Please join us for this special Student Delegation Reunion night for all former delegates and their families to share stories, compare notes and to provide informal thoughts and feedback to the 2009 Student Hekinan/Edmonds delegates prior to their departure in July!
Meet with old friends, bring your photos and learn about volunteer opportunities for the 2009 Hekinan student delegation!
We look forward to meeting each of you and your families! We will be having a drawing for an iTunes gift card...you won't want to miss that!
Light snacks, coffee, tea provided!
Location: Coldwell Banker Bain at 108 5th AVE S Edmonds WA
Date: Sunday May 17th, 2009
Time: 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
RSVP: edmondssistercity@gmail.com
Monday, May 11, 2009
Report from Hekinan
From Carl & Heather Jensen living & teaching in Hekinan - March 2009
The weather is growing milder and the cherry trees are beginning to blossom after a long and surprisingly windy winter in Hekinan. The winters here are much sunnier than in Edmonds, and there was no snow this year, but the winter wind sweeping down from the mountains and out to sea is a constant feature of life in Hekinan during these months. Everyone seems to welcome the change in seasons.
The end of March also brings the end of the Japanese school year. At the five Hekinan junior high schools, the 9th graders have graduated and scattered to their new high schools. In Japan, junior high school students don’t move en masse to their local high school; rather, they apply to various high schools and go to the best one that they can perhaps in Hekinan, at Hekinan High School or Hekinan Technical High School, or perhaps in one of the neighboring towns of Nishio, Kariya, or even the big city of Nagoya. Every morning, high school students from Hekinan head for the train station to take the train to school in another town, and students from other towns arrive on the train for their school day in Hekinan.
The Hekinan Sister City Association is preparing to send fifteen students to Edmonds for the student homestay exchange this summer. The students were selected just a couple of days ago, and will be preparing for their visit for the next few months. The student exchange is a very important part of the sister city program; at every school there are teachers and vice-principals who have travelled to Edmonds on one of the exchange programs, and they are consistently the teachers who have the best understanding of foreign cultures and who are the most welcoming of a foreign teacher in their midst! Likewise, the students who visited Edmonds last year have benefitted from the homestay. They are outgoing, open, and have a perspective that most junior high school students don't have. All of the families who hosted students last year have really made a big difference for their Hekinan students. Thank you again for your kindness in opening your homes to the students!
The weather is growing milder and the cherry trees are beginning to blossom after a long and surprisingly windy winter in Hekinan. The winters here are much sunnier than in Edmonds, and there was no snow this year, but the winter wind sweeping down from the mountains and out to sea is a constant feature of life in Hekinan during these months. Everyone seems to welcome the change in seasons.
The end of March also brings the end of the Japanese school year. At the five Hekinan junior high schools, the 9th graders have graduated and scattered to their new high schools. In Japan, junior high school students don’t move en masse to their local high school; rather, they apply to various high schools and go to the best one that they can perhaps in Hekinan, at Hekinan High School or Hekinan Technical High School, or perhaps in one of the neighboring towns of Nishio, Kariya, or even the big city of Nagoya. Every morning, high school students from Hekinan head for the train station to take the train to school in another town, and students from other towns arrive on the train for their school day in Hekinan.
The Hekinan Sister City Association is preparing to send fifteen students to Edmonds for the student homestay exchange this summer. The students were selected just a couple of days ago, and will be preparing for their visit for the next few months. The student exchange is a very important part of the sister city program; at every school there are teachers and vice-principals who have travelled to Edmonds on one of the exchange programs, and they are consistently the teachers who have the best understanding of foreign cultures and who are the most welcoming of a foreign teacher in their midst! Likewise, the students who visited Edmonds last year have benefitted from the homestay. They are outgoing, open, and have a perspective that most junior high school students don't have. All of the families who hosted students last year have really made a big difference for their Hekinan students. Thank you again for your kindness in opening your homes to the students!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)