Home Excgage に興味ありますか？
面白いことをやってる人たちがいるんですね。
検索すると、仲を取り持つサイトがヒットします。以下のサイトはその1つです。
https://www.lovehomeswap.com/
貴方は興味がありますか？機会があればやってみたいと思いますか？
日本在住の日本人と、海外在住の日本人は意識が違うはずなので、回答者様におかれてはどこの国に何年在住か教えて頂ければ幸いです。
以下は日本の愛知県在住のカナダ人一家の体験記ですので参考にして下さい。
日本でのカーター一家
オーストラリアのパースに住むカーターさん一家と、家を交換して生活してみたギャスライトさん。 釣り、ハイキング、ドライブなど、かの地での暮らしを大いに楽しむことができたが、一方のカーターさんは、 家の外でも内でも日本語という言葉の壁に苦労したらしい。 それでもお互いにとって、家の交換はよい経験になったようだ。
Life was great in Perth. We swam in the Indian Ocean, we did a boat cruise and a nature tour. We fished, we hiked, we really enjoyed ourselves. Parrots visited us while we picnicked and a snake shed its skin under our table. Even driving was exciting: We had a near run-in with a kangaroo family on the highway and received a surprise visit from an emu while we stopped to read our map
We also made some great friends and had some real fun with some Australian families. Even cleaning the house was fun. Before we left we washed the Carters' car, cleaned their home until it sparkled, left a few thank-you gifts and stocked the kitchen with food to replace what we had eaten. We were so busy having fun that it wasn't until our departure that we started to really think about life in Japan, our home and the Carters.
After getting back to Japan, we met up with the Carters and shared out stories. We soon discovered that they too had lots of exciting adventures but that life was not as easy on their end. But the Carters are young, resourceful and intelligent and soon worked out how to get around with a double baby stroller and two little children. They also had fun meeting the locals and trying new food and traditional activities. But, unlike us, language was a big barrier. It was a challenge, even without leaving the house
We have to admit that we were rather oblivious to how much Japanese there is in our home. From our heating system, alarm system, navigation system in our car, to our stove and media equipment, there was so much to learn and so many opportunities to make mistakes and mess things up. Driving in Japan, the roads are very narrow, parking expensive, and there are few street signs and numbers on homes, which makes it difficult for foreigners to find their way
But the Carters enjoyed the challenges and the problem-solving. They loved Japan and we loved Perth so the exchange was a big success for both families.
The first question people ask when they hear about our exchange is: Did anything get damaged? Well, this is not a perfect world and accidents do happen — little things like the navigation system in our car going crazy. Also, the poor Carters ended up watching TV on a multi-channel screen and in elongated picture mode until we fixed it
But most importantly, we had chosen good people. It is so important to pick the right people and know the other family before you exchange homes because there is so much room for misunderstandings or even dishonesty or abuse of trust.
Some hints for future exchangers: Choose the family and then the home. When you start your house-hunting, make getting to know the family, via the Net and phone, one of your main priorities. Decide together how to pay for damages, whether or not to replace food, and how clean you want your home to be when you return. Depending on your home you can decide to have designated off-limit areas.
Our first home exchange was a success and we look forward to doing some more. Our next exchange is Italy and we are just now looking for a great family to trade with for the summer. This is exciting because both families will be experiencing foreign languages and totally different cultures!
お礼
クラウン社の辞書では、「(釘などを)深く打ち込む」の場合は”drive the nail home”とあり、「徹底的に納得させる」の意味ではThe orator drove home his points.とあり、また、He drove his thought home to the readers.というのもありました。物理的に「打ち込む」という意味では、”drive something home”であり、議論・意見など抽象的な事柄の場合は、”drive home something”となるが、対象者がいる場合は、”drive something home to someone”になるのだと納得したつもりでいたら、インターネット検索で次のサイトを見つけました。 http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/drive+home このサイトによると”drive home something to someone”という表現もあるようですね。 The accident drove home the importance of wearing seatbelts to everyone concerned. 結局は、色々あるんだということでしょうか。どうも、お騒がせしました。 drive something home (to someone) Fig. to emphasize an important point about something (to someone). The teacher repeated the point three times just to drive it home. I hope this really drives the importance of safety home to you. The accident drove home the importance of wearing seatbelts to everyone concerned. drive home Make clearly understood, make a point, as in The network news programs drive home the fact that violence is part of urban life. This expression uses the verb drive in the sense of "force by a blow or thrust" (as in driving a nail). Samuel Hieron used it in Works (1607): "That I may ... drive home the nail of this exhortation even to the head."