Japan Connections

Sae was our 12 year old Japanese exchange student, and second her name is pronounced like the word “Hi,” only with an “S.” --the following post was written by my daughter Olana Noble after her LABO exchange experience.         

 

When she got to Sioux Falls she was a little tired, but luckily she didn’t get jetlag like most of the kids that came. We managed to open the gifts that she brought for us that day. The gifts were some Japanese coins and kimonos.

After that, it was time for bed. She was staying in my bedroom. We wore the kimonos to church the next morning.

One of the best memories with her was camping at Palisades State Park. I remember singing “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles all the way there. Another thing we did with her was go to the Little House on the Prairie place in DeSmit. I remember the tiny kittens that I fell in love with. I think her favorite thing that we did was going to my great grandparents lake cabin. We went tubing and ate a lot of food. One of my last memories with Sae is of a little stuffed chick in a cracked, stuffed egg that she got attached to and would make it “speak.” She named it Ha HaHa.

When she got home to Japan her first meal was seal. She emailed us and told us her grandma wanted to wash Ha HaHa, but she wouldn’t let her. She told her grandma it smelled like the Noble’s house. The last thing she wrote is something I will remember forever. It is that she was homesick for Sioux Falls.