Japanese exchange student

For 4 weeks this summer we had a Japanese exchange student staying with us. Her name was Atsuho and she is 13 years old. It was a little hard a first overcoming the language barrier, but as the month went on we found it easier to communicate. That doesn't mean that we always got our point across though!

When Atsuho first arrived, Daniel was the brave one trying to speak Japanese. We had been give a book that had Japanese and English phrases. We were able to point to the English phrase and she could read it in Japanese.Daniel though had fun trying to read the Japanese.

Over the course of the month we took a few day trips. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Matthiesen State Park, horse back riding, had a couple picnics, went out to American and Oriental restaurants, took her miniature golfing, and just had fun!

When the end of month came, we were all so sad to see her leave. Many tears were shed as she boarded the bus to head to O'Hare to catch a plane with all the other exchange students. So far we have been good at keeping in touch and we look forward to receiving more letters and emails.

Here is a photo album with TONS of picture from our visit. (click here)