先週水曜日の全校集会でのスピーチの内容です。

JustinとMattは、昨年11月の始めから12月の始めまでの１ヶ月日本に滞在しました。お世話になった岡山学芸館高等学校の先生がたとホストファミリーへの尽くしきれない感謝の気持ち、そして、それだけお世話になったことを、新しく到着したICET生たちに尽くす事で自分たちの誠意を示したいという内容のスピーチです。日本語訳は、数日内に投稿します。

まずは、英語で綴られている彼らの熱い感謝の気持ちを。

Japan Speech – Justin and Matt

Hello my name is justin knight and this is matt conolly and on the 8th of November matt and I embarked on a life changing journey to japan where we would go to school at okayama gakugeikan and stay with host families for one month.

My host families last name was Doi and my host mother and fathers name was junko and mokoto, I had one host brother and his name was ren and I had one host sister whose name was sara. I lived in a small country town called tsuyama which is about an hour to okayama city. Every day I woke up at 4:50 to leave the house at 6 every morning to get to school. Hello everyone, I’m Matt and last year I took the opportunity to live in Okayama for one month to learn the language and immerse myself in the culture. My host family was the Sashiwa family and my host mother and father’s names were Tomoko and Kazuaki. I had four host sisters who were all older than me. From oldest to youngest, there was Chika who was 28, Eri who was 26, Nana who was 24 and Yuki who was 16. Eri worked with my host mother at a salon while Chika and Nana didn’t lived elsewhere in Japan. Nana was fluent in English and has an Aussie boyfriend. Yuki was the sister who went to school with me. She is in Canada right now to study English. I lived in NishiGawara which is in Okayama city.

I would catch a one and a half hour train trip to okayama station and would then transfer to a 30 minute train trip to saidaiji station which was a ten minute walk to okayama gakugeikan. I visited many enjoyable sites while staying in japan such going to okayama castle, Kyoto which is a traditional city in japan and I also went to universal studios japan, but everyday I looked forward to the train trips because I got to speak to many interesting Japanese people, cleaning the school because, again everyone was out and about and it was chance to socialize with my friends and to practice my Japanese. I got to school by walking 20 minutes to the train station and took the train ride with Justin to the walk to the school. I loved my host family for taking to heaps of awesome places like Hiroshima to go sightseeing, and to different Japanese restaurants to try many incredible Japanese foods. The school life was very different to how things are here, it was a very eye-opening experience. I looked forward to spending time with my family outside of school, speaking Japanese to new friends from school and going out to famous tourist attractions.

 I also enjoyed every time I ate because the Japanese cuisine is delicious. Its amazing how attatched you get to your friends and family and the hardest part about this experience was saying good bye to your class and family. Saying a speech to thirty people who cant understand you, having to have your English translated to Japanese just so the students can understand was one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life, because these friends I have made are friends for life and having to wait a long time to see these friends again makes you emotional. The hardest part about the trip was saying goodbye to my host family and friends because we created so many fond memories that I will have for life. Then there was the obvious language barrier between my Japanese friends in class. There were times when it was a bit overwhelming, but it was important for me to realise realise that the opportunity to experience a new culture and make new friends was amazing. I am still very thankful to everyone that I crossed paths with in my trip for making me feel welcome.

Whilst in japan matt and I got the chance to meet these beautiful icet students, today we will introduce them. Koki, honoka, yuzu, kaho, masaki, nonoko, rina, momono, shiori, aoi, nami, rikiya, yusaka, kayo, wataru. Matt and I want, plead and suggest you get to know and introduce yourselves to these beautiful people. I cant speak for matt however the opportunity to meet these Icet students has and will continue to changed my life and they’ll change your lives too. They will teach you things about yourself and many things about japan and they are some of the nicest people ive ever met.

We plead to you that you introduce your self to them because they are quite shy, this is because they have not seen so many anglo saxon people in one room before. Picture yourselves in a room full of people that don’t look or sound the same as you.

The ICET students for 2014 are Koki, Honoka, Yuzu, Kaho, Masaki, Nonoko, Rina, Momono, Shiori, Aoi, Nami, Rikiya, Yusaka, Kayo, Wataru.

All of these students are amazing for helping me in a new culture that I was not used to and helping me learn Japanese. They want to do the same with their English and you can help them. It is as easy as saying Hello and introducing yourself at lunch. You will be amazed about their culture and how different their life is to yours in Japan. I would like to take a moment to say a massive thank you to ICET for giving us this opportunity and to meet some awesome people. Chances like this don’t come along very often at all, so I urge this year’s Year 10 students to apply for the scholarship and go on a life changing journey to a very unique culture.

I have the pleasure of introducing you to the new ICETS of 2014, their names are: Akemi (Audrey), Shotaro, Asuka, Yuka, Yuya, Fuyu, Ayaka, Junsei, Takamasa, Shiori, Hina, Karin, Haruka and Kodai.

Thank you for listening!