Essay

Carters in Japan

By John Gathright

Life was great in Perth. We swam in the Indian Ocean, we did a boat cruise and a nature tour. We fished, we hiked, we really enjoyed ourselves. Parrots visited us while we picnicked and a snake shed its skin under our table. Even driving was exciting: We had a near run-in with a kangaroo family on the highway and received a surprise visit from an emu while we stopped to read our map

We also made some great friends and had some real fun with some Australian families. Even cleaning the house was fun. Before we left we washed the Carters' car, cleaned their home until it sparkled, left a few thank-you gifts and stocked the kitchen with food to replace what we had eaten. We were so busy having fun that it wasn't until our departure that we started to really think about life in Japan, our home and the Carters.

After getting back to Japan, we met up with the Carters and shared out stories. We soon discovered that they too had lots of exciting adventures but that life was not as easy on their end. But the Carters are young, resourceful and intelligent and soon worked out how to get around with a double baby stroller and two little children. They also had fun meeting the locals and trying new food and traditional activities. But, unlike us, language was a big barrier. It was a challenge, even without leaving the house

We have to admit that we were rather oblivious to how much Japanese there is in our home. From our heating system, alarm system, navigation system in our car, to our stove and media equipment, there was so much to learn and so many opportunities to make mistakes and mess things up. Driving in Japan, the roads are very narrow, parking expensive, and there are few street signs and numbers on homes, which makes it difficult for foreigners to find their way

But the Carters enjoyed the challenges and the problem-solving. They loved Japan and we loved Perth so the exchange was a big success for both families.

The first question people ask when they hear about our exchange is: Did anything get damaged? Well, this is not a perfect world and accidents do happen — little things like the navigation system in our car going crazy. Also, the poor Carters ended up watching TV on a multi-channel screen and in elongated picture mode until we fixed it

But most importantly, we had chosen good people. It is so important to pick the right people and know the other family before you exchange homes because there is so much room for misunderstandings or even dishonesty or abuse of trust.

Some hints for future exchangers: Choose the family and then the home. When you start your house-hunting, make getting to know the family, via the Net and phone, one of your main priorities. Decide together how to pay for damages, whether or not to replace food, and how clean you want your home to be when you return. Depending on your home you can decide to have designated off-limit areas.

Our first home exchange was a success and we look forward to doing some more. Our next exchange is Italy and we are just now looking for a great family to trade with for the summer. This is exciting because both families will be experiencing foreign languages and totally different cultures!

Shukan ST: May 25, 2007

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