Hida comes to Canada

5¢ a ride? "yasuuuui!" ~ But no, you can't pay with a $10 bill

On Monday, I got my Japanese vodafone cellphone unlocked and by Tuesday I had a FIDO card in it and was all set up. I even texted a few messages to friends in Japan. For those who knew me before Japan, and even friends from Japan who knew me in first year when I didn't have a cell phone, they'll know that I have been forever changed by having one in Japan. So I have one here now, but it doesn't get nearly as much use as it did in Japan.

On Wednesday, a small group (15-20) of junior high and high school students from Hida City arrived in Toronto for a 5-day trip. They hopped straight on a bus and headed to St. Catharines, where they are now in the middle of a 4-night homestay with local families. Before leaving Japan, I was asked if I would volunteer to come down for the first couple of days and help out a little. One of the accompanying teachers was worried about being able to establish an internet connection using his laptop on the first night (to send trip reports home), and then they wanted me around for Thursday afternoon, when the kids would be let loose in one of the local shopping malls.

So I rented a car (that they paid for) and drove out to St. Catharines. Wednesday went off as expected...we got the internet connection set up and then I went out to dinner with the two accompanying teachers and the Japanese tour guide (the kids were already with their homestay families). It was nice to be able to speak and hear Japanese again...being away from it even for two weeks seems like a long time.

I arrived for around noon on Thursday and met the kids at Ridley College, where they had had 3 hours of English classes in the morning and were then eating lunch before heading off for sightseeing. I only knew one of the kids in the group, and even then only a little, as she was a student at Kawai JHS a few years ago when I helped judge a speech contest there (she won a prize). I knew none of the other kids, but all the same it was definitely natsukashii (nostalgic) for me just to see Hida kids again. I spoke only English with them though, and they managed brilliantly.

We boarded the bus at 1:00PM and headed to Port Dalhousie, where the kids got to walk down to the beach on Lake Ontario, which was smelling particularly foul that day. They were surprised that the sign said it was safe for swimming despite the army green sludge that was lapping against the shore. Coming from Hida where the mountain water is clear and clean, they couldn't have been too impressed. What they did like, however, was the carousel that's in the park there. It's still only 5 cents a ride, so everyone wanted on, although they ran into problems when they pulled out freshly exchanged $10 and $20 dollar bills. The ticket takers wouldn't accept them to pay for such a piddly amount. One person then bought all 20 tickets or so (for a buck) and everyone happily rode.

After that it was on to the Pen Centre, the region's largest shopping mall, for some shopping fun. We entered in through the Bay and the kids were all wowed. I was a little worried at first that they would think that the Bay was the whole thing and never make it out of there in their allotted two hours, but I needn't have worried as they quickly found the mall and all the other shops. I stuck with one of the teachers, helping out where translation was needed. The kids had a great time, I think, although a pair of them came back with nothing but sudoku books!

Today, they'll be doing more sightseeing, including horse-riding at a local stable. Wish I could have done the whole four days with the group, but the two days were fun, anyway. Their plan leaves them with only a half day in Toronto on Sunday before they head back to Japan on Monday morning. Short, but at least they'll get to see some of the city.