Oh my… where to begin? My last visit with Eiko was AWESOME! I loved it! I went to her apartment and got to spend time with her and Haruka in a relaxed and playful environment. I feel so blessed to have been partnered with her.
I brought Haruka a present, a Playdoh Ice Cream Shop, so naturally that’s what she was most excited about. Eiko was so thankful and a bit more surprised than I expected that I brought her daughter a gift. I’m not sure if that’s just not what they do, but I hope it wasn’t too much.
I’m not going to lie; I also had a ton of fun playing with the Playdoh. As I helped Haruka, Eiko and I had a chance to talk. We talked about Haruka’s first day at Japanese school and some other random things. When I mentioned my plans for Easter, she asked me if we had Good Friday off of school. I answered and then decided to go a little further. Not sure if I was overstepping my boundaries, I asked her about her faith. She told me they were Buddhist. Actually, she referred to herself as a lazy Buddhist because they do not worship regularly. She then laughed and told me that on Monday, Wednesday and Friday Haruka attends a Christian school, on Tuesday and Thursday a Jewish school, and on Saturday at Japanese school she learns about Buddhism.
All in all, it was great spending time with her. We drank coffee together and she let me try a Japanese cake snack, which was quite delicious. Right now, Eiko and her family are on a Disney Cruise in the Caribbean and I can’t wait to hear all about their trip. I wish I was on the beach somewhere too instead of in the TCU Library!
Claire, I enjoyed the post. I have talked about religion with my conversation partner. It can get pretty awkward. It sounded like you had a good conversation, though. I think it is funny and pretty cool that her daughter goes to so many different types of schools. Knowing so many different religions, the daughter, I bet, will be very well rounded when she is older
ReplyDeleteI talked to my conversation partner about Religion. Not so much about his religious preferences but more about the religious environment in Belgium as a whole. He went to a public high school where the majority of the kids were Catholic. However, there is a rising population of Muslims in Western Europe and he said that there were a lot of fights between the two groups. I went to a public school with little religious influence. No one really talked about their religion so I can't imagine going to a school with fights over religious differences. I think Haruka will benefit from being exposed to many different religions at such a young age. I think tolerance and acceptance is definitely the best policy when it comes to Religion.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome Claire. It is so cool to see how close you have become with Eiko and Haruka over such a short period of time. I too was able to talk to my conversation partner about religion, but it was much easier for me to relate to, being that he shares the same faith as me. I’m sure it was an eye opening experience to get to listen to her perspective, and it’s awesome that she was so honest and upfront about everything with you. I think you would agree when I say that I could never have expected to gain so much from this experience. Hands down one of my favorite parts about the class.
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