Bina from New Zealand

This is my little sister from New Zealand.
She was with us last year for almost 1 year. I must say she had experienced many things in one year. Moving to a new house, attending the host family's wedding, visiting their parents etc...

You wonder what she has in her mouth? It is karaage. That is one of her favorites foods, 唐揚げ、餃子、紅茶. I had so much fun talking and playing with her.
Now she is back in New Zealand and trying to come back to Japan for work. I guess she is applying for working holiday?

Anyway, we are looking forward to seeing you again!
Good luck with her life... and find a good boy friend! hehe

今日は大掃除

若手２人の手を借りて、みんなで大掃除をしました、とさ。
まずは玄関をたわしでゴシゴシ。タイロンありがとう。

あとは全部の部屋を掃除機かけて、雑巾がけして、最後はワックスがけまで。
汗かきながら、頑張ってやりましたー。おかげでどこもピッカピカ。ありがとうね～

で、綺麗になった玄関前で、記念撮影（笑

んで最後は、はしごで屋上に登って、男３人でポップコーンとタバコ（笑

そんなこんなで、良い運動になりましたわ～

ちなみにGW中に雨水タンクをもらいに行くのだ。
雨樋からどうやって水を取り入れるか、ネットを調べて、コーナンで部材を探して、
なんとなくイメージがつかめてきた。。。実際にタンクを手にして設置するのが楽しみ！
とりあえずは、非常用＆洗車＆水耕栽培用の水として溜める計画。
あ～忘れてた。蛇口とかも買ってこないと。

忙しいけど、結構楽しいGWになってますわ～

Breakfast

Usually, we let our homestay guests to eat breakfast by themselves, as we provide bread, rice, eggs, and milk. It is up to them to eat whatever and whenever they wish.
But sometimes my wife makes breakfast for them, and here is what she made today.

Hello Tyrone! hahaha, his face is a little red as he had one can of beer. His face gets red easily.
Enjoy your breakfast tomorrow!

Angella from Australia

She is Angella from Australia. We loved her presence in our house, she can brighten everything around her.
And what is more interesting is that she does not speak much Japanese and my wife does not speak English at all. I was kind worrying that if the can communicate well while I am not home. So one day, I came home from the usual work and opened the entrance. I instantly heard someone laughing. And it was not just smiling, but laughing out loud.
Surprisingly, they communicated so well to the point that they understood each other and make conversation in each language they do not share, English and Japanese.

Angella has that kind of talent. She can turn around a problem to opportunity. Language barrier was no more a problem but a tool to communicate.
You are coming to Japan again with your boyfriend this time right, Ang? As you can see in the previous blog entries, we moved to a new house! So, come over to Osaka and stay at our place again!

Looking forward to seeing you real soon!

Elissa from France

She was one of the very first homestay guests we had. We were still in the old house, an apartment. It was during the hot summer, so we went to see fireworks.

After she left, we had a chance to visit France. Then she took us for sight-seeing and her parents also joined us and we had such a good time. Since my wife loves camembert cheese, her parents was so kind enough to take us to several supermarkets and bought us lots of lots of cheese.

We took this picture when we were in France. Obviously we don't speak French and we were kind of lost on the way to the museum. We somehow managed to get on a train, but weren't sure where to get off. We were planning to meet Elissa at the museum, so we had to get there at all cost. So we were sitting on a seat in a train. And we found her! She was on the same train and sitting right across us! We felt so much relief and afterward, we did not have to worry about getting lost anymore.

This kind of give-and-take experience is a great memory for me. This is why being host and welcoming homestay guests is so much fun!

My old and dear friend

Today, I met one of my oldest and dearest friends from the States, well actually from Sophia University. While I was in the university, she came to Sophia from the States for a year as an exchange student and we participated in one of the student organizations. We spent lots of time and efforts to make it successful and that experience is such a precious memory for me.

It has been almost 7 years since we last met, but the moment when we saw each other in the office, we went straight back to the old days and the time gap was gone instantly. (sounds like girl/boyfriend having long distance relationship... hahaha)

It is so interesting that we happened to be working at a same company in a difference country and we did not know it until a few weeks ago. 運命ですね（笑

Anyway, we talked more than 1 hour in a cafe and the conversation was just endless. She has not changed a bit, still energetic and enthusiastic about her life and positive toward everything.
I am so grateful to have a friend like her. Having such a friend is my treasure...

Well, as she will be participating in the Gasshuku next year, I've gotta to go there as well. I have a feeling that something will start to change in this company with a strong passion coming out of someone like her. After all, maybe this company is more global than I thought? We will see...

Hey Jasmine, make sure to talk about me when you are escorting the vice president while in the States. There is something in him, something very warm, caring and passionate...

Inside view of the house

For those who are interested in doing homestay at my house, here are some pictures of the rooms.

This is the entrance.
The guy standing on the right is Aki.
He is here to study English and Math.
I am teaching English and my wife is teaching Math.








And this is Tyrone's room. He is from Hong Kong, staying for a few months. Currently looking for a part time job and possibly a girl friend?!
He is a very kind and caring person, we are glad to have someone like him.

 




And this is Aki's room.
There are two rooms on the 1st floor, tatami room and flooring room. We provide futon for each room and the room has air-conditioning. Basically everything you need is already there for you.







Here is a shared kitchen. There is a refrigerator, table, chair, and toaster. We provide bread or rice for every morning. You can cook whatever you like, just be careful with fire...











You can also work out like these macho guys lol

You can of course use the washing machine.








And here is the shower room. There is nice big bath tub






That is about it for today!.

水耕栽培の拡大

早速昨日もらってきたペットボトルを使って、拡大してみました。
水色、ちょっとエグい色だけど、これ栄養液の色なんで。
多分近所の人とかは、変なことしてるにーちゃんだなぁ、って思ってるんだろうな（笑












今後のために新規ラックも購入して、段々畑の土台が準備完了。
あとは、水を吸い上げるポンプと夏対策として水を溜めておくタンクの構想を考えなければ。
Tyroneも一緒に考えてくれるので、とても助かってます。
とりあえず進捗をUP。

イチゴ狩り行ってきた～

入社前からの大好きな同期と３人で、イチゴ狩りに行ってきたとさ。
３人で、１７０個のイチゴを食してきたとさ。
２人は女性で、そのうち１人は妊婦（笑

その後もがっつりBBQ食べて、大縄飛びまくって、みんな絵は苦手で、大笑いした１日でした。
終わりにはペットボトル５つも獲得出来たので、満足満足。これで更なる水耕栽培の拡大を。。。

Introduction... why homestay?

Well, I should have written this introduction in the first post...
When I was in high school, I was fortunately to go to USA and stayed at a host family. Because of this experience, I always wanted to do the opposite, become a host family and welcome foreigners. Japan is quite closed society and it is not easy to live in Japan for foreigners. So, basically there are 2 reasons why I am welcoming homestay. 1) I want to meet and spend time with variety of people. 2) I want to help foreigners to stay in Japan.
So, if you are interested in visiting Osaka, please contact me! ... well, us! My wife and I.

Brief introduction of us.
Shunji: (myself) in my late 20s. Working at a company based in Osaka.
Sayo: (my wife) in her early 30s. Working at a clinic in Osaka, a nurse.

As of now, we have 2 guest living with us.
Aki: (my friend) is from Tokyo to learn English and Math from us. hehe we are teaching him.
Tyrone: (Hong Kong guest): doing working holiday in Osaka. Looking for part time job now!

Thats it for today. Good night--

水耕栽培始めてみる

 最近野菜の値段が高いのと、自分で作った新鮮な野菜を食べたい！ということで、
ネットでいろいろ調べたら水耕栽培とやらで、作れるみたい。
早速１００円ショップで材料買ってきて、やってみたー
１週間位でこれだけ伸びてきました。いつ収穫できるかな～

Hello world!

高校１年の時にアメリカでホームステイを経験し、今度は自分がホストファミリーになりたい、と思って
今大阪でホームステイを募集しています！

今まで、フランス、イギリス、カナダ、香港、韓国、オーストラリア、ニュージーランドのゲストを受け入れたことがあり、今現在も香港人と日本人２人と一緒に住んでいます。
これから大阪に来ようと思っている人は、ぜひぜひご連絡ください！

これから徐々に、今まで滞在した人の写真や自己紹介、今の家の様子など、写真をアップしていきます。