My family has had a long association with the Homestay group. Over the years, we've hosted a few dozen students at our home while they take English classes.

There is a group of Japanese (adult) chefs and food industry personnel coming to the Peninsula June 2-4. We are unable to host this time around, but I thought I'd toss it out there and see if anyone else can help out. The chefs will prepare bento box meals for their hosts on June 2, and will depart the morning of June 4.

This has worked out well when the hosts have a separate bed for each participant, and easy access to a bathroom. You don't have to speak Japanese, though we have used the our hosting events as an opportunity to brush up our conversational Japanese.

Please contact Gilda at gdhms @ aol.com if you can host. Sometimes there are small stipends for hosting families, usually for longer stays. Homestay is a terrific group and the visits they sponsor are usually very well organized.

If you can't help out this time, but are interested in hosting in the future, drop Gilda a line as well. Thank you.