‘I am so excited to explore Ashoro and experience its lively culture, landscapes, community engagements, and create lifelong friendships’
Hello everyone! My name is Brianna Ravina and I am the 18th Coordinator of International Relations who will be working in the beautiful town of Ashoro. I was born and raised in Wetaskiwin, where I was able to experience a sense of community throughout my time there. I then moved to Edmonton to complete my university degree, but often went back to stay connected to my friends, family, and community.
I first heard about the sister city program between Wetaskiwin and Ashoro back in 2017 when my family was asked to participate as a homestay for some of the students of Ashoro.
During their stay we enjoyed sharing stories of our daily lives as well as exchanging knowledge of our different cultures. This experience was so special to my family and I, that we wished to continue participating in the program.
The year after, we were able to welcome two more students from Ashoro and again had an amazing time connecting, sharing, and learning with each other. My family and I were able to create lasting friendships and were even honoured to welcome back one student from this year, Ami, to live with us while she completed a six-month period of school in Wetaskiwin.
Having Ami as part of our family for those six months reminded me how important sharing knowledge, trying new things, and creating impactful friendships was.
These homestay experiences heightened my interest in visiting Ashoro to be able to immerse myself in its culture to learn and positively impact other people’s lives as my homestay students impacted mine.
I am so excited to explore Ashoro and experience its lively culture, landscapes, community engagements, and create lifelong friendships. I am thrilled to be able to exchange knowledge with everyone I cross paths with, but I am most importantly excited to work with the students.
I am so grateful for this remarkable opportunity and cannot thank everyone enough who has supported me while preparing and working through this whole process.
I hope to make Wetaskiwin proud and fulfill my role by being a positive teacher that can guide those to reach their goals.
Wetaskiwin and Ashoro, Japan have been official twin cities since 1990 when the Wetaskiwin Ashoro Friendship Affiliation Agreement was signed.
AloJapan.com