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Home Stay Diary
Table of Contents
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Introduction
When I was 14 years old, junior high student, I had a chance to join the international exchange program that has been opereated by 4H Club and Labo International Exchange Foundation. Idaho or Washington were the one of the firstest state to start international exchange among the states in America. I had a chance to meet a young man from Sandpoint in early 70s and impressed with the comunication with foreign person. That was the trigger to plan to join this program. As you know, in Japan, English study begin from jonior high school so everyone told me they were anxious for my communication in America. But, during and after this homestay, I was confident that the language was the tool to communicate with other people and if I had something to tell someone, then the communication could be started easily. Don't worry about the language skill, grammar and vocabulary. I can say I could proof it. The homestay gave me a lot of important things and I could learn a lot of things from the people living in Idaho. I decided to introduce my experience as well as recent trip to encourage someone if he or she is now trying to consider the overseas homestay. Unfortunately I lost almost all photographs taken because of the miss operation of the camera, so I cannot tell you with photos but I had a diary I recorded during the stay and introduce you the highlighted event during my stay as a form of the "Diary".
Ahead of the departure, the program alread had begun and I got the mail from my host family in March and that long mail told me about host family and host town, Sandpoint Idaho. The plan already started from this first letter, we had been exchanging several letters before the departure and this experience made me excited. The photos you can see on the index page of the corner, was the enclosed photo and first time to see them. I attended some of the events held by Labo toward this exchanging program, day by day, I had been in a kind of high tensioned and had a feeling that could not wait until departure. Though the one month stay away from home would be the adventure for the young people, at that time, I didn't have any anxiousness about it and my heart was filled with expectations of this homestay. In 1977 July 24th, I finished the packing and slept in my bed but I remember it was hard to sleep because I thought a lot of things might happen during my first visit to the United States.
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July 25th
Departure to the U.S.A.
Stanfort Univ.
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I started my this never forgettable travel to America from my home town, Nagano where is a famous for 1998 Winter Olympic Games. After the 4 hours train ride, I arrived at Haneda with my mother where was only an international airport in Japan at that time. Of course it was first time to get on the plane and I was excited but not felt lonely though I could not meet with Japanese parent or friends. From Haneda International Airport, the plane, JAL 1002 departured to San Francisco International Airport at 19:30. The air pressure during landing hurted me so much, it was so difficult to control. The pain was really owful so I could not enjoyed landing on the unknown continental.
SFO Airport
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Anyway, the plane arrived at San Francisco International Airport approximately around noon, July 25th in Pacific time. This was the first time I visited the United States ! I took part in the international student exchange program planned by 4H club with Labo International exchange center and travelled with 50 students. Every year, more than 1,000 students have been visiting U.S or other country during the summer vacation and also American students have been staying in Japan. 4H group let us get on the chartered bus toward south to the place where we would spend one night. We stayed at Stanford University and impressed to the Hoober tower. The dinner at the cafeteria in this University was really terrible and worried about the meal in this country. But it was a kind of overworrying and I could also enjoyed meal in America. We got together and enjoyed chattering and singing Japanese songs with guitar and piano.
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July 26th
Arrived at Spokane and Sandpoint.
50 members made another 3 small groups by the destination. Mine was the Spokane group. We took the flight from San Francisco to Spokane and after about one and half hours' flight, I met my host family Dale, Donna, Maria, Kelly, Todd and Max at the Spokane International Airport. Dale said "Konnichiwa", "Hello" in Japanese to me and it surprised me. Dale drove the car with his familiy and me Drove to Sandpoint on the U.S. On the way to Sandpoint, we visited McDonalds' and was first time for me to eat such kind of meal and surprised at the tasty "ICECREAM". We went along the highway 95 toward north, still remembering the "Valley Vista", large painted character on the building standing near the highway. The most impressive memory was the beautiful scenary of Lake Pend Oreille when we went across the Long Bridge. Finally we arrived Dale's home standing in the northern area of Sandpoint. I was given a room with Todd and Max in upstairs. The first dinner was a beef stake dinner called T-born stake and was really tasty and my worry about U.S. meals gone away after the dinner.
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July 27th
Shopping, Boxing Gym.
Boxing Gym
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First morning in Sandpoint, I was happy to be assigned as a member for household matters alternatively with the children. The rotation was clipped on the refrigerator. A cooking range was another surprise because I had never seen the electric range (usually in Japan, the gas range has been used). The American style breakfast was really enjoyable for me, milk, cornflakes with sugar, sausage and bacon, bread and butter, lemonade and coffee. I went to the central city to enjoy shopping and bought some rock 'n' roll records and stamps. I bought some records of Queen, Bob Dylan and Beatles. At that time, the overseas travelle is not so familiar in Japan and I was asked to send a lot of air mail and wrote more than 30 letters during the stay. In the evening, joined the Boxing Gym (Sandpoint Elks Boxing club) standing at Main and 2nd Avenue and met with the coach, Clarense Davis at the gym. It was located near the old-fashioned blick building and near City Office. Thougn the location was really central downtown, not so many people were walking around the gym. The gym was at the underground level in the building and really dark and I felt like a kind of "dirty", "dager" and so on, but the coach and fellows were really good people.
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July 28th
Swimming at the City Beach.
I was given a bike and made the bike ride around the home into my daily schedule before breakfast. The mechanism of the brake was much different from the one of Japanes bike and it was a bit difficult to be accustomed. After the breakfast, we went to the City Beach and was first time to visit there and enjoyed swimming at the beach. I was impressed at the diving board and really enjoyed it. A lot of people got together and enjoyed swimming. The water was cold but bright sun covered the coldness. After back from the beach, I started to write mails and wrote more than 5 letters and told how beautiful the area was. The appearance of the beach was almost as same you can see on the old poster card. Though the latitude of the city was northern, in the noon time, the temperature will be as high as that of Hawaii, young boys were walking stripped to the waist and young girls with bikini swim wear. It was very strange to me at that time but finally, I also enjoyed walking like them.
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July 29th
Climbed the small hill.
The host family had 20 acres cow field, hen house and corn field but not exactly a farmar. Dale had been working at the navy related office. The cow field was close to Sand Creek where Todd, Max and myself played with mud and water. By the way, Dale, Todd, Max and I walked along the railway and climbed up the small rocky hill. We took a lunch on the hill and enjoyed the view from the higher area toward Sandpoint and Pend Oreille. The whistle browing of BNSF train surprised me and the long train was really fun for me. In the afternoon, we got on the Datsun truck and went up to the mountain for hunting. It was so surprise that Todd, only 14 years boy had a licence for the hunting. After about 2 hours driving through the durt and winding road, we arrived at the top of the mountain, finally got a pheasant. The mountain was, as I remember, located west from Sandpoint and the view from the mountain was pretty good but hard to ride on the truck for more than 2 hours.
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July 30th
Chehalis, boxing match.
We woke up early morning to go to west-south Washington state to join the boxing match held in Chehalis. Chehalis was located around the southern Seattle and near Olympia. I was so surprised at the temperature in the morning when we departured an I felt so cold and it was hard without heating, say, "heating" though it was mid Summer ! Oh, it was a continental climate that have a large difference between highest and lowest of the temprature in a day. The car was driven by Mr. Clarense Davis who was a coach of the boxing club, started from Sandpoint and on the 95 U.S. Highway toward Couer d' Alane and took 90 Interstates Freeway and went toward west to Seattle. It was more than 500 hundred mile driving and took so long time to get there. I played wrestling in the car with the boxing mate but soon bored and slept. Around noon, we arrived at the suburban area of Seattle and took a lunch, ate fishchips and I recognized we have to leave chips on the table. We arrived at Chehalis in the afternoon and soon boxing match started. Because of the bad condition after the long drive, the members from Sandpoint Elks boxing club other than Dane was tough to win the match. 1 win 1 draw and 3 lost was the rusult but I thought it was difficult to win because the competitor team was in that city. We drove back to the east and after more than 8 hours drive, we came back to Sandpoint in the early morning on July 31th, Sunday.
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July 31th
Church
After back from Chehalis, we slept untile late morning, then woke up and went to the church. It was so difficult to catch up what the father said so it was a bit boresome for me. Maria and Kelly played around the hall, and Dale introduced me to the father. In the afternoon, I enjoyed playing piano at the home and listning to the music record, called "OZARK". I listen to the song contained in the record at the American restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 2003 and so surprised that it was exactly what I enjoyed in the home ! In the evening, we went to the church again to enjoy the music concert at the hall in the basement floor of the church. The music was a kind of American folk music and really enjoyed the music. I also visited city library and market in this afternoon. The library was a kind of old fashioned building and looked so nice. Maria and Kelly tried to find some books and I found the map of Sandpoint and enjoyed those maps. The market was standing around the crossing of ID200 and HWY95.
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August 1st
David
Todd told me to play with friend, David, who was living in northern Sandpoint, easy to go with bicycle. His family also fed some cows and fence with high voltage cable which was avoiding cows to run away. Unfortunately, when we played with hey stack and with a kind of sticks, I touched with the cable and extraordinary surprized at its high pressure of electricity.
David, Todd and I played wrestled together and threw the cow shit ! After more than 10 minutes battle, we all wash our body and enjoyed icecream. Then went to Sand Creek to do the next battle there. At this time we threw the mud on the creek and swam in the creek. It was very enjoyable to play in the nature.
Beach
In the afternoon, I went to the City Beach with Maria, Kelly and Max and was second time to play at the beach. Though the weather was fine but water was cold for me and let me recognized that the location of Sandpoint is really north, I mean cold area. My imagined "beach" was a bit different from Sandpoint City Beach. What made me surprised was the design or idea of facilities such as "floating diving board", "lawn" between sands and "foot-washing-place" and so on. But what impressed me most was the beautiful scenery that I had never seen. Anyway, I really enjoyed "playing in the nature of Sandpoint".
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August 2nd
Small trip to Fort Steele, British Columbia CANADA
From the early morning, Donna woke me up and took myself, Maria and Kelly to the open space near the Sandpoint Airport. About 40 students were already getting together who were all 4H club members. We had a plan to go to Canadian historical park called Fort Steele at that day and I met with another exchanging student from Japan and with many fellows of 4H members. When we got on the school bus,
the leadr of the 4H club told me whether I carried passport or not and then I was awared that only Japanese student were required to bring passport to pass the national border. From Sandpoint to Canadian border, it would take about 1 and half our bus driving along HWY 2 toward noth. I sat with Noriyuki who were an exchanging student and stayed around Sand Creek. The bus ran along with Burlington Northern toward Bonners Ferry where is locayed on the valley of the Kootenai river. After passing this interesting city, we went toward Kingsgate where was a national border town and bus stopped. Only three Japanese studend had to go to the immigration at the town, of course U.S. residence didn't have to do so. After checked in, I reached Canada, the 2nd country I visited. After an hour's drivinng, we reached the destination, Fort Steele.
Fort Steele
The heritage of 19th centuries, after Gold Rush, Fort Steele had been a successfule town until the railroad company decliened to build along the city. After this turning point, the town became a "ghost town" and remained for a long while. Luckly, this made the town as "heritage". 4H members and we got off the bus under the blue sky and watched at the old fashioned train station. At first, we enjoyed the 15 minutes train ride pulled by a steam locomotive, the railway was a kind of round looped line and 2 stations. It was very curious for me and really enjoyed this train ride.
After that, we all entered through the gate into the heritage area. There standing some of the old styled shops, schools, theatre and so on and were really strange and new to me and were enjoyable. I would like to show you those photos in another corner. Unfortunately, we enjoyed the "play" at the theatre but I could not catch up what the actors and actresses were speaking, but that was really enjoyable for me. After we ate lunch, the bus went toward the kind of park but I could not remember the place. In the returning bus, I could had a communication with some girls of 4H members and had a kind of "love" emotion with a girl named "Cynthia". I didn't remember her name now but I remember that her friend, Liz told me "She likes you" and I was so excited to hear that. It was a kind of good memory for me now.
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August 3rd
Camera, Birthday Card
I took a lot of pictures but, unluckly, the camera I brought was a old fashioned one and it was recognized later, I failed to set the film. I misunderstood that the camera had been broken, so asked Dale to take me to the camera shop. Finally the I found that camera was not broken, but no pictures taken at all ! Oh my god !. I also asked Dale to go with the craft shop to buy some cards for Cynthia (birthday card) and for class mates as souvenirs.
At that time, it was true that I had a feeling to love Cynthia though it was a very short time to communicate with her. It was a bit difficult to ask Maria about Cynthia's birthday because Maria is my host girl and I don't want to be recognized that I loved Cynthia. So, I asked her to show me a kind of "member list" of the 4H club and could succeed in finding Cynthia's birthday.
That's why I bought a birthday card !
Hope
Bevery, Dale and myself drove to Hope in this afternoon to visit someone who also had an experience to be a host of exchanging student from Japan. We got on the Datsun truck along Idaho 200 state road (Pend Oreille Scenic Byway) and found the strange, curious and wonderful place, "Pack River Flats" through the window. Only Bevery stayed at their home, Dale and I went to the Some Owen camp area where was located on the peninsula near Hope and East Hope. We could see the lake Pend Oreille when we went through the forest, and found a log house and enjoyed Olympia beer and Coke.
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August 4th
Meal in the home
I was in the line of order to set the plates. I was so happy to see my name on the order list on the refrigerator. The job was so simple, set the plate, knife and folks and clear them away after the meal. When someone left something, I would bring them to the hen house. The dog, Smoking Joe also asked those foods.
Instrument
The family had some instruments, Piano, guitar and electone. At that time, I had been fond of playing guitar and piano, so it was so lucky that they had them. Sometimes, of course I had a period nothing to do, so most of the time I spent to enjoy those instruments.
Record Player
At that time, of cource no CD players were inovated and the way to enjoy music was the record player, casset tape and 8 track tape. The type of record player was a kind of surprise for me because it was quite different from Japanese ones. Japanese people would handle records more carefully than American people. So, sometimes I was afraid that my bought records got damage from those rough handling by Todd or Max. Anyway, I enjoyed Bob Dylan, Queen, Kiss some other Ronk 'n' Roll records when I had been in a home. The price of records were much cheaper than in Japan at that time so I bought a lot of LP records.
Coeur d' Alane
Bevery who had been staying at the home went back to his home so Donna drove her car and Todd and myself went together. I saw a manual handled record player which was a quite old one and attractive. Todd took me out to the downtown of Coeur d' Alane and it looked like bigger than that of Sandpoint. Also I enjoyed the scenary of the lake Coeur d' Alane. After we left her home, we went to the University to met Varely who were a student of the University. This was a first and last time to meet her so I unfortunately could not remember her well, just remember we went to McDonald's and ate together.
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August 5th
Mr. Anson
I was called by Maria to go to the another 4H member's home. We rode the bicycle and went around the Sand Creek. The home was on the opposite side of the creek so we had to go through the up and down three times and was so tough. Anyway, we reached the area where some houses were standing along with Schweitzer creek which flow into Sand Creek. In my mind, I expected to meet Cynthia, but it was just a dream, Liz and Paula came to the home its owner's name was Mr. and Mrs. Anson. I could have a chance to play banjo and it was a first time to see automatical piano playing. We sang a song, ate some Japanese foods, and we went out and played on the Schweitzer Creek.
Swimming at the beach, dinner party
In the afternoon, I went to the City Beach with Max, Maria and Kelly and played around the beach. In the evening, Dale and Donna came and took us to the southern area in the park. There came some families and held a dinner party. I also met Noriyuki and swam together in the sun set beach. Families brought the meals together and drank together and enjoyed the party. This party was held by 4H club, so of course I expected to meet with Cynthia but unluckly I couldn't. Yes, finally I could not meet her during my stay. Anyway, we did everything we could around the beach and it was very enjoyable moment for me to play in the beach. After the swimming, Kelly asked me to do the running race and I did, of cource I could outrun her !.
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August 6th
Schweitzer Creek
In the morning, we went to the Schweitzer Creek again with Max. Somebody made a dam to catch fishes, so we also tried to create an another one to occupy all fishes, but failed. I am not sure why we failed but I think this kind of bad joking will be never rewarded.
Swimming at the beach
In the afternoon, we went to the City Beach again. Totally repeated as yesterday's activity but not bordom because to me, everything was fresh and interested me a lot. I was already used to walk in half naked, I mean like all other native young boys, not only on the beach but also on the street. The first week, I was actually a visitor from Japan and I think I could be a resident in this town. In the evening we took a dinner at the Church with a kind of buffet styled one. Young boys including me ate and ate and ate. Buffet style was actually for mature person, called "an adult" ! Otherwise the meal was all eaten in a short moment !
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August 7th
Hesitated to go to Church
I remembered that last Sunday in the Church was a bit bordom for me, so I asked Donna whether I could take an option not to go to Church. I asked "Must I....." and this was quite funny for them and they laughed at what I said. As a result, I was free from Church in the morning so I tried to record the OZARK music into the cassette tape I brought.
Unfortunately no wire to be connected, so the microphone was the tool to record and the sounds were not so good but still could be a good memorial sounds for me.
Sunnyside
In the afternoon, we went to the home of Davi and went together with Mom, Maria, Kelly, Todd and Max to Sunnyside to swim. The shore was not sandy but rocky and unconfortable to walk here but the view was so nice. There was a diving board for the swimming. We brought some tire-tubes and enjoyed swimming with them. Of cource we started hit together with the tube and wave made by moterboart made us fun !
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August 8th
Writing letters
In the morning, I focused on writing mail to friends, parents and relatives. It was really hard job to write mails. During writing, I was recognized that I had only 14 days left to live in this great town and felt so sad. This was the first time for me to imagine the leaving day from this town. Someone told me an experience of "homesick" but I never felt. I suppose it was because of my host family and this enjoyable town and lake.
Sunnyside again
In the afternoon, I went to Sunnyside again but with another fellows, Todd's friends and his girlfriends. The play spot was same as yesterday's but it was fun to play with similar aged boys and girls. Todd forgot to let his wallet out and his 100$ got wet. I am not sure his big money revived or not but his face, in a embarrassment was really impressive. I was quite young so I am worried about still I teased him with his disaster ! Oh I am really sorry, Todd !
Daily Bee
At that night, when I had been listning to the music, Maria came upstairs and told me that Sachiko who was also an exchanging student staying in Sandpoint was reported on the local papar and I saw a title "Sachiko likes Tacos". Hmmm, in the future, I might also be on the paper !!
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August 9th
Shopping
Shopping area
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I had a lot of friends and relatives to whom I shold buy souveniors, so I asked Dale to take me to the downtown. The 1st Avenue was my favorite to enjoy shopping. First, at the sports shop and found penants and post card. They were quite confortable price for the suveniors so I bought 45 cards and 15 penants. The penants were the icons of North Idaho and Pend Oreille, Schweitzer. The post card cost only 7 cents each. Next, I went to the record store and bought the rock 'n' roll records for myself. At the Rexall Store, I found some articles with the characters, "Sandpoint" or "Idaho" for my relatives. I didn't have a good sense for purchacing those itesm at that time so I am not sure those goods were really happy for each receipients, anyway almost I half finished shopping as "Souveniors".
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August 10th
Huckleberry Picking
Huckleberry
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Huckeberry is the fruite of the state, and of course in the mountain area we can enjoy picking huckleberry. Dale took me, Kelly and Max with his Datsun truck to the mountain. We competed each other who could get them most. Kelly kicked my bucket and stole my huckleberry so I lost and Kelly won !! We could eat the berry with pancake and was really delicious. We ate sausage but unfortunateley, it was too oily and the oil solidified.
After the lunch, we looked around to find bear but quit and drove back on the unpaved winding road. It hit my body and I suppose that oily sausage was quite bad so I felt sick in the afternoon so I had to sleep in the bed. I felt so bad because I didn't want to waste my time to spend in this town but could not been recovered all the day long.
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August 11th
Downtown
I was a bit good in the condition but not perfect, so still I could not go out in the morning so I tried to write a letter and diary. In the afternoon, I felt I could go out so Donna took us together to the City Beach. I quited from swimming so Donna took me around Cedar Street and went into a restaurant called "Donkey Jaw". Dale had been drinking beer and he asked me whether I needed his help on something and I replied "no". So, I walked around the town by myself and completed my souvenior shopping.
Fishing
After dinner, Mr. Mike Reeb took us (Dale, Max and me) to the marina. He had a motor boat at the marina. The boat shipped and went under the bridge of the Burlington Northern Railroad and went toward the central lake. I was so excited with its speed because this was my first time to ride on this type of boat. We stopped the boat and prepared for the fishing. Mr. Reeb started boat with a bit slower speeds and soon we got a big trout !! Mr. Reeb let me drive the boat and tried to acceralete or turn. Of course I didn't have a licence but was really easy and exciting ! We got 4 trouts and what I caught was the biggest and was really honored ! My first experience of the boat fishing made me so happy that I could forget I was being sick.
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August 12th
Clark Fork
Clark Fork
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Dale, Kelly, Maria, Todd and myself with our dog, Smoking Joe went together to Clark Fork, where the name of the river flows into the Lake Pend Oreille. After about two hours' driving along ID 200 State Road, the truck went into the mountain unpaved road and drove for 30 minutes and then on a small bridge, we took a lunch on there. I suppose it was about 2 hours from Sandpoint and really a a remote place.
After that, we walked together along a rocky creek to enjoy the water flow. But the way was so tough and hard to walk a long time so everybody except Dale soon got tired. I slipped and got into the water so took off my jeans and walk with half-pants so I got a lot of scratch on my legs. On the returning way, we went to the nursery of trout that impressed me a lot. Still Clark Fork has a such kind of nursery in the city.
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August 13th
Water Skiing
Boart Dock
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I had been looking forward to this afternoon because I knew that in that afternoon we could enjoy water skiing on the lake. Mr. Reeb and his son and Todd got on his boat and went to the opposite side of the lake where the launching board was settled. Mr. Reeb's son was the first man to try. When the boat started, his son pulled and woke up from the water. After several seconds, when the boat curved, he unfortunately was down into water.
My first trial was only 3 seconds because I could not stretch my arm. My second trial, I could stand on the skiing boad and ran about 300 meters and splashed into water. Mr. Reeb told me to keep the knees and arm stretched. So I tried as told at my third trial and finally I could succeed to run more than a kiro meters and could turn. Of course the water skiing became my one of the favorite experience during this homestaying.
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August 14th
Miscellaneous
We originally had a plan to enjoy water skiing again but unfortunately the weather didn't allow to go. Of course I cannceled to go to Church and went to downtown by bycicle. I was told by my parant in Japan that I should buy more souveniors. At the store I bought, the staff in the store mis calcurated the amount but I recognized and could explain that the charge was wrong. Another thing I should take care was "Made in Japan" was also popular in this city, especially for the folk articles. At present, those articles might be "Made in China", but in that decade, the "Made in Japan" was to be popular in the U.S.A. I bought a clock for myself and kept for a long time with the time of Sandpoint. After I came back to the home, I ate lunch by myself. In the afternoon, I went out to the field and played with Chicken, Cown and Sand Creek.
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August 15th
The Interview at Daily Bee
Donna took us to the beach and we played with Tina, the cousin of ours at the beach. She brought a boart and float on the water. It was really fun for us and enjoyed swimming so much. After that I was taken to the office of the local paper, Daily Bee. Yeah ! I got a chance to be on the paper ! The interviewer was Mr. Jim Waggoner who was the Sports Editor at the paper. Donna almost replied and I sometimes added my own words. I am not sure whether he could catch up what I want to say but the article was quite big and was surprise for me. After that, we went to the home of Donna's brother and we watched "Golden Fishes" in his home. When I went back home, everyone had been looking for Smokin' Joe. He had been lost since the day before. Dale said he would be looking for his girlfriend. We all walked around here and there after dinner and made everybody so tired.
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August 16th
Daily Bee
Recent Daily Bee
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I waited and waited for the paper. My article was in the third page and just behind the news of the death of Elvis. Yes, when he died, I was in Sandpoint. The article said I had been enjoying to stay in Sandpoint and what I was interested in most. The article occupied 1/3 of the page and I was so satisfied with the size. I suppose this was because I spoke out a lot, even though the grammar was quite wrong and also I didn't have enough vocabularies. At the very end of that interview, I think I could speak out more than Donna. In the night, Mickey came to the home with his fiance, Colleen. Also Chris and Dian were in the home and we enjoyed talking each other. In that chattering, Dale told me that Donna was thick when she was young. Other than that, I could see a lot of photographs of this family. To have a communication with those family was also exciting experience for me.
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August 17th
Coeur 'd Alene Trip
We all woke up early in the morning and drove to Coeur d' Alene with Grand Father and Mother with Tina. It was 77th birthday of Grand Father and the family planned to have a birthday trip. We arrived at 9:30 and the departure time was 10:00, so Dad and I got a walk around Coeur d' Alene City Park. Dad told me that "when a girl smiles to you it means she felt like she likes you". And it seemed to me a cultural difference at that time.
Recent Daily Bee
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The borat was, I believe that it was operated by "Coeur d' Alene Resort", was a big one and it was curious to me that the boat with engine just tagged the passanger boart. The boat slowly went south along Lake Coeur d' Alene and the trip was about half-a-day long trip. I don't think I will get sleepy now because the scene from the boat won't be boredom, but at that time, it was hard for a boy to sit down silently at the chair and I remember I got sleepy. A lot of motor-boart went passing the cruising boat, I felt I want to get on the speedy boart ! After the lunch, I saw the railroad bridge across the lake, and it impacted me much because the bridge was turning when a big ship passed and I had never seen such kind of bridge. After that, the boart arrived at St. Joe River and the sight was really, really beautiful and curious to me. (Please also see the corner of "Coeur'd Alene" and you can understand the reason why I felt curious....) The boat went through the river and turned back. It was around 14:30 and the boat went back to the city.
On the boart, I was asked by Dale to play piano and I did. We had talked and laghed a lot. Finally, this great trip ended when the boart arrived at the city. We swam at the beach of Coeur d' Alene and enjoyed the birthday party. After we arrived at Grand Father's home, everyone was so tired, so I just played "Happy Birthday" for him and went back to the home.
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August 18th
School
I dreamed that I had to go back to Japan and the woke-up was so sad for me because I had less than a week. Dale took me to watch schools in Sandpoint. Unfortunately, I didn't remember where I went but only impressive thing was that the gymnasium was so good especially for basketball. Of course the yellow-well-known school buses were at the school.
Swimming
I asked Todd to call Chris to go swimming at Sunnyside. We found a log at the rocky beach in Sunnyside, of course we tried to go with this log to the opposite shore. I think it was a dangerous adventure and we turned and turned when a motor boat passed near the log. But finally we succeeded. We, 4 boys worked hard to low a log and it became a good memory for the last-time Sunnyside swimming. In the evening, at that night Dale and Donna enjoyed a concert in Spokane.
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August 19th
Centimentalism
I had only three days left, so I felt so sad and could not talk to anybody in the morning. The strong emotion that ruled me was I wanted to trace this one month again ! So I got out for a bike-ride and it was my routine work in the morning. After that we went out to pick blackberries in the field, but I wore nothing in my upper body, so it was so easy to be scratched and scratched !
Town
I went to downtown by myself on the bike and bought my "very-last" gift for families. I only had a few dollars left after this purchasing.... But, it was very very luxurious for me to spend more than 140 dollars in only a month. On the way to the home, I watched the crossing of two railroad becuase it had been interesting to me for a long time so I went up on the bank a saw that it was really level crossing. Why it was curious is simply that kind of angled-crossing was rare in Japan and most of the corssing was grade separation.
Cooking
I was very surprised at seeing Todd had been baking cookies ! Of course I could not. Max, Maria and Kelly tried to get the cookie and I and Todd tried to drove them away by spanking them with towls. Everyone got excited and was so fun.
Dinner
I was so grateful because Donna bought something for my Japanese parent. I really didn't know how could I make them happy with my staying but if I could give them something through this staying, it was so nice for me. The dinner was "Idaho Steak" with "Idaho Potatoe" dished and was so tasty and enjoyable dinner. I was satisfied with such kind of memorial dinner. After the dinner, we went to Jeff's home because that day was his birth day. Of course I could not bring some present other than the last one item for souveniors to American friends.
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August 20th
Shopping at the market
From that morning, I started to pack the baggage that was really I didn't expect to do so because it was for leaving this town and family. Around the high noon, I went shopping with Donna, Maria and Kelly at AGI market which was operated by the cousin of Dale. We just bought tomato and other foods. I found some records and priced at 39 cents and it was used record and so cheap.
Water Skiing
In the afternoon, I had a second chance to enjoy water skiing. I had been waiting this chance because I could not ski well but I felt like I could catch a tips to ski well. Mike Reeb took as with his son and myself, Todd and David. Motor boat got to the boat ramp as well and we started with Todd. He could ski for 5 minutes without down. I tried second and succeeded in skiing without down ! Yeh ! I did ! It was very nice to have a wind browing with speedy boart. The rest 2 boys also succeeded ! Everyone got improved so well ! The tip was to keep elbow and knee straight. For the beginners, it was difficult to avoid pulling bar too much because of afraid. The second tip is cornering. While going straight, the skiing boards will run on the hard stream made by screw and it was rather easy to get on this stream. But on the corner, the skiing boards will swerve from the stream and rather difficult to keep the balance. When you will be out of the stream of screw, then it would be better to pull up the top of the skiing board. Anyway, step by step, I could learn how to ski well and I would never forget this great experience on the beautiful lake !
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August 21st
English and Language
This was the day before I left the town and I had only 22 hours until departure. I could have so many times to communicate with English spoken people and that brought me a hard-to-get experience if I had been spending my time only in my home town. Language is just a tool to communicate each other. Even though I had a very poor vocabulary, I tried to speak out what I had in my mind because I had to do so. This was much different from learning English in the school class or even in English conversation class. Fortunately, later on, I had a good chance to work with English spoken colleagues and it improved my English communication skill. But if I could not get such kind of chance, finally, my communication skill would be so poor. So, I would like to get more skill in English communication from this good opportunity.
Pend Oreille Beach
I went to the City Beach to enjoy last chance of enjoying great mother lake. I visited there several times but never felt that kind of sadness except that day. I met with Mr. Ishi and his host family there and also it seemed to me he was so sad.
Farewell Party
In the evening, host family held a farewell party for me. Relatives and friends, a lot of people got together at home and I could reallu enjoyed the party. I took everyone's photos (I lost them unfortunately) boys and girls played chasing game in the field until late and really got fun. But one by one, folks said to me "good bye" and I felt very sad with it and at the same time, I could have my appreciation to everyone to support my one-month staying. We got into the house and enjoyed final conversation. Dale showed me his album and introduced his friends and relatives to me. He gave me his "US Navy" badge and the anniversary badge of the "200 years from establishment of the United States". Both two badge became my treasure. I asked about their plan to come to Japan and I was so pleased to know Maria had. We talked a long while and finally I had to go to bed but I couldn't sleep because a lot of memories came into my mind and it made me excited and sad. Anyway, the exchange program had to be closed tomorrow.
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August 22nd
Departure to Spokane
I woke up at fifteen minutes past 5 a.m. and enjoyed the breakfast with "Chex" the cereals which was not easy to eat in Japan at that time. All items was packed already and I was ready to leave this home. It was so hard to say "good bye". Dale had to go working that day so I told him that I was so sad that I could cry and I would never forget his and everyone's kindness and support during my stay. We hugged each other and I also said good bye to Todd. Maria, Kelly and Max went with me by Donna's Ford. The silver Ford took me to Spokane International Airport. I met with everybody and all of their face were filled with satisfaction from the kind of archieveness. We went toward the domestic gate after we dropped the baggage at the check in counter. Donna cried and told me she could enjoy me and it made me crying too. I passed my handkerchief to her and told her my appreciation to her and her children. We had to move inside the gate and then this was the last chance to see them. I could never forget this moment.
Back to Japan
We got on the domestic flight to San Francisco and enjoyed chattering with members about experience during the homestay. At San Francisco International airport, we met with other team, southern and mid Idaho team. After we had a brief meeting together to close this program at the airport, then we got on the aircraft to Haneda International airport. When the aircraft took off, it told me that really I had to go back to my home country. After about 9 hours flight, we arrived at Haneda airport and finally I met with my mother at the arrival gate. I told her my appreciation to give me such a good experience. In comparison to Idaho's blue sky and clear water, Tokyo's sky made me sad and disappointed. Anyway, it was a very good chance to understand both Japan and America through such kind of experience. This exchange programs have been on going and if you are under consideration, I would like to recommend to try it !
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