

Well, firstly, about on the 29^th – 31^st Oct.

Do you know what ‘SSEAYP’ is?

‘SSEAYP’, ‘東南アジア青年の船’ in Japanese, is a partnership programme between Japan and ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and it started in 1974. About 340 people from these countries live together on the ship and visit participating nations taking about 43 days.

(You can see more details here -> http://www8.cao.go.jp/youth/kouryu/data/sseayp.html#1)

During their stay in Japan, they spread some areas. A group came over to Wakayama and spent 3 days. My friends join an organization called ‘海友会’ which take care of people from foreign country and they gave me this opportunity to meet them. There were about 30 people in the group.

On their first day in Wakayama, they visited Wakayama University. They came to the class ‘世界の日本語’ and each country introduced us their countries, culture and dancing. I did some dances together and it was fun ^^ After that, we ate lunch together and talked with many people. At first I hesitated to talk to them because I didn’t know if they speak English and also I have thought that because of Southeast Asian countries have many different cultures, if I do something wrong which isn’t accepted in their culture they would feel bad. However once I tried to talk to them, I knew it. They were all nice, unique and seemed to like Japan very much. Then we were getting good friends..

In the afternoon we took them to the tea ceremony and Japanese archery club. In the tea ceremony, they looked so excited about Japanese traditional room. They enjoyed green tea which was their first time and said sitting on their heels was so hard XD  At the Japanese archery club, they tried Japanese archery and some people got crazy about it! I think they did good job ;)

At night, we had a welcome party at a hotel. The dishes were really nice ^.^ The SSEAYP members met their host families there. They did a performance (fashion show wearing their traditional clothes) for us. It was marvelous! The atmosphere was nice there and we all had a good time.

The next day was the day to spend with host family for the members. I was in Wakayama by accident then.  I was surprised but a friend who is from Cambodia called and invited me to his home party! He took me to his host family’s house then his family and another member from Myanmar welcomed me warmly. His host parents treated me as their real daughter.. I was so happy. We had dinner together, had a long chat and went for a walk with Von (from Cambodia) and host father to Wakayama castle at night. I had a wonderful time with them. This is my precious memory.

On the 31^st was the day we had to say goodbye.. I went to see them off to the airport. All of the members regretted to say goodbye. It was only 3 days we spent together but we had a great memory which nothing can replace. 

We have totally different culture and speak different language. The appearance is different and the way to think is also different. But the moment we laugh is the same and we feel the same when we have to leave.. sad. I do miss them. I hope to see them all again in the future.. I’m going to go on a Southeast Asia trip someday!

Now, my friends are on the ship heading for Malaysia. I hope they have a safe journey and have great experiences :)

I'm so glad having this opportunity.
I will never forget them all.

My Family :)

:-) :-) :-)

Hello there! Good seeing you again :-)

I’m in a good mood for some reasons :-)  hehe

Do you want to know why?

Well, I’m gonna tell you!

I had an opportunity to exchange with twenty 15 years old boy students from London, UK. They visited Wakayama in a programme.

Actually I was studying in Oxford last September and am missing UK these days so I was really excited for their visit.

We just got an hour to exchange with them but it was no problem for me. When I met them, it brought me back old memories.

They study Japanese at their school so when I spoke to them in Japanese, they could understand some of what I said. They know many things and spoke well so it was hard to believe that they were still 15 years old.

There was a boy called Jake in the group. He is really friendly and we talked a lot. He seemed to like Japan very much. When I was talking with him, suddenly he turned around. I didn’t know what happened to him, but a few seconds later, he turned to me and said a Japanese word. There was a small dictionary in his hand. Finally I realized that he was looking up a word which he wanted to say to me and how to say it in Japanese. He could tell it in English to me but didn’t do that. I was so glad then.

I’ve met some people who hesitate to communicate with people from different countries because of the language problem. But I think you don’t really have to care about that. If you have a mind that you want to know about them and talk to them, then they will understand you even if you can’t speak well. Just try it.

It was only for an hour that I was with them but I had a great experience.

That’s why I love the international exchange.

That’s why I’m in a good mood :-)

"Trick-or-Treat!!"

Hey guys! What's up??

I’m going to start writing my own blogs following a trend!

The first commemorating topic is about yesterday.

But before I talk about it, I’m going to mention a thing.

I belong to the IEC club, which means International Exchange Committee, and take care of the exchange students of Wakayama University.

Recently some new exchange students have come to Wakayama from such as France, Australia, Korea and China. They are all nice and we became good friends soon. I love being with them because it helps me notice many things about my country that I couldn’t know before. Every day is so fresh for me.

There are about 50 members in IEC at the moment. They are all great and interested in the international exchange. I do love this club. Here is where I always am.

This time, we decided to hold a Halloween party to deepen our friendship more. I was appointed to be a commandant for this party. It was my first time to work at the top of everyone so at first, it was so hard for me. Sometimes the plan didn’t work well and I was really worried. But my friends supported me warmly and could hold the party. That was yesterday.

In the original plan, we are going to have the party at the symbol Zone of Wakayama University. Unfortunately it was rainy and the place was changed to the lounge which is next to the restaurant. We disguised in separate costumes. Some of people’s costumes were fancy!  We walked around university playing scary songs and did trick-or-treating. After that we got back to the room and chatted with many people and took lots of photos. We also had a costume contest and surprisingly, I came in the first prize!

It was totally a crazy night and I enjoyed it very much.

 

Even though Halloween is not that famous in Japan, I think it’s good to experience culture of other countries.  I want to go to the genuine one in foreign countries someday.

Geez, I’ve written too much!

Anyway everyone,

Happy Halloween! ★