I met Kurumi when I was eleven. We hosted her as an exchange student from Japan in 2007. I was in grade six at the time and I only realize now how brave you have to be to do this. Moving across the world for a whole year, being fully immersed in a new language, new culture, new everything. This takes guts. Kurumi went from living the big city life in Japan, straight to rural Saskatchewan. To our farm in Goodsoil, where when being a kid, adventures happen every day. Kurumi was so willing to try anything we did; she was just as crazy as we were. From tubing down the river, to sleeping on the fresh straw in the barn, to digging tunnels in the big snow pile (couldn’t quite convince her to sleep in them though), to sliding down the Quonset and all of the fun things we did with the farm cousins (playing on the bales, extreme tubing, and violent card games, but we won't get into this). Kurumi was so amazing and really outgoing too. She got along with her class and the family just fine. By the end of the year she was so good at speaking English that she even picked up all of our slang. Whenever I annoyed her like any little sister would, she would just give me that look and say “what-ever”. I just can’t get over how brave she would have been to do all of this. She will always be my sister and hero.
Submitted by Anonymous
We've all had people in our lives who have made a positive impact on us. A parent or grandparent, a sibling who was there for us, or maybe even just a guy who shines shoes for a living? Whoever they are, tell us their story so they can inspire us even more.
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