48 hours

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In less than 48 hours, my 16 year old daughter will return from Japan where she has lived for nearly 11 months. She went over there in late March 2004 as an AFS exchange student. She's been living in a host family in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture...about 25 miles (40 km) dead east of Tokyo.

My wife flew to Los Angeles this morning. She'll meet Jamie when she flies into LAX on Sunday morning and fly back with her on the last leg of her voyage home. They'll fly from LA to SFO to Boise and arrive Sunday evening at approximately 6;22 p.m. local time.

I can't wait.

 

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So somewhere around HERE then?
I'm sure your all pshyched to have her back, wonder what it will be like seeing all her friends and stuff after 11 months away, must be odd

Hope you have a good evening planned on sunday,

 

Wow that time passed already?

I hope she doesn't find it difficult to adjust back.

 

I'm sure she will find the adjustment hard. We were told to expect a sort of reverse homesickness where she pines for her Japanese host family. The first thing she wants to do when she gets back is to be taken to her favorite mexican restaurant. You can't get mexican food in Japan and it's something she's really missed. Less than a day and a half now...I'm counting down.

BTW, Ryan...nice link Sakura is more or less halfway between Chiba city and Narita. Jamie actually went to Narita H.S. because it is an International school and hosts kids from all over the world. It's also near the Narita International Airport. She'll be flying out of there with all of the American AFS students who were placed in Japan this past year in less than 12 hours. Wow!

 

thats good news Trip mate...hope it goes well when she gets back...will be hard to hold back those tears when u see her again

 

So who's gonna hold them back? No problems with tears of joy, mate.

 

Can't add much to the above mate, so enjoy your day! Bet you've been counting down to this for a while mate. Nothin like a family member coming home after a leave of abscence.

 

What a pleasant thread to read tonight

I remember when we were all posting messages of support in what was shaping up to be a really hard time for the family, Trip - and now she's knocking on the door again. I sincerely hope you all have a really warm and happy reunion

And you can just pretend the tears are from the jalapenos in the Mexican meal

 

Enjoy the day Trip. Days like this don't happen very often.

 

Congrats Jim, it's been a year but the time has flown by really.

Jamie will have some great stories to tell I am sure

Ah so,

Pete

 

Jamie has probably landed in Los Angeles by now and connected with her mother. Their flight leaves LA in a little over 2 hours for San Francisco and they should arrive her in Boise in a little less than 7 hours (assuming that their flights are on time).

Cleaning up the house now and getting ready for their return. I can't believe she's almost home.

 

No point in fattening up the calf Trip if Jamie is going Vegitarian

Let us know what the reunion is like!

Pete

 

Just a bit of an update: my daughter Jamie and my wife made it in to Boise about 10 minutes early. We tried to take Jamie to her favorite mexican restaurant but they'd closed early to watch the Super Bowl. We ended up going out someplace generic and will revisit mexican food in a few days.

We spent the rest of the night going over the treasures she brought home (both the physical ones and her memories). She gifted each of us (I got an antique sake' cup) plus small gifts from her host family to us (I got a mouse pad with a picture of a kabuki character) :P

She's changed. She's quite a bit more confident than she was when she left. Of course, I haven't been around her very long but when she's your child, you know if something's changed. After my wife and I went to bed, she and her brother stayed up talking and listening to music (they are both percussionists, although David has more experience).

I'm glad to have her home. She really does seem like a different kid. Sure, she's still my daughter...but one who is 11 months older than when I last saw her and has had numerous adventures in another country. She's always been a strong willed child. Now coupled with greater self confidence, I'm hoping that she will continue to charge after her dreams and seize them.

Ironically, she's the one who's supposed to be jet lagged but she's sleeping soundly in her room. I'm the one who can't sleep.

 

Congrats mate, shes finally home
not sure how the past 11 months have been for you, I know you haven't spoken much about the trip since the first few weeks, I guess you have been keeping yourself pretty darn busy
Shame about the mexican food, I dont think there will be any shortage of it anymore though (atleast, there wasn't last time I was in Boise lol), a Sake cup eh? gonna use it? hehe *hic* or is it just for show?

I hope she keeps in touch with her host family, I know from personal experiance that once daily life returns it can be hard putting aside time to keep in touch with people you would of seen on a daily basis and not had to 'set aside' time for, but I hope she does, who knows, she may well like to visit again when shes a little more older and its always nice to have people that care for you wherever you may be

I'm not suprised shes changed, shes at a pretty influentual part of her life I guess, and she spent almost a year of it in a foreign country, away from her parents, change like that is often good though, it helps build independance and character, two things I'm sure she had already by your comments, but further developed now none the less, keep us posted mate, ill let you know if I'm in Boise in March/April for spring break, not sure if I can afford it yet we can do Mexican, lol

 

Sorry, Ryan. The cup is for decorative purposes only. We aren't sure how old it is but we know it was made in wartime and someplace by the sea. The pictures and characters painted on the inside give us that much information. It also has a hairline crack so drinking from it would be out of the question (I'll have to use a more contemporary sake' set for that).

She definately plans to visit her host family again in the future. She says we are all invited. Her host family owns a condo in Tokyo and we have been invited to use it if we want to visit.

I don't think we are going to Japan anytime real soon. After all, we just got her back. It would make it alot easier to visit tho with a free place to stay.

 

Glad to hear the good news Trip, I just love a happy story

It's a great opertunity to visit and experience life in a different culture, she will be a better and wiser person for it. Hope your enjoying the fact you have your "baby" back.

 

Great to hear Jamie's back safely Trip. And also that she will keep in touch with the Host family - must have been hard from them too when she left.


Happy times to you all, Jim

 

Wow not bad for a 16 year old Trip I wouldn't have the bottle to do that at 26 always wished I'd experienced a different way of life (always wanted to live in America or Canada for a bit to try to figure out why you lot like America Football ) good on her for doing something different...

 

Thanks for keeping us updated Trip, and thank goodness she is home again safe and sound I know it was more of an ordeal for you than it was for Jamie. The question is, did she really enjoy it or is she really glad it is all over?

I can see there would be good and bad. When I visited Japan a few years back, it was sooo expensive I couldn't even afford a sandwich and two beers and two glasses of wine at the hotel cost £40!!

The people were amazing though, so helpful and pleasant.

What is your family's next adventure going to be?

Pete