Nikenkan Version 2.0

The inaugral J-food Club (JFC) food making session was held on the 3rd of September in the JSS room. On the menu was tuna onigiri. Onigiri is basically a ball of rice with some fillings inside, shaped into a triangle and wrapped with seaweed. There was three sessions held, with about 7-10 people at each session.

More pictures can be found at the NUS JSS Facebook group

Interlink 2009 has indeed been a memorable experience for me this year and the memories stay for long never dulling. Although school was very much ongoing during the homestay, it was definitely worth every second of it as we went about doing our best with our limited japanse showing the 九大students around Singapore.

Not only was it a chance to learn more about the language, I guess we all walked away learning more about the differences in culture and learning to see Singapore through a different set of eyes which was very refreshing and おもしろいwhen faced with questions about our culture and history which was taken for granted. Such as why people here do not carry a fan and towel with them since it is blazing hot everywhere in Singapore when back home(Japan) it is impossible to imagine someone not doing so.

Food was definitely a good ice breaker and it was amusing bringing them around to all the hawker stalls in Singapore, seeing their faces grimace in horror to the initial sight of the foreign and often spicy looking food but ending up loving it. And it was cheap since meals were mainly not pricy.The friendships made during this short period of 5 days is definitely memorable and fruitful as I believe everyone’s command of the language improved and became more confident in speaking in Japanese. This is a rare chance and I would definitely recommend this to anyone reading it who have not hosted before or wanting to practise their Japanese instead of doing so in a control environment such as a class. 

Wesley

Homestay began with the arrival of the 5 Japanese students at the airport. I was pretty excited to meet Fumi, the person whom I was hosting. Upon meeting her, I found her to be very bubbly and extremely cute!

The first time she saw the HDB block that I was staying at, she was amazed at how tall the building was. As she was pretty tired from the flight, we had an early night to prepare for the next day’s activities. The next day, we went to school by MRT, and again, she was rather excited to start the day off by riding on the train. We had a tour to the Culture Room at JS department where it was the first time they had ever experience the traditional tea ceremony. After lunch at the engineering canteen, we took a hike at Mt Faber. Even though it was tiring, we really had fun interacting with them as a group!

As she requested to have dinner with my family on Sunday, we took her to the old airport road for dinner. There we had a feast, eating chilli crab, herbal chicken, cha kuay teow and drinking sugar cane juice. Even though the rest of my family members do not speak Japanese, they were still able to communicate because Fumi’s English is really good! After dinner, we brought her to Geylang Serai to see the Pasar Malam inconjunction with Hari Raya. She surprised us with the knowledge of knowing how to speak simple Malay. When we were back home, as we were still in the month of the Ghost Festival, my mom brought her to see the Wayang which was fascinating for her because she has never seen anything like that.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the activities on the other days due to school, thus I wasn’t able to join her. But every night we would talk about her day and she would jabber happily about her day and what she bought. We even had a try-on-her-new-clothes session!

I attended the BBQ on the last night and because I had an assignment that I had to rush for, I couldn’t stay and send her off the next day. So our last goodbyes were said during the BBQ when I was about to leave. I guess, both of us were trying not to cry, and we kept talking and hugging and refused to part. It was sad for me to see her for the last time! And I will and am definitely missing her!

 Charmaine