INDIAN ROCKS BEACH \u2014 For Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, the best way to understand a foreign country is to hop in a cab or a rideshare and explore beyond the tourist zones.<\/p>\n
During an Oct. 29 ceremony welcoming citizen \u201cambassadors\u201d from Japan, Rector shared lessons from years of international travel that included visits to 50 countries in one year and 150 trips to Europe over eight years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell folks what I learned is there\u2019s life outside the very nice resorts,\u201d Rector told the group gathered at the Holiday Inn Harbourside. \u201cYou go outside the resorts and people lead very different lives. I saw some of the nicest places in the world and some of the most difficult places in the world. And the one thing I can tell you is that of all the things I did traveling internationally, there was nothing like having a car ride, one-on-one, with someone who lived in that country to feel what life was really like there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rector said his travel experiences changed him because \u201cI realized no matter where I went in the world, people were people everywhere, and people had the same heart that I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The audience included eight visitors from Kumamoto, Japan, and their local \u201chome hosts\u201d as well as Karen Sherrets, president of the Florida Suncoast chapter of the Friendship Force International organization, and Stephanie Chill, president of Clearwater\u2019s Sister Cities program.<\/p>\n
Rector said he strongly believes in unifying different cultures and countries through collaboration, communication and education.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo compete in a small, connected world, I think it\u2019s more important than ever that we teach our young people to appreciate international relations,\u201d Rector said. \u201cTo get involved and understand that we may be from different countries and from different backgrounds, but we all share one goal, and that\u2019s to make the world around us better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rector thanked volunteers from both organizations \u201cfor doing great things around the world and setting a good example for our young people,\u201d as well as the Japanese ambassadors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate you so much, and we\u2019re glad that you\u2019re here in the greater Clearwater area,\u201d he said. \u201cArigato.\u201d<\/p>\n
The collaboration between the two international organizations highlighted their similarities, including \u201ccreating global friendships and connections to help better understand each other,\u201d Chill said.<\/p>\n
But where the Sister Cities program is focused on student-teacher exchange visits, Friendship Force International, which was supported by President Jimmy Carter in 1977, connects people through home-hosting and meaningful travel experiences, according to Sherrets.<\/p>\n
\u201cFriendship Force is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization that is dedicated to fostering global friendships and cultural understanding through short-term homestays around the world,\u201d Sherrets said, noting the Suncoast branch was founded in 1988 and has 50 active members.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more about living like we live and learning about what other cultures\u2019 day-to-day lives are really like,\u201d she said. The Suncoast chapter typically takes two outgoing trips and hosts two incoming visits, foreign and domestic, annually.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why our motto is, \u2018Changing the way you see the world through the power of friendship.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
During their weeklong stay, the ambassadors visited the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores; The Dali and Imagine museums and the Pier in St. Petersburg; John\u2019s Pass Boardwalk in Madeira Beach for a boat ride; and the Safford House and Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were so enthusiastic and curious and interested, taking pictures and asking questions everywhere we went,\u201d Sherrets said hours after the group departed at 4 a.m. Nov. 3. The group also attended community dinners with their home hosts, spent time at the beach, and visited a local retirement community to see how American seniors celebrate Halloween.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them spoke English and some didn\u2019t,\u201d she said of the contingent that included a 13-year-old boy, a retired pharmacist and a married couple. \u201cBut they really seemed to love everything. They have a zest for life.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the ambassadors appreciated the scheduled events, some had ideas of their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cKazu really wanted to visit a Walmart, and a sporting goods store and a train store, too,\u201d she said of Kazuhiko Hirose, who reportedly founded the Friendship Force International group in Japan in the late 1970s. At Friendship Force Florida Suncoast, \u201cwe\u2019ve learned that it\u2019s the everyday things the ambassadors often want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the breakfast, Hirose, who carries of picture of himself and longtime Friendship Force International Honorary Chair Rosalynn Carter, joked that \u201cthere are eight of us ambassadors, but your country only sent one president to Japan!\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed excitement and gratitude for the group\u2019s impending adventures in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all look forward to staying with you,\u201d Hirose said.<\/p>\n
For more information on the Friendship Force of the Florida Suncoast, visit ff-fs.org<\/a> or email the organization\u2019s membership chair, Jane Lee, at wlee315695@aol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIAN ROCKS BEACH \u2014 For Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector, the best way to understand a foreign country is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1339,27392,27393,596,27394,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-41283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-clearwater","9":"tag-indian-rocks-beach","10":"tag-international-travel","11":"tag-pinellas-county","12":"tag-sister-cities","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}