Homestay

We have a Japanese homestay student staying with us for the next five weeks. As are all Japanese she is delightful. Very friendly, very obliging and very eager to learn. She is here studying english as she wants to work with an airline as an interpreter. She also learns Spanish in Japan. Her english is better than I expected but she finds it hard to understand a lot of our Aussie interpretations of what would be taught in a formal english language course.

I can only imagine how frightening it must be to be a young girl in a foreign country trying to find your way around and understand how things work in such a city as Brisbane. This morning we put her on the bus for the first time. She had her city maps and bus timetables but still it must be confusing. It was hard enough for me to find which bus route may be best for her to take and I live in this city. I rarely travel by bus so I am not familiar with the routes. If I was a visitor to this town I would find it exceptionally confusing. We have the transport info website which is very confusing as there are no maps to help you understand where exactly the bus gets on and off. She needs to take two buses to get to a destination that is only 5 minutes drive from home. She has to go to the city and then back out again to the university. This was the easiest way to do it. But takes a lot longer than it would to just get in the car and drive her there. They are encouraged to find their own way to the university as a way of helping them familiarise themselves and immerse themselves in an english language speaking culture. I'm sure she'll be fine and if she doesnt' show up at home by 7pm tonight I will have to send out a search party.

Henry thinks she's great and has taken to giving her goodbye kisses in the morning when she leaves. He likes to spend time with her in her bedroom and shows off for her benefit. Maya is enjoying telling her all about life as a teenage girl in Brisbane. We plan to take her to the beach some day and show her some other local sights but there is usually never enough time to do everything one wants to. They usually make friends with other members of their study group and plan outings together. I'm sure she'll get along just fine whether we entertain her or not.