Hosting Foreign Exchange Students - Page 3

AOIIalum · #1 08-05-2010, 08:52 PM

Follow up on something I posted a while back: think we're going to look at possibly hosting an exchange student either next year or the following one. This year is going to be adjustment year (one more into college, the youngest into HS) so we'll see how we all survive that!

When Doves Cry · #2 08-06-2010, 07:10 PM

So I just read every single post in this thread; it sounds so exciting!
When I'm older & married & have my own kids, I want to be a foster mother... But I think I'll also try hosting foreign exchange students too!

Can't wait!

carnation · #3 02-21-2011, 11:19 AM

Our Japanese exchange student has gotten me hooked on furikake (this seafood rice seasoning).

The Filipina one goes to these Filipina dinners in town and comes back with the leftovers--I adore pancit!

So last year we had a student come in 4th in the state in tennis and this year, one went to state in swimming! Would you believe that the high school coaches are saying, "Heeeyyy, you guys need to host again and pick us another good one!"

carnation · #4 06-19-2011, 09:06 AM

Fourth year of hosting! We will be hosting a girl from:

Australia!!!!

AOIIalum · #5 06-20-2011, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carnation

Fourth year of hosting! We will be hosting a girl from:

Australia!!!!

What fun! One of the guys on K's tennis team was an exchange student from Australia. He had a blast at the high school this past year and is already missed.

carnation · #6 07-29-2011, 10:34 PM

Miss Australia arrived 2 days ago! We showed her around the high school today and she was mortified (we warned her!) because all these people wanted to hear her speak. Now one of our crazy daughters (the Phi Mu) is going around with her and pretending to be Australian too, which is hysterical because she sounds more like Dick Van Dyke and his awful Cockney accent--also, she's Japanese. LOL!

Y'all, if an Australian ever offers you Vegemite, don't take it! I took some years ago from an Australian roommate and reacted much like one daughter's boyfriend did; he ran to the sink and was holding his open mouth under the faucet. Yeccchh! But take the TimTams, they're awesome!

greekdee · #7 07-22-2012, 12:30 AM

We hosted an exchange student from France in 2011. He was only here for two weeks, but it was a very rewarding experience for the whole family. I just wish the program had been for a little longer. Two weeks wasn't nearly enough time.

Some of our good friends hosted a girl from Germany a couple of years ago. She was here for the entire school year and they truly loved it. This year, we have friends who will be hosting a young man from Sweden for the entire school year. He should be arriving very soon!

While I was in high school, my neighbors hosted three exchange students. They hosted the first one to ever come to our high school or community, so it was a HUGE deal. She was from South America and one of the kindest, sweetest, most gentle-spirited people I have ever met. Our neighbor's oldest daughter (a senior) did struggle with some jealousy issues because the exchange student got so much attention, but it all worked out.

The next year, the exchange student was from South Africa and stayed with another family. When they found out she was on birth control pills, a complete freak out occurred and they refused to let her remain in their home, even though she was not promiscuous -- the b.c. pills were for medical reasons. They didn't care and wanted her to go back to South Africa, but my neighbors stepped in and that's how they got their second exchange student!

The NEXT year, the exchange student was a guy from Sweden. The original host family thought he was too wild because he didn't understand why he couldn't have wine with dinner...long story short, my neighbors ended up taking him, too!

After that (my senior year), our neighbors got transferred, so the new exchange student stayed with someone else in my neighborhood. He was from South America and I brought him home from school everyday. WONDERFUL person -- we're actually trying to find him right now in hopes he'll come to our class reunion this fall.

Sciencewoman · #8 07-22-2012, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greekdee

The next year, the exchange student was from South Africa and stayed with another family. When they found out she was on birth control pills, a complete freak out occurred and they refused to let her remain in their home, even though she was not promiscuous -- the b.c. pills were for medical reasons. They didn't care and wanted her to go back to South Africa, but my neighbors stepped in and that's how they got their second exchange student!

That is so ignorant. Birth control pills are the standard treatment for serious iron-deficiency anemia in teens, along with iron supplements. My sister (now a pediatrician) had to take them in HS. They dramatically decrease blood loss, which is the most common cause of the anemia. Now she has to have periodic IV iron supplementation.

Cheerio · #9 07-22-2012, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greekdee

We hosted an exchange student from France in 2011. He was only here for two weeks, but it was a very rewarding experience for the whole family. I just wish the program had been for a little longer. Two weeks wasn't nearly enough time.

Some of our good friends hosted a girl from Germany a couple of years ago. She was here for the entire school year and they truly loved it. This year, we have friends who will be hosting a young man from Sweden for the entire school year. He should be arriving very soon!

While I was in high school, my neighbors hosted three exchange students. They hosted the first one to ever come to our high school or community, so it was a HUGE deal. She was from South America and one of the kindest, sweetest, most gentle-spirited people I have ever met. Our neighbor's oldest daughter (a senior) did struggle with some jealousy issues because the exchange student got so much attention, but it all worked out.

The next year, the exchange student was from South Africa and stayed with another family. When they found out she was on birth control pills, a complete freak out occurred and they refused to let her remain in their home, even though she was not promiscuous -- the b.c. pills were for medical reasons. They didn't care and wanted her to go back to South Africa, but my neighbors stepped in and that's how they got their second exchange student!

The NEXT year, the exchange student was a guy from Sweden. The original host family thought he was too wild because he didn't understand why he couldn't have wine with dinner...long story short, my neighbors ended up taking him, too! After that (my senior year), our neighbors got transferred, so the new exchange student stayed with someone else in my neighborhood. He was from South America and I brought him home from school everyday. WONDERFUL person -- we're actually trying to find him right now in hopes he'll come to our class reunion this fall.

My sister's experience with a female Swedish exchange student is similar ('Swee-Dee' was my sister's fourth foreign exchange student).

Apparently Swee-Dee was brought-up to be very independent from a young age. She rebelled against legitimate curfews and don't-go-into-those-kinds-of-neighborhoods requests; she even called her father in Sweden who saw nothing wrong with his daughter's independent attitude and everything wrong with American Attitudes Toward Teens.

My sister and the sponsoring Exchange Organization sent Swee-Dee off into deep midwestern farmlands far away from the big, magic American city she couldn't/wouldn't ignore.

carnation · #10 07-22-2012, 04:45 PM

Yiii! We heard stories like that before we hosted but really, the only problem we've had is that a couple of them came from hugely rich families and they didn't realize things like, say, your average American can't take off a day without notice to run you to the passport office in Atlanta. (Nor can your average person from their country.) Or, like many American teens, they were in love with their cell phones, iPods, etc., and we'd all go to the beach and they'd be standing on the beach texting their friends at home that they were on an American beach.

TPAGirlie · #11 07-22-2012, 10:01 AM

This year I will host 2 girls one from Indonesia and one from Poland. I always host 2 at a time and really enjoy the experience. We use the program CCI and have had a lot of success with the local coordinator. Over the summer we are hosting a boy from Vietnam.

If you are thinking about it give it a try. Students can be here for as short as 2 weeks or as long as 1 academic year.

carnation · #12 07-22-2012, 10:09 AM

I'd like to do 2 again but I'm afraid that our high school principal would cry if we added another one at this late date!

There's one from Brazil who would fit in as well as one from Finland and one from Chile.

greekdee · #13 03-09-2013, 11:04 PM

The French student we had came over with a group of 22 kids. All but two of them were smokers, which threw some host families for a loop. I was okay with it as long as he smoked outside, but it turns out I got one of the non-smokers. His first night here, he presented me with a gift from his parents, which was a bottle of French wine. My husband sent them back a bottle of Jack Daniels!

(Apparently very hard, or very expensive, to get over there -- they loved it.)

Our friends who are currently hosting the boy from Sweden have had a great year with him. The first trip they took him on was to an Auburn football game. He will go home this summer with a big collection of Auburn clothes, and he has really mastered the "War Eagle" yell.

carnation · #14 03-09-2013, 11:15 PM

LOLOL! I can only imagine the kid letting a "Warrrrr EAGLE!" rip in Europe. I myself have always wanted to teach an exchange student to call the Hogs.

greekdee · #15 03-09-2013, 11:46 PM

I think the "woo pig sooie" would trump "war eagle" as far as getting strange looks in Europe. We went to the Cotton Bowl one year when Tennessee played Arkansas. Our hotel was full of Hogs and we heard that call day and night. (Especially after Arkansas won.)

I've toyed with the idea of hosting another exchange student, but doing it for the entire school year this time. My friend across the street (who hosted a girl from Germany a few years ago) is also interested. It would be neat if we could do it at the same time. The only bad experience they had was that a teacher (we could have wrung her neck) put it in the girl's head that she needed to try out for cheerleader while she was here. She tried out for the basketball cheer squad, which wasn't as stunt-oriented as the football squad was, but she was still competing against girls who had cheered for years and had cheer-gymnastics backgrounds. Of course, she didn't make it and was heartbroken. My friend confronted the teacher and said "WHY did you encourage that?" The teacher said she thought it would be good for Charlotte to do something they don't have in Europe. Well, the key words are "don't have," so she was attempting something that requires experience and there is a lot of competition for those spots. We found out she loved to swim, so we encouraged her to go out for the swim team -- which she did and it worked out a whole lot better than cheerleading did!