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Written by Hiroko Kondo
Translated by Yoshikazu Kondo Mrs. Julie Clark, who is 42 years old, stayed at our home. I didn't worry about her homestay since Mr. Rod Yates, who is as old as her, stayed with us last year. I felt it easier to welcome and entertain her than I do our relatives. My first impression of her at the welcome party was good, but I hardly talked to her since I have a bad habit of being occupied with the care of our children even when I should be doing something else. Therefore I left conversation with her up to my husband. Even a simple English question stuck in my throat. Self-hatred ... Unlike me, our children spoke to her, using one English word after another, which they learned recently: "You know, neko is a cat, usagi is a rabbit, and ninjin is a carrot." Then Julie delighted us with her exaggerated Australian gestures, making our children so pleased that they came to like her very much. Sitting on her lap, they continued talking eagerly to her in Japanese. On the night of the second day, I treated her with my specialty. Though it was easy food to prepare, she seemed to like the meal I made for dinner. We had invited two of our friends and we all enjoyed the meal together. I came to like her very much because she talked about many interesting things. It was on the morning of the third day, when she had to leave here, that I started to "catch" her Australian accent. I really wanted her to stay with us much longer. If she had stayed with us, say, for a week, she could have gotten a real idea about our everyday life. I hope that someday we will visit Australia to see her again. Upon parting, she said: "Come to Melbourne when you visit us. It takes only three hours to our home by car. I will pick you up." ONLY THREE hours! Gee, Australia is really a huge country. On the day she left here, our children and Julie
walked hand in hand to the kindergarten. It was such a wonderful
experience for our children. When they returned home, the first thing
they said was:
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