Global Partners Blog

It is always hard to say good-bye to our students. I know that this past yer has been a very exciting adventure for all involved.

We would like to wish all of our departing students SAYONARA and wish all of them all the very best in their future!

We would like to welcome back our Canadian Students from our Outbound Exchange Program in Japan as they have arrived back in Canada!! I received a wonderful letter from one of the students, Miss Alex Terrick. I wanted to share the letter………

” I want to thank Global Partners and my host family for this wonderful experience and for helping me so much to make it so. Global Partners and JFIE have made Japan and the ability to go on such an amazing exchange possible, and made my trip something I will never forget. My host family became a new family and helped me in daily life and with anything that went wrong or that I was curious about. They were patient as I was learning Japanese and helped me to improve on the language.”

Alex Terrick

Thank you Alex…………

If you are interested in our Outbound Exchange Program to Japan or Australia please email: elaine@gpicanada.com

Momoyama High School students recently departed their Long Term communities in Northern Alberta.

Nagako Munetake, Masanori Kawaguchi, Natsumi Tsuji and Yu Kawanoe.

It has been a long and sometimes difficult journey for our International Students but they will always remember their Exchange Program in Canada!

Here are some pictures of Mami Kodama and Ami Matsumoto in Meadow Lake, SK. They have been coming to a Vegetarian Potluck Dinner Club that the girls host family belongs to and the club had a Japanese night in January.

“We tried making sushi and a variety of other Japanese dishes. Both girls were very excited about seeing and eating the food we made. They helped us read some instructions in Japanese on different packages and Mami made a Sweet Red Bean Soup with Rice Cakes for dessert. Everyone agreed that the food was great!”

Making sushi at home is fun – and you can eat your mistakes!

I have posted here a couple of pictures of our “Momoyama High School” students. They were to depart from Saskatoon but were snowed in……

It was an early morning start for Koki YOSHIOKA, Ami MARSUMOTO, Shoma MIYAMURA, Yoshimoto Oi, and Terumi YAMAHARA on Sunday January 15th. They were up at 4:30am and on their way to the airport in a Saskatchewan winter storm, only to find out that their flight out of Saskatoon was cancelled. After a restful day they celebrated Yoshimoto’s birthday with a pizza supper and an ice cream cake at the hotel.

Rest assured all of the students are on their way home to Japan today.

What a lovely “CANADIAN” farewell to our students!

Northern Alberta Regional Manager-Neil Hosler, had the pleasure of temp hosting Saaya Osani for Christmas day prior to her departure on Dec 26th, 2011.

“We had fun giving Saaya some Canadian gifts to take home. She got to meet all of our family and try out a wide variety of Canadian foods. It was a nice time catching up with her on all of her experiences while here in Canada. It was a great couple of days, my family wishes Saaya didn’t have to go home, but that is part of the experience.”

Safe Journey and best wishes for your future Saaya!

The Alberta Rocky Mountain area is one of the most beautiful places. Recently our Regional Manager, Vicki Terrick took some of her students for a drive through the Rocky Mountains.

” It was hilarious driving out to the mountains. Both students, Keisuke and Masaya were like “oh yah look there are mountains.” Ho hum….

Vicki replied, “Gee you guys are pretty calm for seeing the Rocky Mountains. I thought this is what you wanted to see?” They both perked right up and Masaya said “These are the Rocky Mountains? I thought they were just mountains.”

Welcome to the beautiful Canadian Rockies ! …

New Year’s day marks the time of the beginning of a new year. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner.

New Year (shogatsu or oshogatsu) is the most important holiday in Japan. Most businesses shut down from January 1 to January 3, and families typically gather to spend the days together.

Years are traditionally viewed as completely separate, with each new year providing a fresh start. Consequently, all duties are supposed to be completed by the end of the year, while bonenkai parties (“year forgetting parties”) are held with the purpose of leaving the old year’s worries and troubles behind.

Akemashite Omedtou Gozaimasu!!

It is hard to believe that it is that time again for students to return to Japan. Recently we had a number of students return home to Japan.

Dec 3
Chinami Baba
Hana Kinoshita
Keisuke Kotani
Ikki Matsuoka
Katsuya Matsuura
Remi Ohiro
Sosuke Sawada
Ayaka Uehara

Dec 17
Haruka Kimura
Yuka Miura
Kana Oshima
Natsuko Tada
Ayumi Takahashi
Fumika Chiba
Satomi Maeta
Hanami Adachi

Dec 26
Yuka Matsumoto
Saaya Osanai
Rika Tonosaki
Kurumi Watanabe
Machika Nagae
Ami Murase
Ryunosike Yonemoto

Dec 27
Mei Hirayama

We hope that this year has been an exciting adventure for all involved!!

Pictured below are Kana Oshima & Ayumi Takahashi

From our family to yours, we wish you a wonderful Holiday Season!!