Fears...

Recently I was venting with my mom about our current shitshow of American presidential candidates. She didn't seem super worried; she thinks that if the lying, cheating, bigoted Republican frontrunner wins, he'll be limited enough in his decision-making. Or maybe she believes that someone more experienced in actual governance will win. My hope is for better unified healthcare instead of this dogshit system that's been cobbled together over 100 years. Ohh, your coverage means that you have to go to this hospital, not that one. This medication is covered, but not that one (despite needing both). It's complex, I get it, but we need to dismantle it and build a better system, instead of the current band-aid ACA. I'm confident that American tourists' reputations will continue to improve overseas, as we are more distanced from our leaders. Because honestly, the Baby Boomer generation's policymaking could be a little less selfish.

Another fear I've had as an adult is related to how much I used to want to be a father. I wanted to be a parent so badly and raise the perfect good-looking, quick-witted genius who is just barely less clever than me. Of course, between lots of living overseas and my massive life-shift to frugality, that desire has diminished. I also think the world sucks too much to bring a child into. The news is doing its work; I think my (partially?) black child is going to be shot by a police officer, or some dipshit politician is going to make policies that limit my children in some way. Lots of people get over these and have children anyway, but this collection of phobias are what keeps my party at 2 members.

I fear for my girlfriend, who studies late downtown and doesn't know how to defend herself. I am afraid that I won't have enough time in my remaining healthy life to visit all the places I want to because of other obligations. I'm worried about breaking down at work and quitting without having another job lined up.

Sure, I know that there are lists of valid counterpoints to how to solve or combat these fears, but I'll be GD'd if it doesn't keep me up at night.

Best moments of 2015

2015 marked the year where I turned back to Seattle after more than 2 years in Yokohama. I REALLY liked my workplace and co-workers, but there just wasn't any sense of progression in having large groups of students practice English for 50 measly minutes a week. Now that I've had most of a year to reflect, I am still glad I came back. I surely miss my Japanese life for having a salary where I could eat good quality food, the ability to take a train just about everywhere, and the relationships I'd started with friends there. The letdowns can come in another post: this is supposed to be highlights!

One of the coolest experiences was my parents visiting me in Japan. It was so cool to show off my familiarity with the language and culture, and guide them around. Boy did I harrow those two around in order to avoid waiting for the next train. Also, I never realized how many stairs there are in the country!

Spring: Reconnecting with Korea was pretty awesome. I had a half-day layover in Seoul, and met a friend for a couple hours, while enjoying how clean and modern of a city it is. A week after I got back, I went back to work for Kaplan, the school I had taught ESL at for almost 4 years. I've been very fortunate to work pretty much when I want to, and having adult students with life experiences I could talk to was such a contrasted difference to teaching teens in Japan.

Over the summer, I headed east. On that trip, my good friend Wil in Connecticut took me to see a navy base, and in Baltimore, My mom and pop treated me to a top-notch Brazilian buffet. For the second half of the trip, I went to the casino with my mom, and saw my grandfather for the last time. 

Booth babes are like if this girl were selling hotdogs.

The summer also came to a thrilling conclusion with PAX - the Penny Arcade eXpo. I'd been to two Tokyo Gameshows, and even a hands-on Japanese gaming convention called Tokaigi earlier this year. But PAX is just way cooler. Japanese people don't socialize the same way, strangers don't talk. You can have 10,000 people in the Makuhari Messe, and it will still be quiet enough to talk slightly above your normal speaking voice. PAX is also more spread out, and has discussions, lots of tournaments, and is 4 days long. Tokyo Game Show has better booth babes - some politically-correct American decided that you had to be somewhat knowledgable about your product to promote it, essentially ending booth babehood. I liked the distraction, but I also see how using a sexy babe to promote Tetris is kind of silly. 

Somewhere in the summer was news that Final Fantasy VII is getting a remake. A few weeks later,  there was a breathtaking demo of this most beloved games of all time getting a 20-year facelift. I am not sure when it's coming out, and have shelled out $15 to get the PC-cum-PS4 version of the 1997 masterpiece. I am aiming to process the story as a whole on this 6th-or-7th journey through the game.

Halloween this year was probably the most fun I've had on the holiday since I was a kid, when I used to trick-or-treat with my friends. I went out dancing two nights around that holiday, and my girlfriend and I made some new memories. Both nights, I saw live funk and shook my ass, and never even thought about trick-or-treating! I'd been in Japan for the last 3 Halloweens, and it just isn't the same if you don't know anyone.












As the event coordinator at Kaplan, I had some victories in planning and leading an academic activity called the Vocabulary Olympics. It's a series of vocabulary games where classes get mixed up and put into teams to do rounds of challenges like spelling, define-the-word, and put-this-word-in-that-sentence. I also had a fantastic Halloween and Thanksgiving party, which is a feat to coordinate 250 people.

The Star Wars premiere at IMAX was quite awesome. I cheated, and snuck into line to stand with Chad, who'd been waiting for 6 hours at that point. When we were let into the auditorium, our dozen-member group took seats close to some reserved seats. 10 minutes before the show, the manager of the theater thanked us and had the usual under-your-seat prize giveaway. The guest turned out to be Seahawks defense man Michael Bennett, who shook hands on his way to his seat, after grabbing the mic for a minute and getting us riled up about both the Seahawks and The Force Awakens. I really liked the movie, and was thrilled to be such a part of a great moment of nerd history.

American Airlines - no dignity, no pride, no class.

I know that we Americans are the best in the universe at hyperbolizing, but American Airlines is the worst airline in existence. Here's the letter I recently sent to their email, because agents no longer talk to you directly. Ohh, and heads up, US Airways and AA are the same company.

"I'm 22 hours late to my destination. 1) My 6pm got rebooked to 6am the next day. Then, 2) that 6AM *takeoff was aborted on the runway (USXXXX). I was rebooked to a later flight that was supposed to give me a 5 hour layover in PHI, but 3) [US XXXX] has gotten delayed over an hour so far, and the airport kiosks aren't reflecting that. There are no agents here, either.

*While I appreciate their safety concerns, a company that just pocketed $1.7bn in 3 months shouldn't be flying broken planes.

"At least it's the weekend, but we're starting to encroach on my work and wages. To you, these are isolated events. To me and several other customers, this is one long frustrating ride from an airline that makes headlines about record profits. I absolutely can not imagine this being an acceptable business practice, and feel that I have absolutely no recourse against you, AA/USAirways. I want you to know that you can get away with this kind of treatment without consequences, but it would be really nice if someone read this and tried to make your service match your image. I see you have the big money, but from an experience like this, it looks like you could spend it helping customers get from point A to B at least somewhat closely to the times we see when we purchase tickets."

This guy knows what's up: No (au bon) Pain, no gain!

As I write this post, I overheard someone say that the departure agents at the front of the airport were told them to sit at the gate by 3 just in case they can make up time.

It's also worth noting that my originating flight from Seattle to Baltimore, via Alaska Air, was flawless. It fit the schedule precisely, and there were absolutely no hiccups, like flight should be. If this ends up delaying enough so that I can't go into work on time tomorrow, this will reach the point where it really was more viable to pay more money on Expedia to get assigned a different airline. I've already had to feed myself for an extra 2 *meals.

*good, delicious, fantastic, wonderful. I got to eat Au Bon Pain (not found in Seattle) and Popeye's (not good in Seattle).

Sorry, people. This is incredibly whiny for a relatively minor inconvenience to my otherwise stellar life. However, if no one talks about it, then nothing will ever get done about it. Accepting that businesses can walk all over us peons isn't how to get them to change themselves. Why not call them on their pledges, promises and mission statements?

Finding an apartment in Japan

If you are flying into Japan on a contract you signed back at home, you've probably been offered an apartment. It's nice to have the peace of mind that you'll have a place to stay upon arrival, but a little knowledge about your options will have more of that paycheck going to what you want to do. 

 Your first option is to stay in a guesthouse. When I first heard the term, I pictured a lodge or hostel. They're generally more laid out like dorms, and the units may or may not have a bathroom attached. The two big companies I know of are Oakhouse and Sakura House. These are probably the best options for a few months in Nippon. There is a nonrefundable management fee if you don't catch one of their (ad) campaigns, your base rent, and then a packaged utility fee. The utility fee is usually the only overpriced component of this, but your unit is furnished. Your internet connection, however, may be strictly limited. This means that certain ports may be blocked, preventing your favorite apps and downloads. 

Oak Mansion in Futamatagawa, Yokohama - 65,000

 The total difference for me was still roughly 20,000 yen ($195). Obviously, this depends on your region and distance from the train station. I paid 65,000 ($630) for a tiny room, with a single-element burner, fridge, microwave and bathroom, utilities included. However, it was a 15 minute walk to the station, then 10 minutes away from the main hub by train. 

 It is worth noting that most Japanese companies pay your transportation costs, so if you don't mind standing or bringing a book, you have better control over rent.

Programmable bath with reheat/temp/water level/timer

 Option 2: Urban Renaissance. The name is epic, but this is a service by the Japanese government that tosses the traditional Japanese apartment experience out the window. With UR, you can enter and leave your unit with 2 weeks’ notice, there's no gift money, no required guarantor, and the deposit is only 3 months. 

6jo (6 tatami-mat room) - roughly 12' x 9'

 You may or may not have heard that the regular process for an apartment is gift money (you basically give a month's worth of rent to the manager as a thank you,) key money (up to 6x rent, refundable), and a deposit. Basically, you'll need up to 8x the advertised monthly rent to do it the Japanese way. PLUS a guarantor, which a lot of schools don't actually do. UR cuts that down to 4 months, all refundable, minus a chunk of your deposit (less than 5% in my experience).

Separate toilet room...if you've never, you should.

UR helps both Japanese citizens and foreigners, though getting an agent that speaks English is tricky, even in the second largest city of Yokohama. All of the emergency information, maintenance, comes in Japanese/English manuals, though. You'll need to set up your internet, power, water and gas in Japanese.

Kitchens, hallways - 1LDK was 85,000

What is the tradeoff? UR is the absolute most flexible and cheapest, but your unit is bare, often without even an AC/heater or bedroom ceiling light. The furniture problem is best solved by scanning craigslist for both free furniture and 10,000-20,000 ($100-195) moving truck services. Another choice is to join the Yahoo Group [tokyofreecycle]. You’ll get lists of who is getting rid of what, and where they are giving it away.  It's stressful, but if you're planning to stay in Japan longer than half a year (most contracts are a year), then this is the way to go.

Visit from the 'rents!

Kinkakuji - Kyoto

Being visited and playing host is awesome for a few reasons:

1. You finally have an excuse to do "touristy" stuff. I know that where I'm from, there's a slightly negative nuance to doing things like exploring your own city that you've lived in for over 10 years, or taking photos of the statue you pass on your commute 5 times a week. In Japan, tourist stuff is affordable ($3 tickets to temples, all-day bus passes for $10, group pricing at restaurants), and in some cases cheaper for foreign passports than for residents! I'm looking at you, Japan Rail pass!

Check out japanican.com for more deets on tours n stuff. Also, make sure you get your rail pass BEFORE you come to Japan.

Chinatown - Yokohama

2. You get to see your stomping grounds through someone else's eyes. That creepy statue in the small alley where you saw a bum taking dump in the middle of the road? Well, the rain washed away that dookie and your host only sees an interesting city ornament and want to take pictures!

3. Your guests may give you an opportunity to interact with the city that you might not normally take. I discovered the many cheap buses to Haneda airport from all over Yokohama, as well as a station exit that would have saved me lots of time an energy getting to my private lessons over these two years! 

Anyhoo, here's how it went: the first night, I picked her up from Haneda. Baggage claim is pretty slow. That night, we checked in to their hotel in Landmark Tower. The front desk had trouble finding my reservation, and after 20 minutes, found and upgraded the room! We ate tonkatsu (breaded-and-fried pork cutlet) nearby and that was that.

Uhh ohh, will that double my credit balance?

The next day, I met them in the afternoon, and after trying Mr Donuts, we went to Kamakura to enjoy a nice walk to Zeni-arai benten. This is a temple where it's said that any money you wash will be doubled. We had to meet a friend for dinner and ordered random Japanese dishes: Chicken katsu, sashimi platter, and a pork bone soup. Because we were juggling luggage and lockers, we only had time to ride the Enoden line from start to finish and didn't actually visit Enoshima.

Freddie having way too much fun
blessing himself for love

Wednesday was Kyoto. We took the bullet from ShinYokohama to Kyoto, arriving just before 1pm. We scored discount daypass bus tickets, and saw KiyoMizuDera. We were going to see Ginkakuji but arrived just a few minutes too late. Then, we got lost trying to find our apartment. Once we did, turns out it was very new and very unused. The owner left us with his pocket wifi because I needed it to keep in touch. Parents tried 生搾りchu-hais (fresh-squeezed malts).

Kiyomizudera - Kyoto

We used AirBnB.com for our reservations.

Thursday was Kyoto part two. Parents tried double-soft toast and we buzzed off to Kinkakuji. Then Ginkakuji, where we did most of our gift-shopping. For lunch, we had Italian, but the dessert was a deep, rich green tea cake. 

Outside da Ghibli Building

Friday we started by going to the post office, where there is an assistant who helps you choose the right line to stand in for your bank or post services. Like a hostess or maitre'd for a post office! A month ago, I went to Lawson's, a convenience store to purchase tickets for the Ghibli Museum. It was fantastic, and worth the wait. The 'rents didn't really know what they were seeing, but they liked it for sure. In one of the first lower rooms, there was a 3d-animated mobile of Ghibli stuff going on. There was also a 3-4 minute animated short of evolving prey running from evolving predators. The bottom floor also had a 13 minute animated short about an old couple who help mice defeat rats in sumo games. The story is both sweet and cute. 

The second floor has a history and sketches of Ghibli classics as well as a bookstore. The third floor has the gift shop, a Neko-bus playground for preschoolers, and a deck with spiral steps to climb to the roof, which has the giant robot from...Friday night was capped off by an hour-long JR ride to my station Tsurumi, where we had yakiniku. Mom and Dad loved it!

Runebox - Ghibli

This thing is from Laputa...
just don't translate that
title to Spanish!

Saturday, we were all kind of exhausted, so the folks came over to see my apartment for a few hours. We whisked off to Akihabara and walked through a 5-floor arcade, just to take them into the antithesis of sensory deprivation. Then we headed to Shinjuku for Sekai-no-Yamachan seasoned chicken wings, miso-tonkatsu and microbrew. After that was the Robot Restaurant!

Sunday morning was breakfast at DeliFrance, my favorite pastries in Japan. Unfortunately, their coffee is both expensive and indistinct. We waddled out of that place and spent a few hours in Chinatown, where we had a few dumplings, bought some trinkets and finally headed off to Haneda airport!

Tips in frugality: How I sent home 50% of my Japanese paycheck

At first, I, too was a retail slave.

I'm cheap and I love it. I want to clue you in on how I went from $10k in debt to almost double that in savings in two years. This here isn't new to anyone, just proof that most of you can make it work.

Why me? It all started with getting a job and jumping income levels. My close friend Zack, who is also my work neighbor, bikes to work everyday and I asked him why. This opened up a conversation about saving, investing, and MrMoneyMustache. Before I got used to a more expensive lifestyle, I sent home the difference in pay. After paying them off I had a new focus: the American stock market.

2 years later I'm on top of the building of one of the 
richest men in history. ON TOP!

Why you? Some things in Yokohama are cheaper than Seattle, and vice versa. Fresh ingredients and food are cheaper; alcohol is, too. Transportation is more expensive, but your company usually reimburses you 100%, which explains why biking is so profitable. Some of the changes are universal, other apply to only me or living in Yokohama.

How? Food. For a long while, I cooked for myself at least 4 days a week. I suck at cooking, and never really improved. Costco sells a 2-lb 4-pack of individually wrapped chicken breasts for $10. That's your main meat for 5 big or 8 medium-sized meals. A pot of curry is about $5-6, and you can eat it all week! I also dropped $20 every 2 months coffee beans and have avoided going to cafes (drip is $3.50 in Japan, yeesh!).

Timmmmm Currrrrrrrrrray!

Drinking. Luckily, Zack bought his tickets for the frugal train a few years before me, and is in the same mentality. We drink $1 beers outside of convenience stores before joining a party where they're $5. Another shortcut was when we did the low carb diets, buying a giant bottle of fizz and a 5th of whiskey. You get 12 x 50 cent drinks. More than enough to get loose off of $3 and 20g carbs!

The downside is the social invitations, though. My co-workers are older and generally want to go to nicer places. I work a different schedule, so I've taken all 3 opportunities this year to go to the $60 per person Italian dinner. However, Japanese people love to go out, and if you work the same hours as someone, you might go out a few times a week.

Transportation. Driving is expensive, and public transportation is treated like that crazy uncle that people invite because it would be cruel to tell him he sucks. If you live in the right area, though, you can either a) bike and cancel that gym membership or b) take the bus/train and use that commute to read or text all your stupid Buzzfeed Top 10 articles to your friends.

Most people don't think about it, but gas ain't the only cost to driving. Parking, insurance, and maintenance are fees you can equate to up to 20% of your income. My bike ride to work was 40 minutes and was a little under 6 miles away. You may or may not be as fortunate, but you might consider transportation costs in your next move. It might be worth another $200/month that you'd spend anyway getting to work!

Entertainment: watching. Porn is free, so let's cross that off. What people might not know is Kissanime.com and Kisscartoon.me, two sister sites that stream a boatload of high-quality content both with Japanese subtitles, and dubbed. There is minimal advertising, and the content works without an account. I just watched my childhood favorite, DarkWing Duck last night!

Movies and tv shows are a little different. There are tons of free sketchy sites, but I prefer the obvious Netflix, which doesn't work in Japan without a bit of sorcery. If you can't wait until June 2015, then you can get Strong VPN service to fool Netflix.com into thinking you're in the US. I've been a Prime Instant Video member for 3 years now, and their streaming tv and movie service has finally started taking itself seriously. You also need the aforementioned VPN service, but the selection is pretty good!

Entertainment: playing. I have paid full price for 3 new games in the last 2 years. Otherwise, I buy used. I used to buy new and preserve the case and then I started traveling a lot. That gets expensive, the shit gets shoved in a box and there's water damage and xyz, it's just not worth it to me.

Also, the disturbing trend of (American) companies releasing unfinished games means that paying full price is riskier than waiting until someone sells it on Craigslist (a week later sometimes!) Sometimes you get lucky and Dell decides to sell the game with a big ass coupon. I just got $25 back on the $40 Zelda: Majora's Mask remake.

Shoutout to PlayStation Plus for having monthly free games. I am sitting on 80 games, downloaded free after having the service for 4 years.

Utilities. I live in a tiny apartment in an old building, and that may be the hardest thing to control. I am still appalled that Ballardians pay $1400 for 2-bedroom apartments, but it's a nice place to live! One of the things I DO have control over is using a prepaid cell phone. I have a tablet and use wifi when I can (Starbucks and 7-11 in Japan), and otherwise have to top up my prepaid phone $30 every 60 days. Most of you probably spend $50 or so per month for the convenience. There are alternatives!

When I live in the States again, I'm looking to try Freedom Wireless, which looks to be either free or $20/month for a slightly limited smart phone. That kind of change is worth it for me.

Shopping: Amazon. I am an unabashed fan of Amazon, and it works just as well in Japan. I stay away from department stores, which in Japan are mostly women's clothing/cosmetics shops anyway. "Sale" means they're lying to you.


TL,DR; Cooking for myself, biking, drinking at convenience stores, using prepaid phone service, Amazon and buying used is what allows me to sock away dat sweet 50!

お久しぶり！Long time, no post! p１

I have slipped into work-and-play mode to the extreme! If I'm not at school, pretending to be a teacher, I've been seeing the sights of Japan! One day, a friend visiting from Korea wanted to see the towers!

There's also a Studio Ghibli store at the base!

There it is: Sky Tree! 634m tall, and the second tallest THING in the world, Japanese people will tell you to that Sky Tree is a must-see if you're visiting Tokyo. The area around the base is called Solamachi (空=sky町=town), though I am disturbed by the "l" instead of "r" in sola. Ahh well, maybe there's a hidden reason. But I digress! The tower is just a part of the background to most places in Tokyo, and I hadn't seen it up close until just now...it's HUGE, but it doesn't feel as tall as it really is. Still a wonderful part of the TKY experience.


 あった！やっとスカイツリーに着いた！韓国人の友達はvisit中、東京の二つタワーを見て欲しかった。スカイツリーは世界2番目の高いビルなんですがドバイのBurjタワーは２００メートルよりも高いんだ。今回はエレベータに乗らなかったけど、3月で母と一緒に乗ろうかな。。。タワーの近くに行った時、あんまり高く思わなかったけど、未来的な感じが出ていた。

The same night, we walked through a CRAZY-COLD Daimon/Hamamatsucho to see Tokyo Tower. You're not forgotten! 

A few days later, I went with some good friends to the Yebisu Beer Factory and learned some shit. Then I drank some shit! The tour is roughly 20 minutes long, 500 yen, and you get two glasses of fresh, smooth beer at the end. Afterwards, you can purchase an American pint of one of six flavors for 400 yen. While there, we met a young Japanese couple and ended up staying an extra few hours chatting in the language. You can figure that anyone else that has time to drink at noon on a Wednesday is gonna be chill.

影か薄くなったように感じる東京タワーを見に行った。すごく強い風が風いていたのでひどい寒かった。数日後、ヱビスビール工場でツアーをやった。あそこでのビールはヤバイおいしかった！飲みやすかった。２０分のツアー後に若い日本人の夫婦と話して、さらに３杯飲んだ。しかも水曜日の昼に！

The yearly reflection: 2014-style!

While the end of 2014 isn't quite what I'd hoped for, the year itself has been quite a doozy! On a large scale, this year had a few themes, from police brutality to large-scale hack attacks. In my smaller realm, there was a little traveling, more investing, and a ton of gaming.

The summer weather report in Japan

TRAVEL: Spring Break 2014 was off the hook! I went to Italy and took a surprise venture to Munich, Germany.

 On the Japan side of things, I survived the summer without completely dying, thanks to my schedule of taking a shower at work before the day started. Classes have been excellent: ONLY teenage girl students, who are easily impressed and generally enjoy taking my lessons. I watched Death Note, a hugely popular anime,
Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人), and some of Bleach. I also took levels 2 and 3 of the
Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

During the summer, I traveled to the East Coast to see my friend Will, my mother and 4 cities! You could pretty much call that trip a scout mission because now I know I want to spend more time in NYC, DC, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

INVESTMENT: I got rocked by last overconfidence in 3D stocks. Last year, my initial investments almost doubled, and this year they...well...fell back to earth, and into Hell. Other investments, however, like GoPro, Apple and real estate have put me way ahead of the game, so it's all good. Also, this year my spending habits have become that much tighter, so I have that going for me.

BT...probably doesn't have any problem getting ladies.

The beginning of this video will make you jump, apologies ahead, but the track is sick. Korean singer Bada does the lyrics.

MUSIC: (trance DJ) BT's 2014 album Song Across Wires came out, and now I'm hot on Armin van Buren, another trance DJ. I also discovered Hall and Oates (30 years isn't too late, stop hatin'), which works perfectly for karaoke!

GAMES: For single-player experiences, Okami was probably the best quest I did this year. In terms of multiplayer madness, Mario Kart 8 with my dearest buddies in Seattle and in Japan; Titanfall, Destiny and Halo with my buddy Zack. One Destiny moment was joining a raid - a large mission with a team of 6 - with a bunch of teenagers and exchanging antics. Zack and I probably have 15 years on these kids...we still laughed at the same shit.

Lastly, this year has been very productive for my website, Grammar Pimps which is designed for ESL teachers in mind. It's been especially fun creating the site through Wordpress.

Staying with an immigrant host family? No Problem!

I've heard it a billion times, usually with a sigh or huff of disappointment, My host family is from the Philippines*. I want a "real" American family. My host mother's English is hard to understand! I can understand the initial confusion when someone arrives to their host who doesn't look like the people we see in most movies from Hollywood. The popular stuff that makes it overseas can really distort the reality of how diverse the US is, and international students expecting a white (or black, I'll dole out the benefit of the doubt) American family are in for a surprise, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

*Over the 4 years at my school that found host families, the most common immigrant hosts were families from the Philippines. I'm not trying to disrespect our friends from the Philippines, just reporting the comments I actually heard.

I think these students are missing out on the fact that these host families who immigrated have experience similar to the students themselves. This is extremely valuable! If you find yourself paired up with an immigrant host family, you can ask questions like, "What made you decide to stay?" or "How difficult is it to get into the workforce (after university) as a foreigner?" and very relevant questions that the "real" American probably can't help you with.

Of course, students who are visiting for their first time may not be considered with making a long-term life in the US. Some people write off parts of their town as 'touristy' and will use their intimate knowledge of the city happenings as substitute. I took a 'Ride the Ducks' tour of Seattle after living there for more than 20 years and still learned stuff about my city! My family did this to welcome our newest member, who's from Cameroon.

Your native hosts will know routes and restaurant recommendations, but might not know about how to get around without a car. Some of my friends wrinkle their noses at the mention of taking the bus somewhere! How many foreign students enter the US with a car?

Ultimately, a good host family will be ready to give personal tours and explanations whatever generation of American they are. This is part of the agreement of hosting. However, an immigrant family's empathy can go a long way.