Japan - Osaka

In the summer 2006, I was eager to find a volunteer opportunity abroad as well as to improve my Japanese. I tried to search through the Internet, but there were not many interesting options as most of them only provided you with a chance to learn the language. Then I found the "International workcamp", and I thought it was exactly what I was interested in.
I applied for two workcamps which were very popular. Many workcamps had already filled up when I applied even four months in advance. At the end, I went to an environmental international workcamps in the suburb of Osaka where I spent two weeks with people from different countries. Although many of us could not speak Japanese, we tried to understand each other, in fact, English was the primary language used among volunteers. At the same time, as the local people also joined us and helped us to carry out the work, there were many opportunities for us to assimilate the local language.

In a typical morning, we would wake up, say "Itadakimasu" and have simple breakfast together. Then a few of us would leave behind and take care of the lunch. The rest of us would go into the forest and tidied the forest by cutting down the overcrowding trees and making the trails for the visitors to enjoy the nature. The work was hard but it was something I have never done in Hong Kong. Every one of us has to cooperate to cut down one tree. After sweating for the whole morning, we would have a delicious lunch. As the volunteers were from different places, I was able to enjoy Italian, Korean, Japanese and French cuisines over the two weeks. In the afternoon, we would have different cultural activities, sometimes we would visit a school, sometimes we would go to a host family’s home and they would take care of us very well. My host family made "Sukiyaki" to us and this in turn became my favourite Japanese food. They were very welcoming.

In the evening, sometimes the local people would prepare some dishes for us and we would have a party together, especially during the weekends. The other time, we would discuss some issues related to environment, and learn from each other's prospective. Today I still remember how the Japanese and Korean are doing to take care of the environment in terms of recycling.

On the last day, we had a farewell party with the local people. They were very kind and sang with us for the whole night, and the food was very yummy. I was sad to say goodbye. However, friendship never ends there. Until today, we still keep in touch by emails. A few months ago, I just dropped by Korea and visited my friends there. After two weeks of living and working together, I believe the memory of that precious summer would be something that makes us smile every time when we open our album.

Japan - Shimane

Shimane prefecture, a place where most of the Japanese have never been, was the destination of my second international workcamp in the same summer. It was a very quiet and scenic place. The purpose of the workcamp was to encourage the cultural exchange with the volunteers as well as the local kids. We visited many primary schools there and learnt about the challenges the local schools were facing. Compared with the hard work and sweat of the previous workcamp, the two weeks I spent in Shimane was relaxing and of course enjoyable. Playing with the children was very fun and we also had many opportunities to interact with the local people.

A typical morning would begin with a traditional Japanese breakfast - miso soup, rice, natou and food from local people. As we lived near to a lake, there was plenty of seafood. In some of the school visits, we went with the school children to the shore and ate fresh squid which was still in water five minutes ago. It was also the first time I ate deer meat, as the local people prepared for us!

Since Shimane prefecture was in rural Japan, we had a lot of fun by playing some traditional Japanese games. Before this workcamp, I would never imagine that I would have the chance to experience something that was only seen in comics or cartoons. For instance, we had “Sport Day” with the local villages. The plan was that everyone of us participated in one event, but it seemed that the local people had more fun in watching us than involving in the games directly, and it turned out that we were busy in all activities. Looking for a candy by your mouth in a bowl of flour, keeping yourself balanced and not to fall — these are all the pieces of my precious summer.

During the home stay I also had the chance to visit some shrines around the area with the host family. They were very nice and tried to give us an authentic Japanese experience. We went to wine tasting as well.

The volunteer leader was a lovely guy and after the hard work every day, he would be the last one to sleep as he would help us to collect all the pictures and tried to make a video with songs in different languages. As we were very busy the last few days, he was only able to collect the pictures. But two months after I went back to Hong Kong, I found a photo album and a video CD in my mailbox. The whole enjoyable and happy memory just appeared again in my mind. Every time I play the CD, listening to the songs we sang in the workcamp, I believe I made the right choice to spend my summer in the international workcamps in Japan!