Furu Anime Panikku

As briefly mentioned in my previous post, I hosted a Japanese student who came all the way from a Polytechnic in Hiroshima, Japan, over the weekends. It was a rather good opportunity to practice some casual Japanese, as well as to expand my contacts.

It turned out that my homestay student studies Architecture, practices boxing, and loves motorcycles. That’s the exact opposite of what I am. Still, he told me that he was glad that I could speak Japanese, since he was rather worried about communication problems before the homestay began.

This time, unlike the previous exchange program I experienced in March earlier this year, most of the time we spent going out was in a pair of 2 hosts and students, or as a huge group. This time, however, almost all the hosts could speak some Japanese. Most took classes in school, and could manage with asking if they wanted to eat, or what they wanted to do.

As for me, on the day when the homestay program began, one of the Japanese students actually asked me if I was a Japanese living in Singapore. I’ve heard countless comments due to my appearance looking slightly Japanese, probably due to my hair. Still, my Japanese has yet to reach the standard of even a Japanese primary school kid, so I have totally no idea why he thought so. It was funny being asked such a question though.

As with each exchange program, I’ve learned much. This time, I’ll summarise these learning points.

• One of the first few questions that Japanese students always like to ask is 「彼女いるの？」, which means, “Do you have a girlfriend?”. Sadly, I don’t, and my previous homestay student didn’t have one either. This time round, however, my student does have one. He showed me a photo of his girlfriend kissing him on the lips, and I didn’t know how to respond.

• Continuing from the previous point, I finally met a guy who got his act on before 21. My student’s 19, and judging from the condom which he accidentally left in his pouch that he brought everywhere, even when he was back home in Japan, I can be quite sure that his days as a cherry boy were those of the past.

• I get the same reaction every time some a Japanese exchange student enters my room.

• Gundam Musou is a downright crappy game, but it’s always useful for passing time at home in the night when you don’t know what to converse about with your student, and if he’s no gamer.

My student’s the guy in black, squatting down.

• The students from Japan aren’t used to walking long distances. It’s best to travel around as much while seated, if possible.

• Singapore is boring place to tour. A single day or two day tour is alright, but anything longer than that is never fine. Also, I suck at coming up with places to bring exchange students to.

• The most famous local dish is chicken rice.

• Exchange programs without Japanese girls are 50% less fun >_<

This homestay was alright, but in my opinion, it wasn’t as fun as the previous one. I conversed much more with my previous student as he was more than willing to open up. We talked about almost everything under the sun, even the topic about how crappy our love lives have been. Also, he was more willing to tell me where he wanted to go to, so it made our lives much easier, rather than I be the only one deciding. My student this time was more reserved. My socialising skills are merely average, and when you add conversing in a language which I have only learned for almost a year, it’s quite mind wrecking to spark up a conversation.

Overall, this was yet another fruitful experience, considering that my Japanese fluency has slightly gone up by a couple of notches. I’ll be meeting the exchange students again this weekend, so hopefully, we’ll have more fun.