Christmas Homestay

Have you ever heard the word,"homestay?" It means going abroad and staying in a host family's house, not a hotel or a dormitory. I was interested in doing a homestay when I was a student, but I didn't have enough courage to do it. However, I had a "homestay" experience last week☆

I went to Milwaukee, a city along the Lake Michigan, in Wisconsin. Annette drove four hours from West Lafayette to Miwaukee with me to make a presentation at her sister-in-law, Diane's church. We stayed at Diane's house. Annette is a facilitator and a teacher of the Purdue ESOL that I've been in for three years. Also, she is Liz's mother. Liz is my friend & a frequent reader of my blog! She is very nice & kind lady...like our (the school's students') sister! Every time I come back to the school from long trips, she hugs me with a big smile and says, "Keiko! You'd be surprised to know how I shouted after I woke up in this mornig, 'Yeah! Today is the day when Keiko is coming back!'"
Also, she always notices when I feel depressed or burned out. Then, she doesn't forget to ask me...even if she is very busy..."Keiko, you are not quite yourself today. Is something wrong with you?" Probably, she has no idea how much I thank her!

I have met many of Annette's family before. Diane, her sister-in-law, is also a very nice lady who is always smiling like Annette and her husband, Donald. She lives with her husband, her father-in-law, and two of her sons.
After I stepped into her house, I felt "Wow! I love this house!!" Her interior decorations were fantastic! She had some themes in her house. For example, her kitchen's theme was a "rooster." Therefore, almost everything in the kitchen was related to roosters; Plates, pictures, a clock, mugs, a napkin holder, salt& peper mills, even the wallpaper!! Look at the photo!

Also, she said she loved "shoes." Therefore, many interior decorations with shoes were spread around her house!

In the glass china cupboard, there were beautiful shoes ornaments...

She also had miniture shoes and same shoes pictures! Even her vase was shoe-shaped!!

Additioally, I liked her (a kind of) gallery of family wedding photos. She displayed her mother's, her aunt's, her daughter's ,and her wedding photos. I could see her family's history through this wedding photo gallery! That was a nice idea!!

Whenever I visit houses of friends who have sense of interior, I feel very excited & comfortable. I believe the interior effects the residents' feeling! I don't have the sense, unfortunately... But I should try to improve my house's interior! This may become one of my new year's resolutions. So, it means this will never come true!? We'll see...

After we had a nice supper, we went to Diane's church. That day was the day of the Women's Christmas Tea at her church. Annette's presentation was the main event of it. Her speech title was "Somewhere it's snowing." So, the church was decorated with some things were related to snow☆　Look at the first (of this article) photo!! These ornaments of the Christmas tree looked like snow crystals and icecles. All of snow crystals were handmade laces! They were amazing!!

Annette talked about Christmas song, her job, and her winter memories. I think her conclusion was "In Japan, Korea... It is snowing as well here. There are wars somewhere, but I feel grateful that we can celebrate the Christmas in peace here by the grace of God."

I also feel grateful because Annette's presentation proved how much she loved us(her students!) Thank you for being such a nice supporter, Annette!!

Actually, I was a part of her presentation. I told Annette that I thought the song, "Santa Claus is coming to town" was a Japanese song when I was a child. We sang it in Japanese except for the main verse, "Santa Claus is coming to town♪" I wondered why just this part was in English. The funny thing was our Korean friends thought the same thing! They thought it was a Korean song. Annette found it was really interesting, so she introduced me on the stage and I sang the song in Japanese. The audience was about 150. We sang this song together...you know, they sang only the main line, "Santa Claus is coming to town♪"

After the presentation, we had tea & nice desserts!! That was why this was called "The Christmas Tea." I had visited a few churches in the U.S. Whenever I visit churches, everybody talked to me kindly. I have a Japanese friend who was not a complete Christian, but went to a church regularly to communicate with Americans. I think she was right. Being a church member is one way to be a steady member of the community!!

During the stay, I strongly felt "Oh, I should have had a homestay when I was younger!" If I have had, my English would have become much better!

I was exposed to an "all English" circumstance 24 hours! Yes, I have lived in the U.S. for three years...but I live with my JAPANESE husband & I have many Japanese friends, so my language circumstance is actually, the half is English and the other half is Japanese! If I live in all-English circumstance...I would make mistakes more, but I am sure I can learn more!

In the next mornig, Annette and I had a very funny conversation from my misunderstandig.

Keiko; Are you going to get up, Annette? (We were talking, but stayed in the beds)

Annette; I don't want to...but my BLADDER said I should.

Keiko; (Her BROTHER!?) ...Have I met him?

Annette; ...I don't think so...

Keiko; How do you spell it? (I meant, the spelling. But she thought it as the meaning of "casting magic.")

Annette; ...I don't know how to spell it, but I want to make it empty...

Did you get it!!?? We talked about her relatives, and I had been trying to build her family tree in my mind. So, when she said "bladder," I thought she said "brother!!"

But she just said "I want to go to a restroom" using her sense of humor... Also, she misundersood the verb, "spell," so our conversation got intertwined and hard to understand... After we figured out our misunderstandings, we couldn't stop laughing!

I will never forget this funny conversation!!

There was one of another things I will never forget about this homestay.

Just after we arrived at Diane's house, I met Buren, Diane's father-in-law. I introduced myself to him. "Nice to meet you. I am Keiko. I'm from Japan."

Then he said, "Oh, Japan! I went there 65 years ago to fight!"

...Then, I was reminded... That day was December, 7th. The day of the Japanese attack to the Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, 65 years ago!! That was coincidence, but I, a Japanese, experienced just one-night-homestay at an American family's house, and it was exactly the day of the "Remember! The Pearl Harbor!" day!!!

Annette and Diane said to me, "Never mind! Nobody says about that except for...his generation." I should say, Buren was smiling when he said so, and he was very kind to me during the stay.

However... I thought I should not forget about that. Now I live in the U.S. in peace surrounded by nice Americans, but there was sad history between us.

Also, there are people like Buren who experienced the war.

If the Christmas is also the day when we would be thankful what we have now as Annette said, I would pray for the peace.