To me, the delegation of Mauritius made the best use of the environment available. I was impressed to understand everything with so little accessories. It was perfect.
See the National Presentation of Mauritius
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New-Zealand is the port-of-call we have spent to more time (4 days in total). The first day, we went to a Powhiri, which is a welcome ceremony in a Mauri house. It is sacred, no one can take picture, neither than wear shoes inside the house. As well, every woman has to wear a skirt and sit at the back. They told us it wasn’t a sexist thing, it is just the way it is (women have the power by sitting at the back and by telling the men when to stand up). It was okay, no one was really frustrated about that. The speeches were quite long (and in Mauri). It was so hot that one of the Egyptian fainted. But still, this traditional experience made us feel like a big family and it is probably this activity that everyone liked the most in New-Zealand. The Mauri culture is so strong ! They even told us the culture and the language go stronger and stronger with the time. I think it’s such a good thing that the culture is not dying but goes stronger.
We had some free time in the afternoon. I had a quick look at the view from the Sky Tower (nice view but too expensive to reach the top).
Day 2: Shool visit all morning. My group was visiting the ANI (Auckland Normal Institute), which is a primary school in the Mount Eden area. Really rich area. Even if it is a public school, I felt the children were quite privileged. They are the bests in many academic disciplines and sports as well. Some of them looked really spoiled and arrogants, asking questions to our group members, like:
- Ohhh. That’s such a shame. Why ?
- Ohhh. And your namecard is in black and white becaue you have no money to buy ink in your country ?
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We just got back from Tonga, where we have spent 3 wonderful days with our letter group and local people. The first day, we visited a farm with our group where we could see coffee, taro (potato style), bananas, coconuts, etc. The owner said they were not using any pesticide. Afterwards, we had one hour of free time where we all wanted to go to Internet or call home … but the connexion was quite bad. We returned to the Ship early to get ready for the welcome reception with the officials and some ex-participating youths. We all dressed nicely and had the opportunity the meet all of them. After the reception, the Canadian delegation had a rehearsal for its National presentation, which was 2 days after.
The second day in Tonga, we visited a primary school with 300 children; it was an amazing moment. They danced for us and we danced for them, as we had prepared a small presentation with 5 dances from all over the world with our letter group. These kids had a good memory for words and songs in different languages, I was really surprised - Bonjour, Bula, Hola - it was really funny. The school served a wonderful buffet and gave us tons of gifts. We felt really privileged as we didn’t know this would happen and we wished we had something to give back. After visiting the school, we went to a village where we have seen women making carpets. The villagers served us food, again, for the second time. Nobody was hungry but we ate as much as we could because the food was so tasty compared to the food on the Ship. They danced again for us and we performed our same dances again. Just after, we went to the beach and enjoyed our free time. We had a night out in a Night Club, from 8 to 10 (early night you say?)
Day 3 saw us waking us quite early - too early I threw up in the morning because of the lack of sleep i’m a having since a couple of weeks. We had a farewell ceremony in the Queen Salote Memorial Hall, which has last for more than one hour. It was nice though: songs, dances, humor sketch for awaress on HIV/AIDS made by youths, etc. We had the rest of the day to wonder around the city. We met really nice people in Tonga, really generous and funny.
I am now in New-Zealand until tomorrow.
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At the center, there are one public room for showers for all the floor. That means we get only 3 showers for all of us and that we have to do it “together”. Because we are girls and we are not use to see each other naked because we have been in a hockey team since 8 years old, it is kind of new for us. First night, I am proud to say I was the only Canadian who took a shower. The other girls just skipped it. I took my courage and I entered the room while they were two Japanese girls showering. I didn’t take picture, of course, but just to give an idea… you have to use a small seat while you are showering, there is also a mirror in front of you so you can contemplate yourself (not fun). They provide as well small bowls so you can handwash your underwear while you are showering. Then, you are all clean, we may enter the public bath (still naked) to warm yourself up a little. Rules are: don’t go into the bath if you haven’t showered before. Leave the water when you are finished because there is someone that will you it after you… I quite enjoyed it. Third night in the Center now, most of the other girls have finally showered in a bathing suit.
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Today, National Leaders and one of the Assistant National Leaders (this is me) from all delegations had the privilege to personally meet the Crowned Prince of Japan. We could wear our National Uniform (flight attendants, no thanks) or casual clothes. The bus was leaving at 2:30, we had to be on time to receive instructions about how things were going to happen. First, no cameras were allowed as well as we had to leave our coats in the bus, then walked for one minute to get inside the room. It wasn’t a palace. Actually, it wasn’t the place he (the Prince) used to live because it was all in construction. Anyhow, once we got inside, we practice our formation (National Leader first and me behind him and so on for the other delegations).
Afterwards, we had to form a half moon so the Prince could come and discuss with us being in small groups. Canada was the first country to meet the Prince so we were really intimidated as we didn’t know what to say, and what to do. For example, we were formally told not to speak to him before he talks to us as well as not asking too personnal questions (what is or is not personnal?). So, we looked pretty shy and answered more by “yes and no” and short sentences than having a real conversation. Other delegations have spoken more longer than us, and the conversation went deeper. They served small snaks (like one crisp at the time) and juices. The chamberlain and chief chamberlain came to talk to us as well after the Prince it was a little funny because they looked really nervous. I appreciated what happened today as most of Japanese will never get to meet the Prince in person.
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Every Japanese is wearing a mask. If they are sick, they were one, and if they are not - but they don’t want to catch anyway- they wear one anyway. It looks really futuristic and a little paranoid too. I used to think: “oh well, as long as they don’t force me to wear one, it is fine”. It so impersonnal! But, the thing is, the National Leader of Venezuela (Liliana) got sick last night. We don’t know what she has exactly. Rumors are spreading that she caught influenza. Anyway, she got taken away from us, isolated and if she doesn’t get better before we board the ship (the day after tomorrow), she might not come with us. So we had our temperature taken to check if we were sick (fortunaly, I wasn’t) but now on, everyone has to wear a mask. (I don’t have one yet. They scare me actually.
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We went by train to Iwate prefecture; it was a 2:30 trip. When we got there, some volonteers were waiting for us and brought us to the restaurant to have some lunch. During the day, we went to a sake brewery and did some sake tasting, experienced a tea ceremony and did some origami with young volunteers.
During the evening, it was the famous welcome ceremony where we were presented to our Japanese families. Everyone was really excited and we were trying to guess which family was ours. It felt like primary school when we had pen pals and the letters from the other school had just arrived in class.
Well, then I was presented to my mother, who was named Tamiyo and her little boy (Shinnosuke). The father was absent because he was at work. We had a great presentation of Japanese women and girls dancing (Senda Odori) and afterwards we did our cheesy presentation which consisted of the Canadian anthem (bilingual) with the hockey night in Canada song…. oh well, lots of fun.
We then went home and waited for Daddy to come home for ages (11h00). She cooked for him, he ate, and I went to bed. That’s the only time I got to spend with him.
The next day I played with Shin and Tami made me wear a kimono. I was really excited. She asked me if I wanted to wear it to the shrine. I said: “well, ok!?” I thought everyone would wear one at the temple BUT the thing is, it was her only kimono, and at the temple, nobody was wearing one. I felt really embarrassed because I didn’t know why she asked me to wear one. I was scared all the Japanese people we met would think: “oh look at this stupid stranger who wants to be like us, we don’t even wear a kimono at the shrine” (actually, they wear one at New Year’s Eve, and that’s all).
Anyways, afterwards we went to the handcraft fabrics shops and saw some pottery, cookies, etc. It was okay.
We came home early, cooked dinner and went to bed. Daddy came back quite late (12h) and left at six. I feel so bad for Tami, she’s so lonely and works quite hard cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, etc. And I secretly think it was her idea to get a young stranger at home and he didn’t really care about this project, so maybe that’s why he was absent.
I was really touched at the train station because Tami looked really happy and proud about the homestay experience. She showed everyone all the words we taught to each other.
Good experience, really human.
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Three of us left Montreal on January 13th and we met two other delegates on the way to Vancouver. I felt really excited to meet all of them and I was a bit surprised when it actually happened. It was more like: “oh hi, how are you,” rather than “Hiiiiiii! We are so glad to finally meet!” It was like we just saw each other the day before. It felt weird but I guess it’s from being shy and tired from the 48 hours without sleeping.
We all met in Vancouver for the first time, did some last minute shopping to get some more gifts for the dignitaries and host families. Long flight, both funny and boring at the same time. There were some stupid guys in the seats next to me harassing the flight attendant for some more free drinks. They were drunk and annoying and they made a mess with papers.
In Tokyo, there was a bus waiting to bring us to our hotel. Then, we finally had our first kick-off meeting. Our National Leader, Mike, took the time to tell everyone about what he appreciated in us over the last four months. That was nice of him, it’s a positive start when it was so hard working long distance.
We had a wonderful city tour with three young Japanese girls. They took us to the markets, the museum, a restaurant (I was starving, as usual) and finally, the temple. Everything was so organized, I feel privileged from all the attention and care from the Japanese people.
In the evening, it was the official ceremony of the program. Officials and dignitaries speeches lasted around 15 minutes, and then we saw presentations from all twelve delegations who were wearing their beautiful national costumes. Our uniform is quite nice (grey trousers with a blouse and a blazer), but it is funny as well because we all look like flight attendants. What would have been better costumes for Canadians anyway? Should I have brought a ceinture fléchée for everyone? 
I met a lot of people last night. Quick presentation, it was kind of like speed dating without the dating part: “what’s your name, oh you’re from Peru, what’s your letter group” (we well be in this group for all of the program), a business card exchange and NEXT. I will not remember any name, but faces for sure.
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The Ship for World Youth (SWY) is a unique international cultural exchange program organised by the Government of Japan. The most prestigious program of its kind, SWY brings together over 250 youth from around the world (this year were invited Tonga, Vanuatu, Norway, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Yemen, Mauritius, Venezuela, Peru, Canada and obviously, Japan) to learn about international cooperation and understanding. Over a two-month period, participants are involved in a wide range of activities aimed at fostering cultural sensitivity, understanding and friendship. Most of the program is conducted onboard the cruise liner Nippon Maru, with some activities scheduled in Japan and a several ports of call that are visited during the program. The ports of call are going to be in Vanutu, Tonga and New Zealand.
Ship for World Youth Canada Alumni Association (http://www.swycanada.org)
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My name is Emilie Grégoire, I am one of the twelve Canadians participants of this program. We have been chosen mostly because of our interests, life experiences, and our passion in general I guess… We come from different provinces: Northern Territories to P-E-I, Canada is well represented with Aboriginal, Asian, Arabic and french canadians (this is me).
We have been working together for almost four months now. It was mainly a long distance relationship, to find sponsorship, to get uniforms, to organize our one-hour national presentation (how do you define Canada in one hour?), etc. We are the only participating country with delegates who have not met before the program started because our country is so wide. We felt really frustrated sometimes seeing on Facebook how organized the other delegations were. We just have to accept that other delegations are going to be so well prepared and bonded. Well, I am not scared about the bonding of our team, because we just spent 2 days together and I feel I already know them well.
All delegates can be found on our blog at http://swycanada21.net
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From January 10 to March 5, Emilie will be on the Ship for World Youth program. The Ship for World Youth (SWY) is a unique international cultural exchange program organised by the Government of Japan. SWY brings together over 250 youth from around the world to learn about international cooperation and understanding. Over a two-month period, participants are involved in a wide range of activities aimed at fostering cultural sensitivity, understanding and friendship. Most of the program is conducted on-board the cruise liner Nippon Maru, with some activities scheduled in Japan and a several ports of call that are visited during the program.
Emilie GrégoireEmilie loves to travel and meet new people. She studied at HEC-Montreal in the management field and completed a Master Degree in Public Administration at l'École nationale d'administration publique. In 2003-2004, she went to Mali for 7 months to help women to organize a small company and gave seminar on Health and Sexuality. She use to work at Turbulent media as a project manager on the Fric Show, Cinéma québécois, Dans ma bulle, FCTNM and Marie-Antoinette websites.