By Sharon Omahen

University of Georgia

The Stubbs family spent their summer vacation the typical way:
trips to Six Flags Over Georgia, Zoo Atlanta, Stone Mountain and
a Braves’ game. Having Japanese student Chinami Irikura along,
though, sometimes made it feel like their first trip.

As part of the Georgia 4-H Labo Summer Inbound Program,
12-year-old Chinami spent a month in the Stubbs DeKalb County
home. The program pairs Georgia families with students and
chaperones from Japan.

Host families must have children 11 to 17 years old and share
their home and their meals.

Don’t put on a show

“The goal isn’t to put on a great show,” said Jeff Buckley,
coordinator of Georgia 4-H’s international and citizenship
programs. “It’s to live your daily life: eat dinner, do laundry
— just normal daily life activities. There’s no one recipe for
how to be a host family. You just have to interact.”

In the Southern tradition, most Georgia host families make a
point to entertain their Japanese guests.

This year’s experience wasn’t the first for the Stubbs family.
They hosted Chinami’s brother Ryosuke two years ago.

“Ryosuke was shy, and he mostly hung out with my son Charlie and
played video games,” said Denise Stubbs. “Chinami was totally
different. The minute she saw us, she ran into my arms. And she
was full of questions the entire visit.”

Communication is a big part of being a successful host, Buckley
said. Some students speak a little English. “Some speak very
little English,” he said. “This actually helps the students learn
communication skills. They have to learn how to communicate with
someone who speaks a different language.”

Chinami taught the Stubbs children how to sing the Japanese
alphabet. “And every word we taught her in English, she taught us
in Japanese,” Stubbs said.

Trying new foods

Stubbs loved watching the students learn about America.

“Chinami pointed out all the differences for us,” she said.
“There are a lot of Japanese foods we don’t have here, but she
was thrilled to see Oreo cookies. She thought they only had them
in Japan.”

Stubbs introduced Chinami to American and Southern foods. By the
end of the month, her favorite American foods were chipped beef
and gravy, Krispy Kreme donuts, McDonald’s cheeseburgers and
sweet tea.

“She called our tea ‘Georgia tea’ and loved it so much we had to
send her home with a huge supply of Luzianne tea bags, a tea
pitcher and a measuring cup,” Stubbs said. “Now she makes it
every day back in Japan.”

Georgia families hosted 13 Japanese students and two chaperones
through the program this summer. Laurie Cantrell of Statesboro
hosted chaperone Kyoko Kawabata this summer.

Host an adult

On most days, Kyoko went to work with Cantrell, but she spent one
work day with Cantrell’s husband Gary, a media specialist.

“It was the school’s open house and she read some Japanese

books to the children and played games,” she said. “Now Kyoko and
one of the teachers are going to set up an e-mail exchange
between their students.”

A music lover, Kyoko enjoyed accompanying the Cantrells on their
family vacation to the Belle Chere Music Festival in Asheville.
“She was very excited to go on ‘an American road trip,’” Cantrell
said.

Back in Atlanta, the Stubbs have made lifelong friends in the
Irikura family, despite the fact that they’ve never met or spoken
to one another.

“We write e-mails back and forth using a computer program that
converts English to Japanese and vice versa,” Stubbs said. “Our
families have become wonderful friends, and now my eldest
daughter Elizabeth wants to go to Japan through the program next
summer.”

If you are interested in hosting a student or chaperone next
summer, contact Buckley at (706) 542-8735 or email him at
jbuckley@uga.edu.