Australia hosts Mission Project 2015

Bridge Club Australia had the pleasure of welcoming 13 Japanese students for the summer excahnge. Everyone had a fantastic time with their hosts and enjoying showing them some of Australia's culture.

Chole (JA 2014) had to say about the exchange prgram; 

"After visiting Japan last year and staying with a host family, I wanted to give back and show my appreciation by being a host family. I was not sure what to expect when I first volunteered to host, I remembered my stay in Japan, I could hardly speak any Japanese. Tamao became part of our family for 5 days and I really admired her. Although it is was chaos at times trying to communicate, she had extremely good English and always tried to get the message through to us. 

Two highlights of my trip were seeing what Japanese daily life is like and exploring different places in Japan. Tamao got to experience what an Australian school is like. She went to school with my sister for a day and later in the day, she went to swimming lessons. She was in the audience for my production and played outside with my sister. She ate Australian foods, had a roast for dinner and tried frog in the pond for dessert.
We also took Tamao to see some of the Australian landscape and wildlife. We went to the Mornington Peninsula and went for a walk along the beach. She laughed and had fun while enjoying all the adventures at Enchanted Maze. We went to Healesville Sanctuary the next day and walked through the park looking at the different animals and talking about the animals in Japan. I had an amazing experience hosting and have made a strong friendship that I will keep for ever. Even though at times it was hard, we survived and were able to have a fabulous time with Tamao."

And Yoni Arad (9 yo);

"I was so excited when mum said we will be hosting a Japanese kid for APCC Mission Project. On 19/8/15 we drove straight after school to Robert McCubbin primary school in Box Hill. We met Haruhi and all the other host families and Japanese visitors. After a quick hello and a couple of photos we were back in the car and on our way home. Haruhi fell asleep in the car within minutes, he must have been so tired after a long flight and a busy day in Melbourne. At home we showed Haruhi around the house and the garden. When mum made dinner we played some games. It was nice having another person in the house but also a little weird because we didn't know him well and he didn't speak much English except some words like 'yes', 'no' and ' thank you'. The next day we woke up and got ready for school. I was super excited to show Haruhi our school, because we have a beautiful garden and it is very different to schools in Japan. We, visited all the class rooms and all the students got to ask Haruhi, Ayaka and Akari (the other Japanese guests) questions. After school we visited a friend who looks after orphaned wild life and Haruhi got to pet a joe wallaby and a baby wombat, they were so cute. We then went to feed cockatoos and rosellas. We ended the day with some basketball in the back yard. It was an awesome day. The next day after school we went for a walk down our street to feed the geese and when we got back home we jumped on the trampoline, it was so much fun we didn't even want to stop. Saturday morning started like always at 6.30am, we went to our Jiu Jitsu class but on the way stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. From there we went to Healseville Sanctuary. We met so many other host families there and Haruhi got to see some of his friends. It was a very tiring day but we all enjoyed it especially seeing the koalas and kangaroos and the bird show. Sunday was Haruhi's last day with us. I was already starting to feel sad. Haruhi packed his suite case all by himself and we gave him some presents to give to his mum, dad and sister when he gets back to Japan. We had some time before the farewell party so we went to the Emerald CFA and we go to go in a fire truck. Haruhi even got to put on real fire fighter gear and have a go spraying water with the hose. We continued to Emerald lake park and got to see Puffing Billy. Time was running out, we had to get back to Box Hill to the farewell party. At the party all the Japanese kids were very happy to see one another. They sang a couple of songs in Japanese and did a dance. After that all the host kids joined the Japanese kids and we did the dance together. After the dance they gave us a their special costume. It was time to say goodbye. We hugged one last time before Haruhi went on the bus that will take him to the airport. I was sad, I didn't want my friend to go, I wished he could stay much longer. Even though it was a little hard to talk and explain things, we became really good friends. I hope when I am 11, I too could travel to Fukuoka to visit a Japanese family, I might even get to see Haruhi again. "