Diary of Marvela Ester: Wakayama: DAY 1 (Saturday, July 30th, 2016)

MORNING

Saturday, July 30^th, 2016 was the official first day of Asian and Oceanian High School Students’ Forum 2016. In the morning, all of the overseas students were gathered in the Wakayama Prefecture Office Meeting Room to have an orientation. We, the overseas students, were welcomed to experience how great Wakayama Prefecture is.

Presentation by one of the organizers

In this orientation, each of us was given nametag, event booklet, and souvenirs such as postcards depicting wonders of Wakayama, cute bandages with Wakapan (mascot of Wakayama) on it, and Wakapan pen.

Meet Wakapan! The mascot of Wakayama

My name tag ;D

Postcards

After one of the organizers had given a brief presentation about the prefecture of Wakayama, we were introduced to our homestay families.

I met Rika, a student from Seirin High School, who became my host friend. Despite of her inability to see, she was amazingly able to speak English very well.

When she first met me, I was surprised and impressed that she introduced her name with Indonesian language. She said that she learned some Indonesian greetings from her father’s friend. I felt really welcomed and happy to have such a wonderful new Japanese friend.

I and Rika :D

HOMESTAY ACTIVITIES

After the organizers had let us be with our each host family, I and Rika with her mother went to a 100-yen store as our first destination.

In the DAISO store, we found a lot of goods which were in good quality and reasonable price. I bought green tea powder, some cute stickers, as well as candies such as plum candies and orange candies since Wakayama is known for its freshly grown fruits.

The interesting 100-yen store

Pleasantly sour but also sweet plum candies

Then, we went to a supermarket nearby. Rika’s mother bought fresh Tako which means octopus and some vegetables as the ingredients for lunch. She also bought me some packages of the popular Meiji chocolate bars.

Fresh seafood corner

After all this fun shopping, we went home for a lunch.

Our lunch was interesting as it was unusual – we had a Tako ball or Takoyaki party. We made ourselves some tako balls, a unique Japanese food, using a Takoyaki maker. While we were cooking the tako balls, Rika and I had a great chat that made us get to know each other more.

Toppings: Octopus, cheese, tempura crumbs, sausages!

Ta-daa!

After we had had our lunch, Rika’s mother dressed us. I wore Yukata, a gorgeous Japanese traditional costume. Then, we left to go to the Wakayama Radio Station.

Rika and her mother took me to Wakayama Radio Station as they had a close friend that worked in there. Rika and I were interviewed in the last 10 minutes of a program called “WE!ERA”, talking about how Japanese students spend their summer holiday. As the radio was in Japanese language, so Rika was translating the questions from the announcer for me. I was asked about my name, whether I liked Japanese food, and what I will do in the Asian and Oceanian High School Students’ Forum 2016.

Rika and I with the announcers

It was my first time for having the exciting experience of being interviewed in a Japanese radio and I really enjoyed it.

As we drove home, we went to a market. We bought sweet Warabi Mochi, delicious Curry Pan (Curry bun), and tasty hotdog.

In the evening at home, Rika and I played together. We played piano – Rika performed a 5-minutes classical song and I was really impressed of her such amazing talent.