Some Japanese Culture

Man--I didn't realize how long it has been since I've posted last. Life gets so busy so fast and this week was SUPER busy! Our family had the opportunity to host a Japanese exchange student for a week through a company called Selnate and all I can say is that it was amazing! We picked up our exchange student, Hiroyuki on October 22 and while we were waiting in the BYU parking lot we were able to watch the BYU band practice for their Homecoming game--it was pretty exciting. After we met Hiro (is what he wanted us to call him) we took him home for his first American dinner--we went pretty easy on him, just some grilled chicken, rice and a salad, to which he LOVED Ranch dressing! They dont have anything like it in Japan and needless to say he thought it was a real treat! Friday during the day, the group of boys went to a farm where Hiro for the first time ever saw cows, chickens and horses. He said he was definately not a cowboy. Haha! That night we just chilled out with a pizza and he wanted to watch Transformers. He was pretty tired from the time difference (15 hours ahead) and jet lag. Saturday we got up early and took Hiro fishing at Utah Lake and to a picnic at Bridal Veil Falls. He loves the outdoors, so this was definately one of his favorite outings. Sunday we took him to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing at "Music and the Spoken Word". The choir sounded so beautiful--a little taste of what heaven will sound like. We then toured Temple Square. Hiro thought it was pretty amazing especially since we had a "cute" sister missionary from Japan as a tour guide. LOL! After we were finished, we went to our friend's, the Walker's house. They have been our dear friends for 20 years--and Nathan went on a mission to Japan, so he cooked us up some Gyoza (super yummy) and rice. The kids played and had a great time all night long. Hiro was shocked to see the boys come in with loads of wood to build a fire in the fireplace--we thought it was so funny that he was taking pictures of it. Monday night was family night and so we carved pumpkins--a first for Hiro and he thought it was totally gross that we scoop out pumpkin guts. He really enjoyed the end product though. :o) On Tuesday the YW/YM of our ward hosted a Halloween party for the Primary kids, so we took Hiro to Burger King for a "big American hamburger" that he wanted to try and then to set up for the carnival. Wednesday, the boys attended public school all day at local Jr. High Schools, Hiro said it was very busy and VERY noisy! He loved school lunch--which the boys thought was hilarious. We explained that Austin and Cam refuse to eat school lunches because they think its so bad. That night was a family dinner hosted by Selnate and we all enjoyed a slide show of the boys of pics all the families had sent in of the 274 boys that came. We also enjoyed the BYU Living Legends dancers--they were so fun to watch. Some of the boys danced traditional Japanese dances for us. Thursday was our sad day--we had to drop Hiro off at 6:00 am at BYU for their group to go to Zions National Park and then off to Disneyland. He was really looking forward to going but in a note that we found after he left he wrote, "I don't wanna leave here". (Yeah it made me teary eyed--shocking I know!) I received an email from Hiro's dad, Isao, yesterday stating that Hiro had gotten sick on the way to Disneyland and wasnt able to enjoy it--it made us all so sad for him. I guess he'll just have to come back and visit us again. Our family was so blessed to have such a sweet young man that fit so well with our family. We had such a great experience that we look forward to doing it again next year.