When Rich bugged me several times a few months ago to sign up for hosting a Japanese girl this summer for 2 weeks, I was kind of surprised. He doesn't always want to even stop and talk to his own friends at church, much less hold a conversation with a young, female, complete stranger from another country who speaks very little English. But he thought it would be a really good experience for our family and I agreed. I think I had a more realistic view of the challenges it would bring, but I'm good with a challenge...
Well, she's here and it's a little strange! As we were waiting for our name to be called last night to meet our student, I felt really nervous! I'm sure she was much more so, though. I watched some girls cry as they were united with the first time with their American "family". So sweet! Our student is very shy. I'm sure knowing very little English has a little something to do with that, though! I bet if you stuck me in a Japanese family who spoke no English for two weeks, I'd become shy pretty quickly. The walk to her dorm to get her luggage was awkward. So was the car ride home. And dinner. And our outing to the grocery store to let her pick out some food.
I had to show her how to work our shower and bath tub. And I somehow explained to her that the tower fan in her room is a little broken and you have to just unplug it to turn it off. I forgot to show her how to pull the covers back and sleep under the sheets. It's the middle of the night right now and I'm wondering if she figured it out! At dinner, Allie asked if she was ever going to change her clothes. I have no idea if she understood her or not!
Our home can get a little crazy at times. I've explained a number of times to my sweet little angels that they better behave - or else!!! I'm excited, but very apprehensive as to how these 2 weeks are going to go. She will have classes and field trips every day from the Willamette University campus, so she just spends her nights and weekends with us. We have a few things in mind to do with her, but I would LOVE to hear any ideas from the peanut gallery!!! Please share :)
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How about Silver Creek Falls, Brideport, out to pizza, volcanoes baseball, making a pie or cookies, church and picnic, movie night, camping, used book store, garage sales, just think of anything she might not ever have the chance to do, but is part of our culture.
ReplyDeleteI think it's so great that you're doing this! What a fun adventure! Hope I get to meet her! :)
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