This year’s delegation of students and adults are preparing for their trip to our twin city, Shiraoi, Japan, June 28 – July 10. The delegation consists of 12 students and three adult chaperones, as well as four adult delegates from the community. The group will spend three days in Tokyo at the beginning of the trip and the remaining eight days in Shiraoi, where they will each be billeted to a homestay family with a child about the same age.
“One of the teachers in our school approached me and asked me if I’d like to go to {Shiraoi}. They handed me the resume and right when I heard I could go, I thought, ‘I’d really like to go to Japan,’” Grade 7 student Branda Eggert said.
The students heard about the trip through their schools or through friends connected to the Quesnel Shiraoi Twinning Society and underwent an interview process to be selected. Some students have family members who have also traveled to Shiraoi in the past.
“I decided to go because my mom went a few years back and I thought it would be a great opportunity to go and experience another culture and meet new people. She still has two friends that live in Japan,” Grade 8 student Hannah Pomeroy said.
“I want to make new friends. I would like to experience their culture and what their routines are and what they do.”
Quesnel junior secondary students Lucas Dunn and Nolan Perison agree they are both interested in experiencing, “the food and the culture.”
While Grade 9 QJS student Ezra Nestel says he is also interested in “the food and how different the cities are compared to Canada.”
The students have been busy fundraising and meeting each month at Shiraoi House in LeBourdais Park to study Japanese together, as well as prepare a performance for Shiraoi’s City Hall.
During their stay in Shiraoi, the students will have a chance to visit schools with their homestay partner. Branda Eggert says she is looking forward to “going to school with the kids and doing the performance in front of town hall.”
At their monthly meetings they have been watching slide shows about Shiraoi, to give them a taste of what they will see there.
The year 2016 will be the 35th anniversary of the Twinning relationship between Quesnel and Shiraoi. Shiraoi will likely send a delegation to Quesnel in 2016, while the next delegation from Quesnel to Shiraoi will travel in two years, 2017.
If you are interested in experiencing another culture, consider applying to be a part of the next delegation – adults and students can take part. For more information about the Quesnel Shiraoi Twinning Society and the next outgoing delegation, call Tomoko at 250-249-5804.
