Ryu says Goodbye!

Good Morning everyone,

Do you still remember the day I spoke on this stage for the first time? I feel like it was yesterday and I was so apprehensive to be honest.

On the first day of school no one knew me and I knew absolutely no one. I was a bit excited but mostly nervous. Without all of your help, I don’t think I could stand here like this. I would like to thank all of you, but that’s not enough. Instead of my appreciation, I would like to share what I have gained through this experience.

First of all, food is a big difference. Weetbix, Milo, Vegemite, liquorice, sausage sandwiches and so on. I thought Vegemite was the most disgusting food in the world until I tasted liquorice! As soon as I bit it, I fell off from the chair and spat it out!

On the other hand, Cowra lamb is the most beautiful lamb steak I ever had. I found that meat pies are awesome as well, especially with tomato sauce. But before a big bite, you have to make sure of its temperature, otherwise you will burn your mouth!

From the point of customs, I quite like Aussie jokes. I’m getting to know the Australian sense of humour, but not enough to beat Mr Bullock or Mr Howard. I think I told you on this stage before that I wanted to learn Aussie slangs. To learn Aussie slang, I bought an “Australian Slang Dictionary”. There are some good ones in there ……

I also enjoyed the sports I played especially those I had never done before. Saturday Soccer was actually helpful to get to know more friends and their parents and the same with volleyball. All of my host families were involved in either Saturday soccer or volleyball. I think the power of sports is that all players can enjoy for example, regardless of their language or personal background. Having a match, game, race or passing each other, sharing the feeling of winning, co-operating together, all these are another way of conversing and communication. I believe that music has the same power too, even if you could not understand the lyrics you sometimes get to like it because of the beat, rhythm and/or sound. That’s kind of why I downloaded so many AC/DC (80’s music) songs as I have been influenced by every host father.

I have found all of the people in Cowra are so warm and welcoming. I found all of my families treated me as an extra member of their family.

I’m so proud of my entire 5 host Families – The Hayes, the Foster/Saunders, the Smiths, The Blinman’s and the Webster’s. I’ve never spent any lazy days this year. It was full of new experiences. Playing sports, games, chatting together, visiting new places, feeding animals, having morning tea, lunch, dinner together, crying together, being cranky at each other and smiling at each other.

I also found my belief to “try hard, over and over again". Last year was full of challenges and self discoveries for me. I tried so many different things such as soccer, cricket, volleyball, basketball, golf, surfing to name a few. It was not only sport but also food, daily routines, everything. Even this program itself was too. I would like to share just one thing .... Try as many things as possible. It sometimes tough to do it, but just try and you may see the idea from the other side. There are a lot of factors why people stop trying. Being afraid, nervousness, being worried, shyness, being self-conscious, fear of failure, lack of confidence and lack of passion, but we only have one life each. At the same time, everyone has to have the first go, so you shouldn’t be afraid of giving it a try. I told myself “Why don’t you try everything, you can! Don’t waste your limited time, just give it a crack mate!

The biggest thing that I have found is peace. Considering we are living in 2019, it can be difficult to imagine a peaceful world, but we humans need to keep trying to find the solution to make a peaceful world. How do you make world peace? It is through friendship. That’s my answer, this is what I have found. I made a lot of friends this year. It does not mean they are low quality friendships, in fact, I mean I have made friends whom I am going to miss.

The first week of school life in Cowra, I couldn’t remember any names. You guys remembered my name easily because it’s only one and my name is Ryu, as in Kangaroo. So it was easy for you to remember my name. It was difficult for me to remember but I will never forget any names of my friends. Especially as I spent a lot of time with the Year 11’s. You are all my treasures and I’m still hoping that you will duct tape me to the pole so that I can’t go back to Japan!

The good relationships with every host family would be the way to keep a peaceful world as well. It is the simple reason why good relationships are the way to make world peace. Would you start a war against a member of your family? Would you pull the trigger at your best friend? If your family member or your friend made you cranky, you might give them a "noggie", like I got sometimes but you would never use a bullet.

Mr Oliver, the ex-mayor who started the Seikei program, hoped it would foster a peaceful relationship and friendship between Japan and Australia by exchanging young students each year. Originally, he expected this program to be sustained for 15 years. I believe that we are successfully fulfilling his expectations for this program and our youth and future generations are working towards peace with passionate views and friendship, which makes the program sustainable and a source of hope for the future students.

Now I’m the 50th exchange student from Seikei, and the program itself is getting bigger and bigger. When Mr Morrison, the current Australian Prime Minister met Mr Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister, they mentioned this exchange program. That’s how big it is. Who has made it bigger, greater? Who has supported it? I think it’s all of you. All the Cowra High Students showing their respect and responsibility since half a century ago. The Principal Mr Gauci, all the outstanding Cowra High teachers and staff members especially my exchange program coordinator, Mrs Megan Perkins, who has been a great source of support and lastly, all the host families.

Once again I’m proud to be one of the members of this great program and so should you all. I will possibly come back in 2020 to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of this program. Thank you all for sharing such a great time with me.

Ryu Akima

2018/19 Seikei Exchange Student

Ashleigh has a great year at Seikei High School

Hello Cowra High School, my name is Ashleigh and I was the 2018 Cowra Exchange Student in Japan.

Back in September 2017 I decided to make one of the biggest decisions of my life, to go to Japan for a year and live away from my family, my friends and everything I had known. It was the best decision of my life.

I remember feeling both excited and nervous and that was just getting all the paperwork! I wasn’t even going to apply at that point, but it was just the thought that I could be going overseas for a year.

When I was selected, I was over the moon. I couldn’t believe I would be going to Japan. It didn’t feel real. I didn’t hit me that I wouldn’t be in Australia. Even a week, two days and the day before I was leaving, it didn’t seem real, until I got on the plane, I really started to get nervous but still a little excited.

Finally after 10 hours on the plane, my first host sister and mother were there waiting for me. They welcomed me with hugs and I became part of their family. In fact I was lucky enough to be a part of four families and experience their daily lives and make amazing memories with them.

I also got to join the Seikei Dance Club. They were amazing and it was a great experience to learn different dance techniques. We would practice very hard, especially 2 weeks before a performance. We would practice before school, at lunch and after school from 3:30pm to 6:00pm. Sometimes even on a Sunday. The Fight Light was when we performed the school opening and the festival. Everyone was so excited and they screamed so loud, we could barely hear the music.

I met so many amazing people on this exchange. Not only did I make friends but also from other countries as well. Ito from China, Ariane, who was from Canada, Adrian, Payton and Alyssa from America. Alyssa and I are now as close as sisters. We all still keep in touch and miss each other very much. I also miss my Japanese friends and I know they will continue to be apart of my life.

Not only did I make friends, but also experienced the culture. I got to wear a traditional costume called a Kimono three times. One of those times I was in Kyoto with the exchange students and I was lucky enough to dress up as Maiko san, which is basically a Geisha in training.

I had an amazing time doing a Kabuki workshop which is traditional Japanese theatre. It is exaggerated and overly dramatic where we recreated a scene that we had seen. I played the Taiko drums and even got to experience going to an Onsen, which is a public bath. All you can wear is an itsy bitsy towel that you put on your head!!

I must admit though there were times I felt home sick but these moments were short lived and as much as I wanted to see my friends and family, I wanted to stay in Japan more and I miss it everyday. Japan lives inside my heart and I treasure those memories, the families and the friends I have been lucky enough to now have as part of my life. My life has been enriched and I’m so thankful to Rotary who started this amazing program, Cowra High School and Seikei High School for having this amazing relationship and all my host families for taking me in to their homes and lives.

I’m also grateful to Mr Gauci and the Seikei committee for choosing me to go on this exchange, Mr Bates for helping me with the one lesson of Japanese before I left and after coming back, giving me great advice for adjusting and of course Mrs Perkins, for encouraging me, believing in me, being a mentor and a continued source of support.

I really hope you’ll either consider being an exchange student yourselves or even host one of the Seikei exchange students in the future. It is a fantastic experience and I bet you won’t regret it.

Ashleigh Saunders

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