Daisuke Kobayashi

2008-09 Inbound from Japan

Hometown: Okayama, Japan

Sponsor: Okayama-Korakuen Rotary Club, District 2690, Japan

Host: Edgewater Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: New Smyrna Beach High School, New Smyrna Beach, FL

Bio

Daisuke's Bio

Hello. My name is Daisuke Kobayashi. Please call me DAISUKE. My birthday is April 3rd 1991. I’m 17 years old. I live in Okayama city which is located in the western part of Japan. There are four people in my family: my father, mother, older sister and me. My mother cooks very well. My parents run a Hotel. In the future I’d like to go to university and study business, because I’d like to help my father’s Hotel. I played archery in JAPAN. I have played it for 4 years. I want to try soccer in high school.

Okayama is famous for its fruits such as peaches and grapes. Okayama’s mascot is a grape. There are Hiroshima and Kobe near Okayama. Okayama city has a population of seventy thousands. Okayama is a very warm place.

I go to school by bicycle in Japan. It took me about 15 minutes. When it rained, I went to school by bus. My hobby is listening to music. I like the zoo. I also like cats, because they are cute.

I’m looking forward to my year in Florida and hope to make many unforgettable memories.

October 25 Journal

There are six in my host family. Father, mother, two sisters and two brothers. My host parents work at a DELI, it sells subs. One older sister is going to university. One older brother is also going to university. He works at the DELI. Younger brother’s name is Aaron who is a Rotex. He went to Japan last year. He helps me with my homework. I think this family is the best.

There are many students in my school. The students are very kind, so I can make friends very easy. I didn’t know everything then, but they taught me everything. Some students are interested in  Japanese, therefore we teach different languages to each other. I like my school, because teachers are kind. I found a Japanese student, but he was born in America, so, regrettably, he speaks Japanese not very much. His parents work at a Japanese food restaurant. I went there. There was a Sushi-bar and steak house. The food tasted very very good. I thought Japanese food is the best all over the world food. I think my school friends are best.

I went to St. Augustine with Rotary. We stayed with new host parents for two days. I stayed with Joonas. We played the video game in our house. We were able to communicate very well. I walked through St. Augustine’s streets and it was very beautiful. We ate alligator tail, which looks like chicken, so I like it. We did a River Cruise where we saw dolphins, and it was my first time seeing them, so I was moved.

Thank you Rotary for allowing me to have a good experience so far and I really look forward to the rest of my exchange.

February 8 Journal

Disney World

I went to Disney World from December 4 to 7. On the first day, I went to Hollywood studios. I have been to there before, so I found rides easily. There are many exchange students. I was so surprised and happy. At night, we got in the pool, it was very cold. I don’t like cold. I can’t think to get in the pool in December. Next day we went to Magic Kingdom, I rode very huge roller coaster. It was very fun. I wanted to ride it twice, but it was very popular in Magic Kingdom so many people lined there, accordingly I gave up to ride it. I saw the Disney’s cavalcade in the evening, there stands a Disney theme park in Japan and I have been there and I saw a cavalcade there. Looks like same. I went to an arcade that night. There were too many Japanese games. I like arcade games, so it was good. Next day we went to EPCOT Center, this place is my favorite place because there were buildings of all over the world. Japanese castle too. I went to Japanese place and I ate lunch there, of course Japanese food. Everyone ate dinner outside, after dinner we saw water and fireworks show. It was very loud. On the last day we went to Animal Kingdom - I don’t remember about there.

Christmas day and New Year’s Day

My Christmas day was so awesome, I received many Christmas presents. I will talk to my real parents about my first American Christmas day. In Japan, Christmas day is not important. New Year’s Day is most important part of year. Christmas day we also go to school, my school’s vacation starts December 27 and school starts January 12. New Year’s Day is January 1st; everyone goes to shrines and pay homage at the shrine. New Years Day everyone eats rice cakes. Every store is closed, because everyone stays home, and watches TV and talks each other. Parents give some money to child, and child goes shopping, because some children don’t receive Christmas presents. On Florida’s New Year’s Day, I went to Jacksonville, then New Year’s Day party in my district. We stayed at one Rotary member’s house, and we played table tennis, billiards, Wii and watched DVDs. My first New Year’s Day is also a very good, pleasant memory. That midnight we saw fireworks.

Seacamp

This trip was my last trip, so I enjoyed it so much. The sea was very beautiful. Round Table Discussion that we had was very funny, because there were varied types of activities, like drama and song. I miss hanging out with the other exchange students.

April 27 Journal

I changed host family, I didn’t want change host family, and because my host father said I’d only be there for two weeks, I didn’t pack all of my luggage. So I felt better, and I went to new host house. There I met my new host mother and father, and they had children but they are not living in Florida, they are grown-up and there are twins. I gave some gifts to new my host parent. My host mother likes to read books and watch horror movies. So she goes to library sometimes. One day I went to library with her. I never went to a library in Florida, so it was nice. There were many CDs, DVDs, Comics, and Books. We borrowed some DVDs. It was not horror. My host father likes horror movies and games, PC games and table games. One day, we played a table game. I never play that game, but I understood it easily, and we played it 2 times. It took an hour to complete every game. He was very good at that game. (I cannot remember the name of the game.)

They also had some koi (Japanese fish). I was really surprised. There was a TV and running machine and Christmas tree in my room, which really surprised me. I tried running, but it was too hard, so I gave up after only 1 week. Food was almost taco and pizza. I really like both. Every Sunday, host father made breakfast. There was very good my host family in my life.

On the third of April, my birthday

I visited Florida State University with my first host mother and host brother Aaron. It took 4 hours by car to get to Tallahassee. It was a long ride. Aaron wants to go to this university, and we went to Japanese guidance, but teacher was gone. We walked everywhere, I thought this university was very huge and clean. My first host mother bought a T-shirt and pin for me as birthday presents. I went back my second host family house and then they gave me gift card. I won’t forget my birthday that I spent with my host family.

On the fifth of April, my birthday party

I went to my host Rotary club’s president house with my second host family. My first host family was also there and we ate a big cake. I had a good time.

On the eleventh of April, Easter

There was Rotary and Interact events on this day, so I helped them out. The place was Rotary Park. I threw many plastic eggs around the park. And then children picked up those eggs. It was funny. There were about 200 children, and there were nearly 4000 eggs. It was good experience. Thank you Rotary.

American high school life is almost finished, making me feel sad, so I’m making a lot of memories now. Sometimes I went to friends’ house, and then we played TV games and tag. One day we played tag on the grass, and we jumped into the flower garden. And then his mother got really angry, and his father called him…. I knew his father was serious, so after tag I was afraid of his father. The flowers in the garden were fake, so I don’t know why his parents were angry. Anyway he is fun guy.

On the 24th of April, Uncle Monk moved back to New Jersey and District Conference

My host uncle lived at my host house for about 4 months, because he looked for job. Now he found a new job, and he moved back to New Jersey. I talked to him about games, music, animals, high school, Japanese characters, movies, and then he taught me how to play the guitar. He likes to play the guitar very much. And he likes many sports and music. In June, I will go to New Jersey with my first host family, and I’m hoping to meet Uncle Monk there. Also, the District Conference was very tiring and fun, because all day we walked in the park. In the evening, we danced, it was so funny. One woman danced on the stage, and then we were also doing the same dance. Some exchange students didn’t sleep, I tried to sleep, but there were many bugs and loud music, so I couldn’t sleep well. I met some outbounds, and 2 who are going to Japan. One of them is going to my hometown, so I’m looking forward to seeing him.

Right now, there is one outbound living at my house, Conrad, and I saw his pictures on the Rotary website, and he was with my high school friends. This gave me a very nostalgic feeling, seeing them all.

Daisuke

June 22 Journal

My last trip was to New Jersey. I went to New Jersey with my host mother and host sisters and host grandfather. We stayed in New Jersey for a week. We went to New Jersey by car, so it was a very long drive. It took about 15 hours. My host family lived in New Jersey long time ago, so they have relatives living in New Jersey. We stayed at her sister’s house. They were nice and funny. I was so excited to go to New York, but we didn’t go to New York. I was so sad. So we enjoyed a lot in New Jersey. I think learned many things in those seven days. I saw many buildings and houses in New Jersey, and then I made a comparison between Florida’s houses and New Jersey’s houses. They are different, I guess. Florida’s houses are only one floor, but New Jersey houses are mostly two-story houses.

I went to Japanese museum, this museum about Seabrook. Seabrook, by 1947, had the highest concentration of Japanese American residents in the United States; more than 2500 Japanese ethnic group to work for single employer in the United States at that time. I met one Japanese woman, she worked in Seabrook. I talked to her, she has been to Japan 3 times, and she came to America when she was 18 years old. She said Seabrook’s American people were very kind to Seabrook’s Japanese workers, which had at some times been nearly 5000 Japanese workers. In winter, they had no job, but she can speak English, so she went to New York and then she could get a job. Anyway, I think her conversation was very interesting, because I didn’t know anything about Japanese-American workers. I think my grandfather might know a little about that, I will ask my grandfather when I go back to Japan. I think Japanese young people don’t know about it. In Japanese high school, nobody teach me about it, so I think this experience has become good knowledge for me.

In this week, I met many people: my host mother’s sister’s family and her friends and my host sister’s friends, and another exchange student, neighboring people etc. They were awesome. I went to Philadelphia, where I then saw the Liberty Bell. And I even got to ride in a carriage while I watched a row of houses along the street. It was a very nice and a trip that has given me good memories.

I really appreciate the kindness shown to me by my host families and the Rotary Club. I will never forget this amazing year abroad. Thank you.