Our family decided to host an international student in our home this school year. I emailed the principal on Monday night to let him know we would be interested. I got a response back on Tuesday morning that we would be approved to host. I had already stated in my email that we would be willing to host either a boy or girl and if we had enough time to plan, I could convert the full bed into bunk beds and we would be willing to have 2 kids. I got a message on Tuesday mid-morning that there were 2 Vietnamese boys that would be coming to our school and were in need of a host home. I emailed back that we would be willing to take them. I turned off my phone and went into a meeting, when I was done with the meeting I turned back on my phone and I had a message. The two Vietnamese boys were placed somewhere else but they did have a Chinese boy who requested a single room. Great! That meant that I didn't have to get bunk beds. I called back to let him know that I would be fine with a single boy. While talking to the principal, I was informed that I needed to complete some paperwork and send pictures of my home and family. Easy enough (thanks to Facebook) and then I waited to see if this was going to be a match. I later Tuesday evening I got a call saying that everything was approved and he would be arriving Thursday.
Wait, WHAT? Thursday, as in 2 days from now?
I was informed that he was coming for 11 months rather than the traditional 10 months. O.k. I guess that will be fine. (Silently panicking that the room is not ready). I mean really not ready, the guest bedroom had not been used by anyone in about a year so it had collected yoga mats, craft supplies, books that I had finished but was not ready to donate yet, etc, etc, etc. So I took the day off work on Wednesday to move out all of my clutter, wash the bedding and clean and sanitize the room. I went to Walmart and purchased new pillows, towels and toiletries for our new student.
Wait, do I even know his name? How old is he?
I sent another message to the principal asking for some information about him. I got a reply from a worker in the front office with his name and age. Ok, 15 not bad. Name was interesting but not hard to pronounce. My nervousness began to kick in, what would he be like, is our home going to be drastically different than he is used too, how much English will he know? The questions kept coming as my husband and I cleaned. We finally were satisfied that his new room and bathroom were up to a standard that I would want if my son was moving to China for a year.
Thursday came just like any other work day, I had a busy day which helped the time pass by, finally it was time for his plane to land. He arrived and we were introduced.
He seems like a nice kid, quiet, respectful, Very Little English. He said 4 words to me between 8-11pm. He said "Name" then said his name. I completely butchered it several times before I got used to saying it. Then we asked him is he was hungry and he said "No" then when we got home and showed him his room and got him settled, I asked him "do you need to call your mom?" he looked at me so I said it again. He wrinkled his face a little and said "what?" Never mind, if the boy can't figure out to call his mom and tell her he made it safe and the host family is not serial killers, then we have bigger problems!
While I was thinking about what a challenge this language barrier is going to be, he walked into his room and pulled out a notebook from his backpack. He opened it and shuffled through several pages. He then looked at me and said "WiFi" I knew at this point everything was going to be ok. He is a typical teenager. Not a solid grasp on the English language but resourceful enough to learn the important words.
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