The tears were flowing Tuesday at Sound Transit Station in Auburn.<\/p>\n
Two sets of students \u2013 neither of whom had set eyes on the other until last week \u2013 were making an emotional departure from each other.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t all about being sad. They all knew that within a week, they\u2019d be seeing each other again.<\/p>\n
The students, 14 in all, were involved with the Kent-Auburn-Tamba Sister City Organization, embarking on a summer of exploring each other\u2019s cultures.<\/p>\n
And the best way to do that, they were finding, was to jump into it \u2013 up to their proverbial eyeballs.<\/p>\n
The group of seven Japanese teens \u2013 two boys and five girls \u2013 were wrapping up a nine-day stay at the homes of their newfound American friends. And the local teens \u2013 six boys and one girl – will be flying to Tamba City, Japan, June 12, to embark on a nine-day visit of their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard, but I know I\u2019m going to see her again,\u201d said student Celena Hansen, who with her mom, dad and sister, hosted Tamba student Aya Kishida.<\/p>\n
Of their drive to the station that morning, where Kishida would meet the rest of her group and be driven to the airport for home, Hansen said, \u201cwe were making faces in the car, teaching each other songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was too short,\u201d chimed in Celena\u2019s mother Christine Hansen, of the time Kishida was with the Kent family. \u201cIt was too short. The time we spent together was so dear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Celena, who started to cry, looked down at the letter Kishida had written her family, thanking them for their hospitality.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very fun, nine days,\u201d Kishida wrote on the loose-leaf paper, which she had decorated with stickers of Japanese pop stars. \u201cEveryone isn\u2019t absolute forgot. Thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hugging, crying, and giving each other high-fives, the teens Tuesday morning were markedly different than the two groups who had shuffled into Kent City Hall July 29, two days into their exchange experience. While warm with each other, the two sets of students seemed a lot more hesitant, and it was obvious they were working around a significant language barrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a little bit of a challenge,\u201d said Janalyn McKeehan of Auburn, whose son Javan Chow was in the program, and who was hosting Tamba student Kana Yoden. Speaking during a break July 29 at Kent City Hall, after students met with Mayor Suzette Cooke, McKeehan said it was going to take some time to get comfortable with one another, an issue heightened by the two sets of languages.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they\u2019re warming up,\u201d she added. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to get to know someone before using (their) language.\u201d<\/p>\n
For organizers of the exchange program, that\u2019s just the kind of learning they want to see: appreciating a culture, one person at a time, beyond the barrier of mere words.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our youth need to have an understanding of the world around them,\u201d said Auburn resident Kim Isom, who is chairing the KAT Sister City Organization, and will be going to Tamba later this month as a chaperone.<\/p>\n
People are people, she said. Even though their outward trappings and beliefs are different, there is that spark of commonality.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though things may look different, people are the same,\u201d she said. \u201cEven though they\u2019re from another part of the world, they\u2019re still kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaperone Yoshio Hisago, who was looking after the Tamba teens, said during their Kent City Hall visit that he wanted his teens to really begin understanding the concept of American culture. And being immersed in it was the best way to do that, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to not only understand native English conversation, but also to understand American life and American culture through their host families,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have stayed here only three days, but they are very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The smiles and commonality were evident throughout the day July 29, as the teens participated in several official visits – to the mayors of Kent and Auburn, as well as a welcoming banquet that evening in Auburn. With every break in the proceedings, the teens made an effort to connect with each other, through shared games, but with a lot of gesticulating to make up for the missing words.<\/p>\n
By the end of the banquet, most of the adults were sitting at their tables, still talking, but the teens had gathered into a big circle, playing games with each other, and with their hosts\u2019 brothers and sisters. The words may have sounded different to both groups, but the laughter was the same.<\/p>\n
Auburn resident Dillon Hurley said he and his Tamba guest, Sho Hirose, were making a go of trying to understand the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially it was very hard to communicate, because I know no Japanese, and he doesn\u2019t know much English,\u201d Hurley said. But the student acknowledged he wasn\u2019t about to let that stop him from appreciating Hirose\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I was a kid I\u2019ve loved Japanese agriculture, architecture and food,\u201d Hurley said.<\/p>\n
As for having someone from a different culture in his home, Hurley said that for seven summers they hosted a teen from Belaruss, Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m used to it – it\u2019s nothing new,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For their own experience, Tamba students Kishida and Yui Kayama said they were having a great deal of fun seeing American culture for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah! It\u2019s very fun!\u201d Kishida said during the July 29 break at Kent City Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are very gentle,\u201d she added of her host family.<\/p>\n
One of the best experiences they\u2019d had so far, the girls said, was the trip to a local water park.<\/p>\n
And one of the things they noticed right off the bat, both girls added, were the large-sized portions of food they saw in American restaurants. With giggles and judicious typing on their handheld translating computer, they noted they were worried they might gain weight.<\/p>\n
For another student, Cam Scotland of Auburn, a shared excitement about technology was a definite ice breaker with his guests, Takara Yamamoto and chaperone Yoshio Hisago.<\/p>\n
His toy robot soon had the Tamba teen and the grownup focused and talking.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy chaperone (Hisago) came in as we were playing with it,\u201d Scotland said.<\/p>\n
As for his own feelings about going overseas to Yamamoto\u2019s family, Scotland, who\u2019s taken two years of Japanese, and whose mother was born in Japan, said he wasn\u2019t stressed about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not nervous, but excited,\u201d he said, noting he hoped to put the experience to good use.<\/p>\n
He wants to go to Japan to be a software engineer, \u201clike my dad,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
And now, with their Japanese visitors gone, the local teens are preparing for their visit to Tamba City, Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not nervous at all,\u201d Scotland said with a grin.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Look who’s going to Tamba<\/p>\n
Local students participating in this year\u2019s Tamba City, Japan visit:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cameron Scotland, Kentridge High School<\/p>\n
\u2022 Celena Hansen, Kentwood High School<\/p>\n
\u2022 Colton Johnson, Auburn Riverside High School<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dillon Hurley, Auburn Mountainview High School<\/p>\n
\u2022 Javan Chow, Auburn Riverside High School<\/p>\n
\u2022 Reed Guisinger, Auburn Riverside High School<\/p>\n
\u2022 Will Schwindt, Auburn Riverside High School<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Students from Tamba City<\/p>\n
\u2022 Nanami Toyoshima<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sho Hirose<\/p>\n
\u2022 Takara Yamamoto<\/p>\n
\u2022 Minamo Hirai<\/p>\n
\u2022 Aya Kishida<\/p>\n
\u2022 Yui Koyama<\/p>\n
\u2022 Kana Yoden<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Learn more<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tamba is an agricultural community located in the Hyogo Prefecture, Hansai region north of Kobe on the island of Honshu, Japan. It is also the name of a \u201csuper city\u201d formed in 2003, by consolidating six cities in the region. One of those cities is Kaibara, with whom the City of Kent has had a long-time sister-city relationship of 40 years. Another of those six communities forming the super city of Tamba is Kasuga, with whom Auburn has had a sister-city relationship since 1964.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Contacts:<\/p>\n
Visit: www.katsistercity.org<\/p>\n
Japan Youth Ambassador Coordinator Kim Isom: icemanclan@msn.com<\/p>\n
Auburn Sister Cities Liaison Duanna Richards: 253-931-3099, or drichards@auburnwa.gov<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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