Last Saturday, 07/21, marks the somewhat middle of our LSA+ program! On that day, all the students and the most the homestay families got together at La Paz's second floor Balcone, バルコーネ, (one of KUIS's cafes) in the morning.
A little less of than half of the students on the LSA+ switched host families on 07/21, as some students have a different host family for the second half of the program. This is partially because many families want to host Dartmouth students, but there are only 12 students. In those cases, both of the homestay families came to the party and tables were very lively.
Before we started, there were snacks/chocolates and drinks, and people just chatted while we waited for everybody to arrive and settle in. After everyone arrived, people passed out materials to do chigiri e, and we all started cutting and ripping. There were three chigri e sensei that walked around to help us out. Chigiri means to shred or tear, and e means picture. Chigiri e includes pasting washi paper on a background, to make a sort of collage art. For more information on chigiri e, visit this website.
While there was a stencil we were supposed to cut out and use, many of the Dartmouth students did not follow the template and made their own designs, or edited the template design. American individualism! However, a Dartmouth student did mention to me that since everyone else was changing up the design, she felt compelled to do so as well.
I ended up making my own design because I thought that was more fun, but my homestay mother followed the template and hers looked beautiful. She is very good with her hands and is detail-oriented, and has even arranged flowers in a hotel in London before!
After doing the chigiri e, we had a buffet style lunch with kara-age, small sandwiches, and even taco salad (and regular salad). There was even tiny pieces of cake for desert! It was delicious.
After lunch, the homestay agency and Dorsey-sensei gave speeches, and those who were switching homestay families said good-bye to their first-half homestay families. It may have been good-bye in words, but the students tell me that they are still in contact with those families. I still meet up with my homestay mother from two years ago (when I did the LSA+ as a student)!
The little boy from Revant's first-half family actually followed him and second-half homestay family back home - with the second-half homestay family's permission, of course. He stayed there for a day because he didn't want to leave Revant.
Homestays are one of the special parts of the Japan LSA+, and we are extremely grateful towards the families who put in the time and effort to host Dartmouth students. My homestay family this year and two years ago were integral to my LSA+ experience; and they both helped facilitate my settling into the LSA+ program and Japanese college life. Although it sounds cheesy, I will always remember their kindness and the happy feelings that stemmed from our conversations together.