Something that happens quite often during homestays is that even though students expect to be able to experience homestay life with a full family, what actually happens is they end up being placed with a single mother or a grandmother living alone.
Today, we are going to take a look at Ron’s home, which offers a very special full family experience where the parents get along immaculately and their children are happy.
The Good Points About Ron’s Home
- Since he and his wife get a long very well, students can thoroughly enjoy their stay without worrying about their host parents fighting.
- The host mother is a pediatriacian and the host father works for an organic foods company, so the food is very healthy overall.
- They understand different aspects of Japanese culture, such as being humble and refraining, so you can have a comfortable homestay with a bit of distance if you like.
Host information
- Host Name: Ron Kato
- Family Members: Host Mother, Host Father, Three Sons (two of them live away from home)
- The Host Father is a manager at an organic foods company、 the Host Mother is a pediatrician.
- About the House: American style home, four rooms plus a living room, dining room, and a kitchen
- Location: Los Angeles
- Distance from School: 35 minutes from EC, 35 minutes from ELS, 35 minutes from CEL
A Loving Couple who gets Along Well Make This a Comfortable Place to Stay
The divirce rate in America is said to be around 50 percent. This is especially true in California (where Los Angeles is located), as the divorce rate is said to be around 70 percent.
But even amongst these odds, Ron and his wife get along very well, and their secret to staying together is having dates with just the two of them twice a month.
Ron worked and lived in places such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for thirteen years, and it is during this time he met and married his wife Virginia. It seems Ron never had a single terrible experience while living in Brazil.
When asked “If you had the chance to go back to Brazil, would you go?”, Virginia just smiles. Her answer? “We already promised each other we would go back there once Ron is more settled.”
You can tell by the way Ron supports Virginia, or how they smile in their family picture, but they are a very close couple who love each other very much.
Dinner is an Excellent Chance for Communication
Since both Ron and Virginia are so busy with their jobs, they both put in the effort to communicate as much as possible. Dinner is an especially good opportunity for them to speak with their children and the students alike.
During dinner, everyone shares their experiences from the day, whether it’s good things that happened that day or any kind of bad things that upset them. For Ron and Virginia, they don’t just leave all the responsibility of raising the children to one person, and they cooperate to help each other, keep stress levels low, and maintain a balance.
Furthermore, in order to maintain a satisfactory life as a couple, they go on dates at least once a month with just the two of them alone. For their dates, they do things such as go to dinner, watch movies, or head to their favorite ice cream shop.
They don’t do try to maintain a happy couple life just because they’re busy, they do so because they value their alone time together so much and thus are able to remain satisfied as a married couple .
Being raised by such a loving family, their son Thomas is a bit shy but also very honest, and he also seems to really like Japanese culture. Being able to live with such a peaceful and happy family makes this homestay a particularly comfortable one for students.
A Pediatrician Mother + an Organic Foods Businessman Father = Top Quality Delicous and Healthy Dinner All the Time
So being a loving and happy family isn’t the only unique thing about this homestay: they are also known for serving their guests fantastic dinners. Virginia (who is a pediatrician who studied nutrition) often uses the organic food products produced by Ron’s company, making for dinners that are both fantastic and healthy.
Ron’s History with Organic Food
Ron, who is a very forward thinking and health conscious person, works as a manager of a consulting company that grows organic fruits and vegetables and advocates for better physical and mental health through cooking classes using organic foods.
He is also a third generation Japanese-American who was born in Los Angeles to a second generation Japanese-American father and a Japanese mother. Since he attended Japanese school when he was small, he can understand a bit of Japanese. Before dinner, he says “Itadakimasu”, and words like “futon” and “bento” often pop up in conversation.
Furthermore, it seems Ron has always eaten organic foods since he was a kid. At that time, organic vegetables were not the kind of thing they are now and quite difficult to find, but Ron’s mother would directly meet with a farmer and negotiate to have them share their vegetables with her.
Having grown up in this environment, organic vegetables are not just a preference for Ron, but are actually a huge part of his life. Since he became a very health conscious adult, he decided to join his current company.
Enjoy Virginia’s Cooking, Made from the Hands of A Professionally Trained Pediatrician
Having grown up in this environment, organic vegetables are not just a preference for Ron, but are actually a huge part of his life. Since he became a very health conscious adult, he decided to join his current company.
Enjoy Virginia’s Cooking, Made from the Hands of A Professionally Trained Pediatrician
Gluten is a common cause of allergies, and is said to increase appetite in most people. Therefore, there is often a gluten free corner in Los Angeles Supermarkets.
At Ron’s home, home made vegetable juice is available every morning to start your day off in a fruitful and healthy way. And actually, I was able to try this juice myself. On that day, the juice I had contained apples, dates, pineapples, ginger, kale, colliander, parsley, and mint.
I still remember it was such a deep green color! I kept thinking about how delicious and ripe these fruits and vegetables were while drinking it, and it was so easy to drink so quickly! It also tasted so fantastic that I had a second glass. Since Ron uses different ingredients in his vegetable juice everyday, many students who stay at his home often say they look forward to seeing what kind of juice he will make every morning.
The juice is made in this kitchen.
Vegetables are the main dish for dinner, and chicken or fish is also served as well. When Ron’s father caught some fish while fishing, it seems Ron made sashimi from them.
Being from Brazil, Virginia is quite good at making turkey burgers, and this is a dish that is a favorite of many students who stay at their house.
On the day I visited, the dinner menu was organic vegetable salad, quinoa (which is often known as a superfood), grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese (handmade by Thomas!), and homemade lemonade.
The food appealed to me so much, that I just ate it so quickly without even having a moment to think about how delicious it was! It’s very simple food that is at the same time very good for you, being able to nourish my body in such a way was a fantastic experience. I’m so jealous of students who get to eat this everyday!
Of course there are other host families that are known for their cooking, but Virginia has studied nutrition, making her meals much more balanced and nutritious compared to other places!
Becoming Health Conscious After Meeting Ron
The truth is that before meeting Ron, Virginia didn’t care so much about eating healthy. Because of that, she was a bit out of shape and her body wasn’t so strong.
After meeting Ron, she began using organic vegetables, eating healthy and balanced meals, and then from there she stopped getting sick as much. She also became pretty slim. Of course, this isn’t a weird kind of slim, but rather a healthy kind. When you look at her, she just can’t help but notice how healthy she looks.
Aside from healthy eating, Virginia loves teaching, so you can learn how to cook as well. Of course she will also teach you all about nutrition and a balanced diet, so for students who are more health oriented this just may be the perfect homestay.
On my end, while I already knew that white sugar isn’t particularly healthy at all, I learned from Virginia that, depending on the person, brown sugar isn’t always healthy either! I’m very thankful for this information.
They understand different aspects of Japanese culture, such as being humble and refraining, so you can have a comfortable homestay with a bit of distance if you like.
Being third generation Japanese-American, studying Japanese at a Japanese school, and taking in various Japanese students from Los Angeles Info, Ron understands Japanese culture very well.
Since Ron knows about these aspects of Japanese culture, he will not force you to do things you do not want to do or push you into doing anything you don’t want. Actually, you may be wondering if Ron is the one holding back in the end!
Since there is only one room available for students to use, you will never be with other international students. Currently, they are hosting one Japanese male, and one of his worries before his homestay was “Do I have to go out with my host family on weekends?”
Of course, this student wanted to spend time with his host family and communicate with them, but he also wanted to hang out with his friends and have time to himself. He wondered often if such a host family that understands this and would be okay with him declining their invitations to go out on weekends actually exists. Luckily for him, this family does exist, and it is Ron and Virginia’s family.
They Treat You Like One of Their Own
Ron and Virginia’s son Thomas wants to be a musician when he gets older, so he has started playing trumpet and giving performances, and even sometimes does regular concerts at certain clubs!
And so, Ron and Virginia invited their host student to go to Thomas’ performance. Furthermore, their second son’s Kevin’s birthday was the other day, and their host student also celebrated that with them as well.
They will invite you to other events as well, but of course there are times when you cannot go because you have plans with your friends. And when that happens, they don’t get upset at all, and simply say “That’s totally fine! Let’s hang out next time then!” .
“Everything just feels so normal and like I am a natural part of their family, so it’s very comfortable staying here”, said one student they hosted.
If you think about it, even in your own family, it’s not like everyone is together all the time right? Even if you turn down an invitation to hang out, no one is going to get offended or hurt and will respect your decision.
After dinner, Ron relaxes while watching TV, Thomas goes to his room to study, and pretty much everyone goes off and does their own thing. Many students who stay with Ron and his family feel that because you can do whatever it is you want to do, it truly does feel like your home, making it a very easy place to live.
Homestay Info
Let’s take a look at Ron’s house, which is located right in front of Venice High School in a very safe and beautiful area.
The Exterior of Ron’s House
Here you can see the room used by students. There’s only one so you will never have to share a space with other international students.
A Picture of the Happy Family
The Family Cat
Summary
Today we took a look at Ron’s house, a very comfortable place where the food is delicious and healthy, Japanese culture is understood, students are given their distance, and the whole entire family get along so well.
Since Ron and his family have started working with us, we have had students extend their stay with them for over a year, and even now we have never heard Since Ron and his family have started working with us, we have had students extend their stay with them for over a year, and even now we have never heard a single compliant or negative thing about them from our students. Through staying at Ron and Virginia’s home, you are sure to have an excellent homestay experience.
Updated on January 29th, 2019
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