G-Rex
Dead Stargod 
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,201 
CIR Experience: Former CIR
|
Post by G-Rex on Mar 20, 2015 14:01:10 GMT 9
okay bros
i need advice. here's the background info:
Kyoto has a 友好提携 with Edinburgh
currently doing an annual thing where we send like 30 high school students from kyoto to edinburgh
they stay at this college place and do like a 1 or 2 month long english learning thing
i can't remember if there's homestay involved, but maybe like a week or so is homestay
right, now that's the easy part
what i want to do, and what i have been kinda asked to do, is think of ways to
1) make it a long-term exchange (6 months - 1 year)
2) bring edinburgh students to kyoto (maybe start off short-term)
1) the problems with a long-term thing is the visa thing, and finding schools that would accept students. one of the things is of course that a public/state/non-private school (pick your terminology of choice) is generally not a fee-paying school, but how would non-tax-paying japanese students fit into this if the school doesn't want to front the cost themselves?
where would they fit into the curriculum and what exams would they do, etc?
these are the two main issues that we haven't been able to overcome. i know people do student exchanges with other places, so can any of you tell me how that works in those situations??
2) bringing students to kyoto is apparently difficult because japanese isn't a language that students there are learning. "doesn't matter, make it a cultural thing and have the homestay students speak english to them" is what i thought was the most obvious solution to a non-existant problem, but whatever.
anyway, who has students come visit japan and how does it work?
thanks guys
looking forward to detailed reports by monday morning
|
|
|
|
Post by rhfs on Mar 20, 2015 14:06:25 GMT 9
My town has a sister city in America and we do a two week exchange program with middle school students. Students from both countries participate.
I don't think it matters whether or not the Americans can speak Japanese because it's only for 2 weeks and during the summer holidays so they aren't attending school in Japan or anything. Also, this is pretty much the only reason my job exists, as I will be (supposedly) following the students around and helping them out when needed. At least that's what my pred told me.
|
|
G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,201
CIR Experience: Former CIR
|
Post by G-Rex on Mar 20, 2015 14:09:54 GMT 9
idk if i think bringing pasty white kids from edinburgh to kyoto in summer is a good idea
but thanks for your post rahafascus
|
|
|
|
Post by valefi on Mar 20, 2015 14:24:48 GMT 9
I'd like to do something similar, too!
We already had a 中学生派遣団 system in place since forever, and they just changed the country from China to Italy when we signed the hulemdoship Agreement.
So, no particular effort required to our sister city, just let the kids meet the mayor and some other kids the same age for a couple of hours.
But, I would like to have some Italian kids come to Japan, too. I just don't know how to even start that!
We talked about it with a Judo club in our sister city, and at first they sounded very interested in coming to visit Japan. But then they said they were looking for a sponsor or funds, or somebody with money and we never heard from them ever since T__T
If anybody has got any suggestions or advice, I'd like to hear, too!!!
|
|
sana
So jozu at chopsticks
Posts: 171
CIR Experience: Former CIR
|
Post by sana on Mar 23, 2015 11:44:32 GMT 9
1) I'd hit up some of the big exchange orgs like Rotary or AFS for advice on how they do it. You could also approach them about auspicing or partnering on your program, which might make the Eternal Overlordistration of it easier. I don't know if they would be into it, but it couldn't hurt to suss it out. They will no doubt need some funding from your org to do this. A mate of mine from uni went on high school exchange via the Australia-Japan Society but (I think) it was also a sister-city arrangement, so another potential auspicing group could be the Japan Society of Scotland or the Japan Scotland Association or whatever, especially if your org and Edinburgh are willing to bring some portion of cash to the arrangement. The other thing that springs to mind is to use whatever connections to broker a sister-school arrangement as an extension of the 友好提携, and let the schools work out curriculum and credits etc themselves. Or you could target schools that offer IB-compliant subjects so the credit transfer is easier. I know of two different arrangements - one where the student exchange doesn't count at all towards high school qualifications in the home country. It's basically a year off 'normal' schooling, so it's done between Year 10 and 11 or after Year 12 to minimise disruption. Those kids attend classes in the other country and take tests but basically the school 'assesses' them at the end of the year as successfully (or not) completing an exchange year. I think this is the more common approach. The other is where the student is treated as more of a short-term transfer student, and has to complete assessment the same as any other student. I think that's harder to do when the language is different, though. In any case, doesn't the host school just sponsor the student/s for a student visa? 2) I agree with you. Be clear that it's not a language exchange but a cultural/sister-city exchange. Bill it as a chance for the host families to practice English in their own homes and show dat omotenashi. As practice for the Olympics or something. Start with finding host schools and go from there. Again, it will probably come down to funding. |
|
G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,201
CIR Experience: Former CIR
|
Post by G-Rex on Mar 23, 2015 11:51:37 GMT 9
sana, yeah the problem is we don't really have any partnered schools or anything - that would be my preferred option but it's getting schools to partner up in the first place which seems like it would be the hardest part. thanks for the advice though, i'll look into some of those associations or whatever!
|
|
sana
So jozu at chopsticks
Posts: 171
CIR Experience: Former CIR
|
Post by sana on Mar 23, 2015 11:56:37 GMT 9
sana, yeah the problem is we don't really have any partnered schools or anything - that would be my preferred option but it's getting schools to partner up in the first place which seems like it would be the hardest part. thanks for the advice though, i'll look into some of those associations or whatever! Yeah, that's where the offer of funding tends to help...  |
|
|
|
Post by Caic on Dec 4, 2015 13:07:22 GMT 9
they used to do this kind of thing between matsue and Ireland but stopped it during/before my pred... Maybe it would be nice to do it again....
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 14:47:35 GMT 9
So I was told there is a 95% chance I will go to our sister city in America with council members this Fall. Can anyone who has gone abroad for work tell me how their work hours are decided/ how it works? I have a hunch I will be working pretty long days. Do the hours in transport count as work?
Is there anything else I should be aware of/prepared to asked?
Right now I haven't been approached directly (but the conversations have be happening around me).
I'm just wondering if there's anything I should bring up when I'm finally approached.
|
|
|
|
Post by snell_mouse on Jun 9, 2016 14:53:58 GMT 9
It's worth confirming with your work about things like 代休 and whether traveling time counts as work or not - it probably depends on your office. The one time I did a 海外出張, they did count the flights as time I could get 代休 for (we also left on a Sunday so that might be part of the reason why), and any hours I worked outside of 9-5 became 代休 (I kept a record each day as it happened).
I didn't get any free time and hardly any breaks while I was there (there was maybe one dinner the first night that wasn't work), but I have heard of other people having time to go visit home or something during their business trips, so that is another thing worth checking with your office, I think.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 15:04:05 GMT 9
Good to know. I was hoping that I would have time for someone to fly down to see me but I get the impression that will not happen at all.Unfortunately it's too far for me to visit home. It's probably for the best. Like I said, they will most likely be long days. I'll probably push for transit time being counted as 代休 outside of what would have been work hours. My boss is reasonable so I think it should be fine.
|
|
|
|
Post by snell_mouse on Jun 9, 2016 15:06:29 GMT 9
|
|
|
|
Post by telly on Jun 9, 2016 15:06:39 GMT 9
Yeah, I second the point that you might not have much free time besides the evening or early morning hours, especially if the people travelling with you do not know English.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 15:10:06 GMT 9
Yeah, I second the point that you might not have much free time besides the evening or early morning hours, especially if the people travelling with you do not know English. Yeah, I was told my job will be interpreter and personal secretary pretty much. My co-worker who is going speaks some. Everyone else (probably about 12 people) do not for the most part. |
|
|
|
Post by telly on Jun 9, 2016 15:15:06 GMT 9
Yeah, I second the point that you might not have much free time besides the evening or early morning hours, especially if the people travelling with you do not know English. Yeah, I was told my job will be interpreter and personal secretary pretty much. My co-worker who is going speaks some. Everyone else (probably about 12 people) do not for the most part. And they will ask your help for pretty much anything once they understand that they can just hand over anything to you. It's the travel group phenomenon, where everyone basically becomes a baby once they get on the tour bus. |
|
|
|
Post by popchyk~ on Jun 9, 2016 15:17:01 GMT 9
I went to London for Rugby World Cup related work, with the governor and a group of people from my prefecture and also a film crew following us around. I just had a look at my 年休・振休 book, and I see that I received 振休 for weekend work during the trip but not for when workdays extended into the evening. Generally, however, I worked regular hours during the trip (with some exceptions, like when we went to watch a rugby match - and that was a lot of fun so I feel happy not receiving 振休 for that). Because I'm from London, I asked permission to stay at my parent's house during the entire work trip, and so I think I used the 振休 (or maybe it was 年休? I'm pretty certain it was 振休...) to spend a few days in London with my family after my colleagues had left London. My office was very kind to allow me to do this, although obviously it's ESID. Otherwise, I would have used the 振休 when I got back to Japan. Re travel times, I travelled to Fukuoka the night before (our flight was a morning flight from Fukuoka airport) and I spent a night in a hotel, and as far as I can remember I did not get 振休 for that. I'm not sure if this helps at all as every situation is different, but this was my experience with 海外出張 I found that it was easy for me to talk to my office about 振休 and so on - actually, it was a colleague who suggested I might want to stay with my parents rather than in a hotel. My mum came to meet me at the hotel when we arrived in London and some colleagues even hung around the lobby because they wanted to meet her, haha. So they were very understanding. Hopefully your office is equally kind ^^ |
|
|
|
Post by telly on Jun 9, 2016 15:19:34 GMT 9
I went to London for Rugby World Cup related work, with the governor and a group of people from my prefecture and also a film crew following us around. I just had a look at my 年休・振休 book, and I see that I received 振休 for weekend work during the trip but not for when workdays extended into the evening. Generally, however, I worked regular hours during the trip (with some exceptions, like when we went to watch a rugby match - and that was a lot of fun so I feel happy not receiving 振休 for that). Because I'm from London, I asked permission to stay at my parent's house during the entire work trip, and so I think I used the 振休 (or maybe it was 年休? I'm pretty certain it was 振休...) to spend a few days in London with my family after my colleagues had left London. My office was very kind to allow me to do this, although obviously it's ESID. Otherwise, I would have used the 振休 when I got back to Japan. Re travel times, I traveled to Fukuoka the night before (our flight was a morning flight from Fukuoka airport) and I spent a night in a hotel, and as far as I can remember I did not get 振休 for that. I'm not sure if this helps at all as every situation is different, but this was my experience with 海外出張 I found that it was easy for me to talk to my office about 振休 and so on - actually, it was a colleague who suggested I might want to stay with my parents rather than in a hotel. My mum came to meet me at the hotel when we arrived in London and some colleagues even hung around the lobby because they wanted to meet her, haha. So they were very understanding. Hopefully your office is equally kind ^^ They also saved some money thanks to you  |
|
|
|
Post by popchyk~ on Jun 9, 2016 15:21:09 GMT 9
I went to London for Rugby World Cup related work, with the governor and a group of people from my prefecture and also a film crew following us around. I just had a look at my 年休・振休 book, and I see that I received 振休 for weekend work during the trip but not for when workdays extended into the evening. Generally, however, I worked regular hours during the trip (with some exceptions, like when we went to watch a rugby match - and that was a lot of fun so I feel happy not receiving 振休 for that). Because I'm from London, I asked permission to stay at my parent's house during the entire work trip, and so I think I used the 振休 (or maybe it was 年休? I'm pretty certain it was 振休...) to spend a few days in London with my family after my colleagues had left London. My office was very kind to allow me to do this, although obviously it's ESID. Otherwise, I would have used the 振休 when I got back to Japan. Re travel times, I traveled to Fukuoka the night before (our flight was a morning flight from Fukuoka airport) and I spent a night in a hotel, and as far as I can remember I did not get 振休 for that. I'm not sure if this helps at all as every situation is different, but this was my experience with 海外出張 I found that it was easy for me to talk to my office about 振休 and so on - actually, it was a colleague who suggested I might want to stay with my parents rather than in a hotel. My mum came to meet me at the hotel when we arrived in London and some colleagues even hung around the lobby because they wanted to meet her, haha. So they were very understanding. Hopefully your office is equally kind ^^ They also saved some money thanks to you There was actually some situation where it would have worked out easier (or cheaper?) for me to stay in a hotel - I think maybe because we organised the trip as a package or something? - and then my colleague said something like, "No, wait, you should get a chance to stay with your family, as you're travelling all that way" - which I thought was very kind of them  (I also thought that I was causing less 迷惑 by staying with my parents, but apparently I was causing *more* 迷惑 ;_; ) |
|
|
|
Post by telly on Jun 9, 2016 15:25:20 GMT 9
They also saved some money thanks to you There was actually some situation where it would have worked out easier (or cheaper?) for me to stay in a hotel - I think maybe because we organised the trip as a package or something? - and then my colleague said something like, "No, wait, you should get a chance to stay with your family, as you're travelling all that way" - which I thought was very kind of them (I also thought that I was causing less 迷惑 by staying with my parents, but apparently I was causing *more* 迷惑 ;_; ) Hm...because less people used rooms in a hotel compared to how many boarded the airplane, I see...well, good for you, bad for them. |
|
|
|
Post by snell_mouse on Jun 9, 2016 15:30:59 GMT 9
Yeah, I was told my job will be interpreter and personal secretary pretty much. My co-worker who is going speaks some. Everyone else (probably about 12 people) do not for the most part. And they will ask your help for pretty much anything once they understand that they can just hand over anything to you. It's the travel group phenomenon, where everyone basically becomes a baby once they get on the tour bus. It can be very 大変, but if it's anything like my experience at the very least you will feel like you are needed and doing work that nobody else can do/that they wouldn't be able to do without you, which gives a nice 達成感. The coworker who went with me (aka the only other person who was not an えらい人) said he was really grateful to have me along, which of course was really nice to hear. |
|
|
|
Post by telly on Jun 9, 2016 15:33:15 GMT 9
And they will ask your help for pretty much anything once they understand that they can just hand over anything to you. It's the travel group phenomenon, where everyone basically becomes a baby once they get on the tour bus. It can be very 大変, but if it's anything like my experience at the very least you will feel like you are needed and doing work that nobody else can do/that they wouldn't be able to do without you, which gives a nice 達成感. The coworker who went with me (aka the only other person who was not an えらい人) said he was really grateful to have me along, which of course was really nice to hear. That is true. I mostly get this from German delegations coming here, seeing me as their window to Japan while they are staying in our town, but it is basically the same. |
|
|
|
Post by popchyk~ on Jun 9, 2016 15:39:03 GMT 9
The 大変さ (in my experience) depends on how many colleagues with you can speak English, and whether you have other guides with you (in my case, we had travel company representatives traveling with us). I don't know if you're American but there were some nice aspects about traveling to my native country with my colleagues from Japan. For example, I found that my colleagues were genuinely curious about British culture and customs and would strike up conversations with me about their impressions of the UK (this was nice because I went with a large group, only two of whom I had worked with back in my prefecture, so it helped me get to know my colleagues). Also I was able to meet a lot of people in British industries in various fields, which was a fantastic opportunity for me (people who ran a football stadium, people who worked for large companies, the mayor/local government of a city, local government officials from a London borough, people who ran rugby clubs, people who work in the hotel industry and so on), as it was a chance for me to learn about different industries in my own country as well. It was also really lovely to feel that I was genuinely helping people communicate and get on with each other - even down to translating jokes and helping my colleague who couldn't understand strong East End or Scottish accents. I got the feeling (and this is subjective so maybe I'm incorrect) that a lot of people saw that my colleagues had brought a British colleague (me) with them and found me approachable and easy to talk to, just as my colleagues would ask me questions about interacting with the British people they met. Also, my colleagues had allocated time during the trip for sightseeing, and it was fun to get to visit all these landmarks of my home city with people not from there, and see what they found interesting. I'm sorry for the tl;dr again. I found 海外出張 a really wonderful experience (I do understand that it can be very 大変 and stressful for other CIRs, so I suppose it is ESID) and I hope you have a lovely time |
|
|
|
Post by Sparkles on Jun 9, 2016 15:47:38 GMT 9
My two big overseas business trips went like this:
Trip 1
Highest-ranking person on the trip: 部長
Overall: extremely regulated schedule
Sunday: Departure/flights (no daikyuu)
Monday: Eat breakfast before departing from the hotel at 7 a.m. Work for the rest of the regular work day. Have 40 minutes of free time (aka zone out like a zombie time) at the hotel. Go to Fancy Dinner #1, which was not counted as "work"/daikyuu as it was a fancy dinner, but as I was interpreting the whole time it felt like work. Get back to the hotel between 21:30-22:00. Collapse.
Tuesday-Friday: rinse and repeat the Monday schedule.
Saturday: Depart hotel at 5 a.m. to fly back to Japan (no daikyuu)
I received a 海外宿泊日当 every day I was there, though (about half on the 2 days I was traveling), so I essentially got a bonus of (I think?) 7000/day (cf usual 出張日当: 200) and most of the fancy dinners I didn't have to pay anything for. (I almost never had to pay for food -- nearly all of the money I brought went to buying souvenirs for people.)
Trip 2
Highest-ranking person on the trip: my lovely chill 課長
Overall: moderately to highly regulated schedule
Tuesday: Departure/flights (I was allowed to go directly to the airport without stopping at the office by the good graces of my 課長), no daikyuu
Wednesday: Eat breakfast before departing from the hotel at 7 a.m. Work for the rest of the regular work day. Have Fancy Dinner #1. No daikyuu, same as Trip 1.
Thursday: Same as Wed, but no fancy dinner -- just a casual dinner with colleagues.
Friday: Same as Wed, yes Fancy Dinner #2.
Saturday: morning appointment was canceled, so my 課長 and others did work-related things but I was allowed to sleep in Saturday morning. Joined 課長 and others for the afternoon meetings but I was just present/didn't interpret. The only real work-thing I did was an evening meeting, but I didn't ask for daikyuu for it because they let me sleep in that morning and the meeting wasn't too strenuous.
Sunday: DAY OFF HALLELUJAH (I didn't get any 日当 for this day.)
Monday: Same as Wed, no fancy dinner.
Tuesday: depart hotel at 5 a.m., fly back to Japan
Similarly to Trip 1, I got the higher 日当.
Trip 2 was way less stressful -- it was my second time (went to the same place as Trip 1) so I had a better idea of what we were doing/who we were meeting, the schedule was less intense, the highest-ranking person was my 課長 (we like each other a lot as colleagues; speaks no English but is really nice about interpreting issues) rather than the 部長 (way more えらい, I don't know them very well, also no English but doesn't necessarily get the ins and outs of interpreting), and I actually had a free day to recuperate and (gasp!) do something fun.
Alas, Trip 3 is coming up this summer and it is already shaping up to be very, very similar to Trip 1. /sigh
I don't know why my office, which is usually very reasonable about stuff like daikyuu, is all "nope, no daikyuu for you" when it comes to overseas business trips. I think the 日当 is a part of it, but I'd rather have the time off. I hope your office is different, especially if you do find yourself working in the evening/on weekend days. Don't expect them to count your travel time -- that's something that my office doesn't do under almost any circumstances -- but again, I hope they do.
All this said, you might as well ask (tactfully) for what you want. The worst they can say is no (you won't get penalized or anything just for asking/outlining what you want), and maybe they'll actually say yes! Good luck and try to enjoy yourself (and the food!!) as much as possible!!
|
|
|
|
Post by telly on Jun 9, 2016 15:49:06 GMT 9
I think the 大変さ and stress度 comes down to planning and how much responsibility you have.
For my last big trip, JTB was really late in letting us know our final hotels in each city, so since I would be the travel agent for them, I constantly had to update my trip and information sheet, about how we get from point A to B and such. I did this because I knew that I would not be able to use the internet "on-the-way". Same for food, if you have no one on the other side planning for you, this might become one of your tasks. Where will you eat lunch or dinner if the hotel does not serve those? You cannot just hop on tabelog without internet, so I had to research all of this before.
And then JTB changed the hotel again and we were somewhere that was a 20 minute walk from the nearest public transportation line, with no restaurants around it beside a Subway.
|
|
|
|
Post by popchyk~ on Jun 9, 2016 15:51:18 GMT 9
Telly made a good point - I should point out that all of our meals (including the restaurant and the food to be served) and transportation were organised well in advance (we knew all the restaurants we would be eating at and on what day even before we left Japan, for example) and everything was very much coordinated by the travel company, so I had no stress at all in that respect.
My food was paid for me, as well.
I did have to pay to take the tube every day from my parent's house to the hotel to meet my colleagues. Then we went everywhere else by coach.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2016 16:59:07 GMT 9
Aww you all make up very good points. There are so many things I want to ask but I feel like it is too soon. At the same time I'm wondering when I'm going to actually be included in the conversations. I haven't been asked to do anything at this point. They are going through JTB but I don't think anyone will be traveling with us. I think that's where I come in. They're trying to save money.
|
|
|
|
Post by telly on Jun 9, 2016 17:06:50 GMT 9
Aww you all make up very good points. There are so many things I want to ask but I feel like it is too soon. At the same time I'm wondering when I'm going to actually be included in the conversations. I haven't been asked to do anything at this point. They are going through JTB but I don't think anyone will be traveling with us. I think that's where I come in. They're trying to save money. Might be you will face a similar situation like I had, so once you're asked to participate, try to get as much information as you can. |
|
G-Rex
Dead Stargod
killed SAKAMOTO LYOMA with crappa sushi
hi
Posts: 7,201
CIR Experience: Former CIR
|
Post by G-Rex on Jun 9, 2016 17:58:10 GMT 9
when we went we left flew out and back on a saturday/sunday i think, so i got 1 day for going there and back, and the actual days there were just counted as full work days, even though we were doing stuff in the evening. so even though it would be an 8am start and a 9pm finish or something, it just counted as one day, so i only got 2 days out of the trip itself.
honestly, after the 11 days or so of daikyuu that i had already accumulated before the trip due to planning overtime, i didn't really need anymore.
the amount of work you will actually do will depend on what you do on the ground. i did next to no interpreting at all, and went mainly as grunt staff so it was a lot of work. if you're just going for interpreting and guide, then it might be easier for you to make plans outside of official work times.
|
|
sgrilla
Straight outta Narita
一期一会
Posts: 23
CIR Experience: Former CIR
Location: Aichi
|
Post by sgrilla on Sept 29, 2016 17:06:22 GMT 9
Ok guys, I need an advice!
I'm trying to plan a 交流 event with our sister city, based on textile and fashion. I know they already did this kind of stuff for six years, but in the end was completely useless because they paid EVERYTHING for the students coming from our sister city, but when they come back they don't contact each other anymore and the thing ends there. At the beginning the main goal was "When you'll graduate and open your own atelier, you'll use our material", but I'm not sure they became a designer.. knowing the situation in my hometown, maybe they are working at McDonald's.
Anyway, I would like to continue this fashion/textile thing, and I'm looking for a designer in our sister city that can host 2 or 4 of our students for one or two weeks for an internship. But now I'm struggling on the 目的. Thinking about the future, what will be the best aim for this exchange??
(sorry for my English, I'm pretty tired and I cannot even think in English!!)
|
|
|
|
Post by TrickPhoenix on May 15, 2018 10:00:06 GMT 9
Wow it's been a while since this thread has seen the light of day.
I SEEK AN ADVICE
As detailed in the miffs thread, my city has basically been veering away from the sister city project they asked me to set up, all the people involved have been moved to new departments, and the mayor is a prick and doesn't care about KOKUSAI KOULYUU so, as my soup put it, the overall attitude to this project has become BIMYOU and they want me to tell our prospective city to MURI SHINAIDE.
I can't imagine that the message to "not try so hard" will really go over well in an American setting though? From my personal American perspective here, my response would be more like "I'm confused, do you want to be sister cities or not? There's only a yes or no answer here." Like I don't think the response will be anything but frustration about this vagueness, and a demand for a more straightforward black-and-white answer.
It's possible that my soup was just trying to convey that we might not be able to commit to things like exchange programs or sending the mayor over to sign a contract until after the Olympics craze is over, and if that were the case I think we would be fine to let them know that and still go ahead with this on paper at least, so that we can perhaps pick up an exchange in future (if we elect a mayor who isn't a prick, maybe)
But if this is just my city's wishy-washy way of backing out entirely, I really need to know so that I can 1) tell them how fucking rude this is and 2) tell them that this city is unlikely to ever treat us seriously or courteously ever again, and it is not a neutral disengagement but a very negative one.
So... any advice? Should I squeeze my soup for more detailed info? Do you agree that the US prospective sister city would respond negatively to this BIMYOU stance, or do you think I should just convey that message as is? HALP.
|
|
(I also thought that I was causing less 迷惑 by staying with my parents, but apparently I was causing *more* 迷惑 ;_; )
