English Classroom Overseas Trip

Taking a trip from home to go 'back home'
Edmonton, Alberta October 1st-8th, 2000

Raymond Matthias

The junior and senior highschool students in Kosaka are quite fortunateto have the opportunity to travel overseas every year with the Kosaka International Society "Student Overseas Trip". These trips have been going on for over ten years now, and students have travelled to the United States, Australia, England, France and Canada. However, the spring 2000 trip had to be cancelled when there weren't enough applicants. Everyone in the International Society was saddened, but some of the biggest complaints came from the adult participants in my lunchtime English Class. "What a shame!", one student exclaimed. "That was such an interesting schedule and now nobody will enjoy it!". "Too bad we couldn't have taken their places!", added another. We all laughed when I suggested a 'middle-age' as opposed to a 'middle-school' trip to my hometown in Canada. Afterwards, a few people privately expressed serious interest in participating in such a trip, and the planning began. Where would we go? We had consensus that my hometown would be a good place to go because I could really show them around and some of the participants wanted to see my mother again (she had visited Kosaka in June). A couple people asked if we could 'stop off' at Niagara falls-- a place I've never been myself. My explanation that it would be a costly four-hour plane trip from Edmonton put enormous size of my country in perspective for the participants. In the end, we decided on a one-night stay in Vancouver, a few days in a hotel in Edmonton, an optional trip to the Rockey Mountains (Jasper), and then a short homestay with acquaintances of my mother. After we began planning, Kosaka High school contacted us. There was some funding available, and they asked if I would mind taking a highschool student on the trip. Of course there were no objections, and we made a slightly different schedule for Maki, who was able to see a Canadian highschool and spend a couple of days with the students there. Responding to requests from participants, we visited an elderly care facility in Edmonton (one of the participants is a nurse); my University to see the Japanese language program where I studied; as well as a catholic church. In addition, we saw a few tourist spots in Edmonton which included the Muttart conservatory, Fort Edmonton and West Edmonton Mall, the world's largest shopping mall. We rented a van for the duration of the trip, and I was 'chauffeur' for everyone. In all honesty, the trip couldn't have gone better-- we were greeted by the northern lights only 20 minutes after we landed in Edmonton; the participants were able to see some glimpses of wildlife, and they all thoroughly enjoyed their homestays. For myself, this was my first trip home in over 18 months, so it was nice to see Edmonton again after so long. Introducing Edmonton to my friends also allowed me to see 'home' in a different light.