Saroma exchange: It’s hard to say goodbye

My experiences in Saroma have been some of the most wonderful experiences in my life. I really enjoyed doing fireworks with my host family, the Aratas. They have been very supportive of me and I am glad I had them on this trip.

My favorite experience was climbing Mt. Horoiwa. Even though it was humid, it was one of my favorite things to do. When we first got to Saroma, I was so nervous about how I would fit in, but everyone was so kind to me. From when we got there, from meeting my host family, to leaving them — I loved every minute. I loved coming to my host family and giving them gifts and meeting them. I loved my host brothers, and my host parents. They were like family to me.

Another one of my favorite experiences on this trip was going shopping and trying pumpkin ice cream. For the first few days I stayed with my host family I felt like I didn’t fit in. But within a few days, I felt like part of the family. After I felt like I fit in and I was going to school, I made many new friends. Everyone at Saroma Middle School was so kind and friendly to me. When park golf was canceled I was so sad, but a night close to that we watched judo and later we got to use the arena for tag. Then we had more school days. We did more shopping in Kitami. I bought a lot of food there and I thought I spent all my money there. We did eventually go to park golf and I got seven 4th places in a row then I got three first places. We went to climb Mt. Horoiwa it was very hot and humid but it was fun. I wore lots of sunscreen.

One day we went biking and visited a beach. First while biking I was so slow and apparently you don’t have to wear a helmet in Japan. When we were at the beach Zane Carter and I had a contest to see who could get the wettest, but it was shut down halfway. On the way back, Zane showed me how to go faster by using gears. When we got back we had soft-serve ice cream and I bought Ethan and Zoe Copp and Zane banana milk because I found 1,000 yen (about $10) in my wallet. When we went to the first farewell ceremony my host mom gave me a man kimono. It was too big for me. That ceremony was great in that I got to say goodbye to the whole town. Then the school goodbye ceremony was great as well and I got to say goodbye.

About the foods I tried: The first night I was there I had a tempura and rice. Then for breakfast the next morning I had toast, meat and corn bits. For lunch that day I tried school lunch and the milk tasted very good. I had a sort of corn salad and some type of soup. That night I had ebi (shrimp) in a salad with milk and chicken. For breakfast I had toast and yogurt, which I mixed with jam. I think I had an impact putting jam in my yogurt because now all of my host family does it. My family one night decided to have salmon, which I happily ate. In the morning I had toast, yogurt and a new food that looked and tasted like a cold chicken nugget. For lunch I had a corn soup and it was surprisingly very good. Then we ate a meat salad with a type of coleslaw.

For the last day my family did fireworks and had a barbecue. The meat was hard to chew but the flavor was great. My host brothers and I played a small game of Frisbee.

But back to the experiences.

My middle host brother, Yusuke, and oldest host brother, Masashi, and I had a water balloon fight. When we went to the amusement park with no one there it looked like a scene from a horror movie. There weren’t any people and nothing moved. Then we went on some rides and I discovered a ride called Poseidon’s Wrath. It was the most fun ride of them all and we went on that ride over 15 times. There was also a slide to get down quickly to the bottom of the hill. It was using rollers and it hurt so bad it was very numbing. Despite that we kept on going down it. There were another two rides we did a lot, like a shooting game were you shoot baseballs which you load manually. It was one of the most fun games there. Another favorite ride was go-cart riding. We had to stop when the back cart hit the first and it crashed (no injuries, we just spun around). They had what we thought at first was a roller coaster that went completely sideways, but two people sit side by side and pedal along a track in a circle. It is very hard to push by yourself.

That was mainly what I did in Saroma. It may have only been two weeks, but it seemed much shorter. It was so hard to leave them. I was crying and my host brothers were crying and I already miss them. I have some things to say to my new family, the Aratas, and I hope they can see this. I love my host family for their kindness and understanding. My host mom, Yukino, was amazing. I would get home and the house was clean and my dirty clothes were clean on my bed. My dad ran the farm and he wasn’t around a lot but he was very kind and understanding. My host brother Masashi was so kind and sweet he was a dear friend and I can’t wait until he comes in September. My middle brother Yusuke was so kind. He was with me a lot. We didn’t speak much but he cried the most when I left. My littlest brother, Noriaki, was energetic and I loved him for it. That is my thanks to my home away from home. Thanks to everyone who reads this no matter who you are or what you do.

Tobin Hushower will be in eighth grade at Palmer Junior Middle School this fall.