This time last week, we were welcoming a delightful young lady in to our home. Her name is Maiko. Yep, we put our hands up were suckered in to having another Japanese exchange student! If you've been following the story here for a while, you may remember the same time last year, when the painfully shy and quiet Yoshiki blessed us with his presence? No? Well, HERE and HERE are a couple of quick reminders! Let's just say those two weeks of 2011 were quite difficult and we really weren't up for another challenge in 2012! BUT (there's always a bloody but) the lovely Japanese co-ordinator at Lochie's school begged me to help them out due to a shortage of volunteers, so of course I said yes.....much to Andrew's delight horror....
There was one condition - the student HAD to be bubbly AND have a personality!
BINGO
Maiko is the most gorgeous, effervescent (thanks for that word dear friend), compact package of happiness! So much so, I emailed the above mentioned co-ordinator to let her know how grateful we were to have Maiko enter our lives! This 16 year old girl, who only has one older brother living away at Uni, has taken the unfinished, half moved in to home; the four younger siblings; the crazy kitten and hissing old bitch of a cat and all the other craziness in this home, in her stride! She has eaten every single thing put in front of her, helped out with chores, asked questions, answered questions, played with children and animals AND most of all - she has not shied away from getting amongst the family. I couldn't be happier.
So tonight, I decided to make this gorgeous human being a little happier! And this is how:
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| Thank you Woolies! |
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| This is how you marinate the Yakitori Chicken! |
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| Yakitori! |
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| Yakisoba! |
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| Happy family! |
Everyone gave chopsticks a crack - except Dad - he knows his limits. And the meal was a hit! Maiko was very keen to help me make the Yakitori, and put up with Chloe "helping" her. And just before dinner was served, she brought out a bag of ingredients and declared she would be making sweets tonight! I have forewarned the children to be polite, as I saw the look of horror and memories of Yoshiki's "cooking" endeavours of 2011...... But I'm being positive, and bracing myself! They are all at basketball training presently, so I've snuck a look in the bag - and have NO idea what it will be! Watch this space......
Have you ever had an exchange student? Or Japanese sweets?
She sounds lovely Midge :) We had one when i was about 14 and it was fantastic, we kept in touch as penpals for a long time, this post has made me think to look her up on fb as we lost touch.
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