This summer we decided to dip our toes into the international world of hosting an exchange student. Our student is only staying with us for 2.5 weeks but now that she is here I wish it were longer - we love her already!
Yesterday all the host families gathered at a beautiful park for a welcome BBQ and to meet the students. I was so nervous that I kept getting a little teary (I'm such a girl sometimes) as the anticipation built up. I've been communicating with our student, Rebeca, by email for a few months and she just seemed like the "right" person for our family.
As it got time for them to arrive we all gathered around the parking area, every family waiting excitedly. The bus finally pulled in and as the doors opened we cheered while the first few students came off. Rebeca was one of the first ten off the bus and as I saw her stepping down the stairs, her eyes eagerly looking for us, we waved frantically to catch her attention. When she saw us her face lit up with a smile and she ran right. We hugged, kissed cheeks and cried together (see she's a crier too - perfect for us) with relief! We were so happy to finally see her in person.
AH and Mr. B arrived soon after and we all enjoyed lunch together. AH had fun practicing his Spanish with Rebeca while we ate. Her English is really excellent but there are a few words that she is learning while she is here and so I think it was good to have AH there to help, and also to see him struggling a bit with his rusty Spanish.
After lunch I took her into town to Costco and PCC to get a few items. She loved seeing the differences in the grocery stores (markets) and had fun telling us about how the shopping worked in her town. We loved learning the cultural differences.
When we made it back to our house she stared out the car window at all the houses in our neighborhood. She had looked at our house through Google Earth before her trip and I think she was trying to compare how she was seeing everything from what she saw on the application.
At home we showed her the house and her room. She was wide eyed during the tour over how different it was from her own home (example: our house is made out of wood). We had dinner together and then took her up to a local park to play ultimate frisbee with some friends of ours. She picked up the game quickly and did very well for her first time!
I think by the time she went to bed she was completely exhausted. It was an excellent first day!
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