Two weeks!?

It is just about impossible to believe that Ine has been here for two weeks on Tuesday.  It has been a whirlwind, including the fact I was gone for 5 days, but as time marches on, I think she is adjusting quite well.  A lot was thrust at her at one time, so she has had a very steep learning curve, but I'm pleased with how she is doing!

Tuesday, September 9 was "Gotcha Day", and we drove up to Lorton to pick up Ine at the Thompsons' house.  The Thompsons have been volunteers as long as I have been involved, and far longer, I'm sure!  They have a lot of knowledge and advice for nervous host parents.  Also there was Jerene Thomas, who has been a volunteer for absolutely forever, and Alexandra Klaff, our new area team coordinator (or some such title, I can't quite remember!).  There were 5 families there to pick up their students, including 2 of the families I had the opportunity to interview this summer.  I was so excited to be able to see them unite with their students, it was a great evening.  As we sat through orientation, the students' volunteer kept coming upstairs "Are you done yet, the students are anxious to meet their families?"  Finally they gave in and let the students come upstairs, and we got to meet our students. They had a small ceremony where the students showed their flags and thanked their families for hosting them, and then Jerene said, "Students, find your families!" and we were able to meet Ine officially, give her a big hug, and get out of there!  Woo hoo!

Gotcha!

We got home and I fixed a pizza, my traditional "welcome home" dinner for our students.  It's quick, easy, and most kids like it.  It was almost 9:00 before I got Leah to bed but Ine said she wasn't too tired, so we watched a bit of TV before I sent her upstairs to sleep.  I was so wound up, I was exhausted anyway!

The admissions director at Fredericksburg Academy, where Ine is going to school this year, had sent me an email a couple of days prior to her arrival and asked if I would bring her by on Wednesday, so I made a 1:00 appointment to take her over there.  Prior to that, I took her on a tour around town to show her what the city was like, and took her over to meet my mom.  Once we got to the Academy, I was told I could leave and come back at 3:00, which I did, and Ine was told she would start school the next day.  We were like "OH MY GOSH!"  I had told her she could get started when she was a little more with it, less jet lagged, and on firm footing, either Friday or Monday, but I guess FA had other plans!  So she met some student ambassadors, took a tour of the school, and when I came back, we met with the guidance counselor to get her registered for classes.  I believe she is taking English, Spanish, French, chemistry, acting/drama, and US government.  There may be other things, but I really can't remember.  We also got the word about her computer and needed to make some upgrades, so I asked my friend Andy to come over and help us out with that.  He came by and worked on it for a bit, but then the battery died and Ine's converter for US plugs didn't fit her computer cord, so we had to stop that project.

Thursday, I was leaving for a long-planned trip to London, so I was happy I got to take Ine to school, but sad I wouldn't hear about how her first day went.  I dug out a lunch bag for her to use, and she got up with her alarm and ready to go.  I don't know if it is her regularly quiet nature or if, like me, she is just not a morning person, but she is quite quiet in the mornings--you would not know that she was there!  In contrast, Leah and I were doing battle every morning about eating, getting dressed, etc.  On that first morning, Ine sat at the table, drinking her milk, her eyes getting bigger and bigger as Leah and I waged war over whether or not she would eat, what shoes she would wear, etc.  And I came to the conclusion that I was just not engaging in this any more.  So ultimately it has been one change I've made to ask Leah once about breakfast and her clothing, and then I make an executive decision that she can either go hungry or she will wear the shoes I choose.  It has made for far more peaceful mornings and Ine doesn't have to hear us going crazy like on that first day!  It's amazing what having a new audience does for changing your own life!  I also stopped by Radio Shack before I left and got a new converter for her laptop cord, so she was able to charge it back up and use it again.

I left for London that afternoon and my mom took over caring for Ine and Leah for 5 days.  I didn't receive any reports good or bad, but I did receive some pictures from my sister of them teaching Ine to play cards and eat Dominos pizza.  There were lots of smiles, and I find that Ine is always smiling, so that was a good sign!  I also got an email from the school guidance counselor while I was away that he saw Ine always with other students and always smiling or laughing, so she is off to a great start.

I got home Monday night at supper time, and got right back into the swing of things despite my own jet lag.  The 8 hour trip across the ocean gave me a new appreciation for Ine's journey to the US and how she had to fit into a new culture, whereas I was just settling back into my family routine.

Tuesday night, we sat down and discussed the host family questionnaire, I gave Ine her rules and chores to help with, and we discussed our family calendar and plans for the year.  I do take it quite seriously to show my students as much of US culture and as much of Virginia as I possibly can, so I try to plan day trips on the weekends and other trips during their vacation times.  So we talked about some possibilities in terms of places we can go for bigger trips and weekend plans, and she seemed very happy to hear about Luray Caverns, the Virginia State Fair, New York City, and other fun stuff.

So that first week was an absolute whirlwind!!!  We are now on week two.  During the week, we have settled into a pretty placid schedule of school drop offs and pick ups, some activities--I took Ine up to the Woodlands Pool and got her a pool pass so that she can now go swimming a couple of times a week, which was a major deal for her--and of course homework.

Friday rolled around, and it was beautiful outside, so I decided after I got Leah off the bus, we would go have some fun.  First, I took the girls down to Old Mill Park in Fredericksburg.   I love Old Mill because not only do they have a great playground, but you can also go down to the river, wade around, and have fun.  We only stayed for about an hour, but it was great.  Leah got to enjoy a lot of outdoor time, we got to walk along the river and get our feet wet, and then Leah was able to go up on the playground and I showed Ine some pictures of where the river had flooded over in May and the entire area where we were sitting was underwater.

We had a 7pm meeting with our liaison from AFS, but we still had time for one more stop:  Chuck E. Cheese's.  This is Leah's absolute favorite spot of all time, and there is enough there for us older 'kids' to enjoy as well, so I decided to take the girls there for dinner.  They were having a school spirit night, so I was able to get some coupons, and we ordered more pizza, wings, and lots of tokens.  We only had an hour, but I challenged Ine to some games, which she handily won.  My personal favorite is skeeball, which took her about 30 seconds to master.

She beat me 20K-14K in our last game.  HUMILIATING.

We also played a race car driving game, but Leah decided to get involved in that one, so Ine managed to handily beat our hot little race car with her huge VW bus.  We shot hoops, played a water shooting game with ducks, and won lots of tickets.  There was tons of giggling from both girls, and I had a good time, so that was a definite success.  Because we didn't have much time, we had lots of tokens left over for a future trip.

Yesterday was a big day for us.  Leah had swimming lessons in the morning and Ine gamely tagged along so that afterwards we could run by Wegmans and pick up some stuff we needed for a party I was hosting in the evening.  I asked Ine to make chocolate mousse for the party, and she agreed to do it, which was great!  She said she had never made it by herself before and wasn't totally sure she could do it, but we got her everything she needed and she did a great job!

Cooking is one of those things where you start to learn little cultural differences.  Ine asked for eggs, which I got out for her, and she started laughing.  I asked her what was wrong, and she said in Belgium eggs aren't white, she had never seen white eggs before, only brown ones!  She thought white eggs were hilarious.  I found it hilarious how hilarious she found white eggs.  Then she said she had to separate the eggs, so I gave her two bowls and an egg separator, but she had never used an egg separator before and decided to do it by hand.  That was fine, although she did eventually choose to try the separator, but I don't think she really did it more than once.  She finally assented to let me whip up the egg whites, and when I asked her how done she wanted them, she said I had to turn the bowl upside down over my head and if they didn't fall out they were done.  I suspect she might have been putting me on a bit with this one, but I did flip the bowl (over the sink) and the whites stayed in the bowl, so all was good.

Picture done by student at Fredericksburg Academy

The mousse was really beautiful, we used Scharffen Berger chocolate, as I was informed we needed "the right chocolate" to make the mousse correctly.  And then we put it in the refrigerator and got on with our day.  Yesterday was Via Colori here in Fredericksburg, a street festival that allows artists to come to town armed only with chalk and their imaginations and draw beautiful pictures on the streets.  It's been here 2 or 3 years, although I have never managed to get to go, so I was very happy to take both Leah and Ine.  The street art was absolutely incredible, you really couldn't believe it was just chalk on the pavement. There were classic pieces of art, there were pieces of whimsy, imagination, animals, animation, you name it, it was there.  We walked all over, ran into the director of admissions at FA, and a friend of mine from church, and then we went over to "Via Bambini", where they have chalk out so kids can make their own designs.  There was a Kona Ice truck there, so I got everyone a snow cone, and Ine and Leah had fun devising their own flavor combinations and then sitting in the warm air, eating their creations.

Leah drew a picture of Olaf the snowman on the sidewalk, and by then it was time to head back to the house to get ready for the party.  Ine helped get things set up, dragging firewood and chairs to the fire pit with me, and then my friends began to arrive around 7pm.  We had a big buffet, everyone brought so much food.

Ine's mousse was the runaway hit of the evening, I don't think there was a soul who didn't have seconds.  We also enjoyed pizza, I made Chipotle burrito bowls, chips, spinach artichoke dip, veggie trays, cheesecake, cookies, and candy.  And this was from 6 people!  Crazy! :)  Once we had eaten dinner, we took dessert outside to the firepit.  Ine had never enjoyed the great American s'more, so my friend Emily quickly made her one, and she admitted it was quite delicious.

Then we sat around the firepit, burning whatever we could get our hands on until almost midnight, when Andy, Emily, and Amber left--Danielle had gone home maybe an hour earlier!  It was a lovely night, we managed to make one really beautiful fire with bonfire logs and Andy's old college textbooks.

There was a great deal of laughter and it was just a lot of fun.

That brings us to the start of a new week!  I'm hopeful Ine will join us for church today and then we are going to head out to Westmoreland State Park this afternoon for a picnic and some time at the beach.  Tomorrow night we are heading to Richmond to see Frozen on Ice, and I am going to let both girls sleep in in the morning and get tardy slips to school on Tuesday. :) 

I am enjoying Ine's time with us so much.  It is going by quite quickly, and I'm sure there will be times when it drags on a bit, but we have been keeping busy and that is moving things along.  She is a lovely girl, very quiet but unfailingly cheerful and has a lovely personality.  I think we will have a great year together!

Leah teaching Ine to iPad :)

Getting Ready!

We have an official pick up date!  We will be getting Ine on Tuesday evening.  So excited.  What's even more fun is that 2 of the families I interviewed for hosting will be there getting their students as well.  So it'll be nice to watch all the reunions (or is that unions?) of new families I worked with this summer.

I've spent the last 2 days getting Ine's bedroom and bathroom ready.  I think everything in that regard is as ready as it's going to get.  Leah even helped wash down the walls and get rid of the remnants of when it was her room.  This weekend, we will clean the rest of the house.  Everything is straightened up, now we just need a good cleaning.  In my sights are laundry, cleaning out the inside of the refrigerator, washing and vacuuming floors, vacuuming out the car, cleaning up the front porch, all things that have needed doing, but never quite seemed to get done with Leah tearing around all summer.  Last night Leah fell asleep in the car with ice cream in her lap, so now I have a big ice cream mess to clean up in the car, but it shouldn't take too long.

Leah is not too sure about this big sister business--we hung out last night with Kathy, my liaison student, and she loves Kathy, but I think probably having another human being in her house to share my time with is going to be interesting.  Leah is already mad about Ine's welcome basket, little does she know there are a few things in there for them to do together to help break the ice a bit.  Leah was not even 2 when Penny arrived and just 2 when Kristin arrived, so she didn't have too many issues.  It'll be interesting to see how it goes now that she's 5.

I've also been in touch with Ine's family, and her parents have been very responsive and kind via email.  So I'm quite happy about that.  It's always nice to contact the parents when you have issues, I prefer to do that to contacting AFS sometimes.  It helps you understand your student better than all the counseling in the world on occasion to find out "that's just who she is".  It is so late in the year, we have only heard from Ine once, but the family is understandably busy traveling and enjoying their days together, and we are about to hear from her a whole lot, so I'm not too worried about that either.

I downloaded Ine's school calendar so I can match up her vacation days with Leah's and start to make some travel plans.  Ine's school finishes June 6, which I think is a full week before Leah's, and she has the week BEFORE Columbus Day off, while Leah has Columbus Day off, so I'll have kids around at different times.  At least their spring breaks match up!  We look to have about 2 weeks at the end of the school year for family time before Ine flies back to Belgium, so that's kind of nice.  I need to start putting everything into my calendar so I'm fully prepared.  Or as prepared as I can get!

I'm trying to envision our new regular day schedule--so far Leah and I have it worked out that she wakes up around 6, we really get moving around 7:30, and she's on the bus an hour later.  Now we will have to be in the car by 7:30.  Adjustment, as with all things, it will work out!

All in all, we are very excited for Ine to arrive. I feel far calmer than I did when Penny was coming--not having the car detailed or the carpets shampooed--but still very excited.  I know we're going to have a great year!

Welcome!

It's hard to believe another school year has rolled around.  Of course, with that comes the latest round of emails from AFS, begging us to take students into our homes.  Although AFS works diligently throughout the year to secure host families, it's always a rush to the finish to find homes for students.  Unlike many families, who volunteer at the last minute, I've been working on this for months.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me introduce myself!  I am Susan, and I am a host mom with AFS USA.  Yes, that sounds like a 12 step introduction, but in a way, it is.  Hosting exchange students can become addicting.  This year, we are hosting Ine from Belgium.  She is our third student.  Previously, we hosted Kristin from Iceland and Penny from Thailand.  You can read about our experience hosting Penny at our former hosting blog Family Thais and our experience as a welcome family for Kristin at A Funny Story About a Foreign Student.

When my husband died, I took a 2 year break from AFS responsibilities.  I stopped volunteering, much less hosting.  This past spring, I thought, "Well, maybe it's time to host again" so I contacted the local high school, but they are not accepting exchange students this year due to overcrowding.  So I thought, "Well, forget it."  This summer, we had Penny home for 3 weeks, and I was so enjoying her visit.  One morning, I got a call from our new area team leader, asking me if I would like to be involved in AFS and helping to expand AFS Virginia beyond the reaches of northern Virginia.  I said I would love to, and signed on to be a host family interviewer.  This led to me becoming a liaison to lovely Kathy from Germany (you can read her blog at Kathy in den USA) and that just really hit home how much I really wanted to host, either as a welcome family again or permanently.

So Alexandra asked me a week later if I would be interested in hosting.  I said I would love to, but explained the situation and how there was no high school around.  This led to 5 weeks of us calling, networking, harassing, and haranguing every single high school in F'burg city, Stafford, Spotsy, and King George Counties.  And no luck.  I tried private schools as well, but the tuition was more than AFS's program fee.  In the meantime, I had chosen a student, a lovely girl from Austria, and was trying to get used to the idea of hosting her and what that would mean for Leah and me.  Well, during the course of all these negotiations, our Austrian friend was snatched up and moved elsewhere.  So I chose a girl from Germany.  Again, everything was taking so long, she was removed from our queue. 

Last week, I sent Alexandra an email that basically said, "I'm done.  I can't put any more time, energy, and effort into this.  I am just not meant to host this year."  And she agreed with me.  She had put a lot of time into it and had gotten nowhere as well, so we agreed I would continue my volunteer activities and try hosting again when Stafford High School re-opened in 2015--I've been given assurances from the principal that they will accept exchange students next year.

Later that same evening, Alexandra sent me another email that read, "Would you consider hosting Ine from Belgium?"  I have to admit, I rolled my eyes just a bit and emailed her back, "I'm happy to host whoever you throw my way, but how can I if we don't have a school for her to go to?"  So Alexandra let me know that some tuition money was made available and asked me to see if I could negotiate with one of the local private schools.

Because we are a secular household, I chose to start with Fredericksburg Academy.  I had already been in touch with them once, so I knew the director of admissions.  I asked her if she could accept AFS's tuition amount, and to my surprise, she said yes, she would be delighted to accept an AFS student!  So I relayed the news to Alexandra, and we were officially paired with Ine yesterday when all the paperwork finished processing.

I am very excited about hosting a student from Belgium, although I know next to nothing about the country other than chocolate, waffles, and frites.  So I have a lot to learn from Ine and I hope she learns a great deal about us.  She will be doing a blog this year, which is at Ine in the USA if you want to read it.  It's quite something to read about yourself in Dutch.  But you can use Google Translate to read along if you want to.

For this week, I will be getting her room ready--we've had company almost all summer, so the room has gotten its use.  it needs a good cleaning and I need to empty the closet as much as possible, as well as assembling a welcome basket.  I'm heading out to find curtains and drawer liner for her room!  I hope you'll visit us often as we enjoy our journey as a new AFS family!