The Winter of Visitors
The anticipation that usually comes with the Christmas and New Years holidays was particularly high for me this year. In December, at different times, my wife "May" and I were privileged to have had three of my former students from Japan come to stay with us. Though the weather varied from dry cold to soaking rain, this trio of winter visitors added warmth and liveliness to our holiday season.
Our previous two visitors from Japan were my wife's former students in Hyogo, so I was the stranger to them. In this case, all three guests were students of mine, and May was meeting them for the first time. But in each case, the chemistry worked and my wife and I had a wonderful time with this friendly trio.
The first two visitors were students at my school last summer. The tall, willowy and genki "Ali" was my student for one month, and her return trip came in mid-December. She had a busy five-day stay with us, and though she spent much of it with other friends in town, it was enough time to spend a few evenings chatting and for her to make sushi for us one night. As an intermediate English student, her presence at our home made for a good language exchange, as her English practice reflected my efforts at Japanese. Ali's happy personality made for some lighthearted evenings, and she set the tone for the others to come.
Ten days after Ali went back to Japan, the petite, gentle-spirited and soft-spoken "Yulia" stayed with us the weekend before Christmas. Though she stayed for only three nights, she made an indelible impression on us. Because she and May were almost the same age, it was neat to watch them interact, as their perspectives and tastes were very similar to one another.
We took her ice skating at the local rink one afternoon, and although she hadn't skated in a long time, she showed no signs of forgetting the technique. In fact, I would argue that she was even a bit better than I was. Her backward skating was very good, indeed.
Later that afternoon, we also took her to the nearby Costco, where she got to see the huge warehouse-retailer up close for the first time. She bought a jumbo pack of hot chocolate for souvenirs, and also was impressed with the collection of Christmas turkeys!
She left us with a delightful collection of Japanese green tea, a Hello Kitty ornament for our Christmas tree, and plenty of memories.
After Christmas, I was reunited with a face that I hadn't seen for nearly two years. "Mandy" was a high school senior when I first met her at my Nova branch in Osaka in late summer 2005, and I last saw her just before she departed for university in Beppu, Kyushu, the following February. I had only taught her once or twice at Nova, but we always said hello in the hallways whenever we saw each other. In the time that followed, we maintained a steady email friendship that continued after I moved back to Canada and she moved to the southern U.S. on a university exchange program. Mandy didn't want to spend her winter break amongst the cacti in the desert, so she went on a trip to a few cities, with Vancouver as her final stop. It was also her only stop in Canada, her first time to the Great White North.
During the nine days that she was here, I took her around to different sites in Vancouver. Most notable were Metrotown shopping centre, Robson Street, North Vancouver, and Gastown. When May joined us for a few days, we went up Burnaby Mountain, where the higher altitude meant about six inches of snow on the ground. Mandy was thrilled with her first experience in Canadian snow! Afterward, we relaxed with a coffee and snack at that great Canadian icon, Tim Horton's.
May and I had a great time with her. Mandy's spoken English and listening comprehension were fabulous, most notable being the fact that she did not need subtitles when watching movies.
Speaking of movies, another of Mandy's outstanding features was that she was a HUGE patron of the arts. During her time, we watched almost a dozen DVD movies. Along with her penchant for video, we will probably remember her for her happy humming of musical tunes in our house...and everywhere else!
Thank you so much for visiting, ladies. We were very happy to have been your hosts, and we hope to see you again. Hayaku kaerimasu! Itsu demo kite kudasai!
