I’m Praveen kumar, one of the host families who has partnered with FSL India in its endeavor in promoting field services and inter-cultural learning to make this world a better place to live in.

Last year my family had the honor of hosting Go Yotani from Japan who came to Bangalore as an international student to Sharada Vidya Kendra, Yeshwantpur. The first impression is the best impression say the wise men and it was so true in Go’s case that he came as a foreigner, very soon became a family member and then an ambassador of Japan.His respectful demeanor, soft spoken conversations, helping hand at home, caring the family members and highly disciplined lifestyle made him get along well with everyone at home including Max, Elios, Jonas, Agnes, Maelis and Brigitta.

At first, we had difficulty in understanding his English accent but he was a quick learner and very soon his English improved after we all interacted with him a lot. We also spent quality time watching English movies at home which helped him improve his English skills.

Once we all had to planned to visit Mysore and for some reasons we had to cancel the trip. This made Go feel a bit sad – I saw the sadness in Go’s face and I immediately promised him that we would certainly go the next week irrespective of whether others join us or not. And that promise was kept and we drove very early in the morning and reached Mysore around 9. We were guided by a rickshaw driver to a sandalwood artifacts factory which welcomed us all with a sandalwood perfumes. The factory people showcased us all their artifacts, paintings on sandalwood canvas, perfumes, soaps, etc. After a healthy breakfast, we headed towards Mysore Palace and Go was on cloud nine after seeing the majestic Mysore Palace! The walk through the palace made us learn the history of down-to-earth royal family and their contribution to Karnataka’s development. We discussed on why all royal families are not like Wodeyar family which is the family name of Mysore royal family. As per palace tourism rules, photography is not allowed – however photographer in Go came alive when we came out of the palace and took couple of photos of the palace and life-sized marble lions! The architecture of Mysore palace is a treat to one’s eyes.

We then drove to Chamundi hills more for spiritualism and scenic beauty of Mysore and surrounding villages that one can see while driving up the hill which is about 1000 Meters from the sea level. We relaxed there for an hour enjoying the view of greenery, water bodies and farmlands surrounding Mysore city. We then climbed down and stopped by for sugarcane juice to beat the heat and briefly saw the Bull Temple and appreciated the artisans for crafting such a proportionate statue of the bull during those times.

It was midday by then and we had the day’s lunch and started our journey back to Bangalore with the satisfaction of having a perfect weekend.To err is human – but surprisingly there was not even once in the whole year anything wrong or mistake happened from Go! I can confidently say he is Mr. Perfect! He has left such an impression behind that not one day passes by without we all talking about him.

We miss you Go! God bless youJ