Home Away from Home...

That's what we were to 2 Japanese students last week. This was not a planned thing, rather spur of the moment, but we're sure glad we did it! Mamiko and Yukari were welcomed into our home for a 5 night homestay. These girls were wonderful and we had such a great time. Rob and I both enjoy opening our home to people so it wasn't hard to decide if we wanted to do this. It does make life really extra busy, but the experience is worth it. Our kids love being part of things as well. We enjoy the challenge of communicating, teaching Canadian culture and history, and learning about the Japanese culture in exchange. We did fairly stereo-typical 'Canadian' things with them, but they had no complaints. We made a variety of western-style food including pizza, fajitas, hot dog roast over a bonfire, meatballs, spaghetti and lots of baking. The girls really enjoyed eating cookie dough for the first time! The girls did a 'shodo' ceremony for us where they showed off their Japanese calligraphy skills. They were delightful girls and we hope they enjoyed their experience here in Canada!