Hosting an Exchange Student from Japan

If you’ve never attended Petitcodiac Regional School, you would be surprised to know that at least 2 or 3 exchange students choose to go to the school located in the small village. This year, and for the first time ever, a family in Petitcodiac is hosting an exchange student from Tokyo, Japan.

Otaha Hanatani is currently staying with the Gillies family in Petitcodiac. She enjoys her time there, as everything she’s ever needed is within a 5-minute walk, including her school.

The opportunity first arose when her original host family was going to visit other family members in another province for a few months, where they couldn’t bring her with them. The Academic Education International (AEI) program asked families near Otaha if they were interested in hosting her for the rest of the school year. Marcy Gillies was first in line, and she was more than delighted to accept the offer.

“My daughters have made friends with previous exchange students who have stayed here in Petitcodiac,” Gillies said. “They’ve made friends with students from Brazil, Germany, Vietnam, and now Japan.”

Gillies had always wanted to host an exchange student because of the friendships and long-lasting bonds her daughters have made with them. Having the opportunity to open their home to let an exchange student experience Canadian culture always intrigued the Gillies family. “We had an open room in the house since our eldest daughter moved away to university, so we thought creating a loving and safe space to welcome Otaha to our part of the country would be great.”

Otaha came to Canada for a purpose: to improve her English as well as graduate high school and attend Mount Alison University.

She first came to Canada in 2020 and stayed in Vancouver, British Columbia. During that time it was during the peak of the pandemic, so she was limited from traveling back home. Since then, she’s flown to New Brunswick and stayed there until this year.

While Otaha is content with having lived in Canada for over 2 years, she misses life back home in Japan.

“I haven’t seen my parents for 2 years, so it’s kind of challenging for me,” Otaha said.

Luckily for her, the pandemic has since then died down a bit. She was told through her AEI advisor that she could fly home to Japan for the summer. Of course, she didn’t refuse.

Since being accepted as an additional Gillies family member, she’s learned a lot about Canadian culture; from the many different holidays and traditions to the Canadian foods people like to eat. Otaha has also taught her host family about what things she considers traditional in her country, the food they normally eat there, and what school life is like.

Although she’s parting ways with her home away from home in June, Otaha said she’ll miss them a lot. “Of course,” she included, “I’ll come back to visit if I get into Mount Alison University.”

Gillies said, “Otaha’s been such a pleasure to have in our home, she’ll always be considered a Gillies girl.”