non camping related topic .

TURBS · 10-24-2011, 09:42 PM

Has anyone hosted a foreign exchange student ?

my dw and I was approached 2 weeks ago buy the f.e. coordinator for our school system and said they hadn't placed a girl student yet . And wanted to know if we were interested . since the f e student and our daughter both play in the same sports .
We considered it for a few days then had an in home visit .
We then talked again and said why not . We have 3 kids in the home still and one is the same age or close to the age of our foreign exchange student .
So far things are going great except the bathroom ............ We have one bathroom in our early 1900's farm house for 2 adults and 3 children ages 16 14 and 12 plus the f e student . Wow what a logistical nightmare !
Our student is 16 from germany and is very polite and thankful for being here.
I just asked her tonight if she misses home (been here for 6 weeks) and she replied no not really just miss my friends .
Any way I just wondered if there were other hosts that would like to share there experiences .

Vols · 10-25-2011, 10:10 PM

Man you do it all!
1. Your my go to guy for tt ?'s
2. And now you have a FE student , I'm just so blessed you find time to answer my goofy question and u do it nicely

TURBS · 10-26-2011, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vols

Man you do it all!
1. Your my go to guy for tt ?'s
2. And now you have a FE student , I'm just so blessed you find time to answer my goofy question and u do it nicely

well I try ! Thank you for being so kind yourself !

crocus · 10-26-2011, 08:06 AM

f1100, one of my best friends hosted exchange students from Sweden, Columbia, and one from Germany as well. While different, all three were very positive experiences.
While some can be big trouble, if yours is polite and showing gratitude for your generosity, you already have that covered!
I don't think you will regret it one bit, and the experience is also good for your kids.
Way to go!

Rugged Brown · 10-26-2011, 09:07 AM

My sister in law hosted FE students from all over the world for several years. In fact she had a child from Chernobyl visit for several summers a few years back. I got to know several of these students and some still keep in contact. I think it is a very valuable opportunity fo rthe student and for the host family as well. A little different experience, a few years ago, our son was an exchange student that went and lived in Costa Rico for 6 months. The organization that was overseeing this didn't visit or interview the host family before my son left. He was placed in a tin home ( shanty) section of the largest city in Costa Rica. It was a bad experience. He shared a bedroom with 4 other children .The host family stole money, he lost 20 lbs, no food to eat, walked several kilometres to school each day. It was an awful experience for him. On the bright side, however, he was transferred to a much nicer family. Things worked out well for him there. Fast forward to today: My wife and I are now empty nesters and have put our names to the school board to host a couple of students. There is a competition here to get students because the school board pays something like $500 per month per student. That is not our motivation, but I suspect it may be others. Enjoy your student and take good care.

crocus · 10-26-2011, 09:36 AM

Rugged, bad host families are not unknown here either. One of my friend's neighbours thought the exchange students were slaves, treating them very badly. Obviously, they did it for the money and the free help on the farm. The organization running that program wasn't very good, obviously. They also make money from these programs, and some aren't much more than scams.

TURBS · 10-26-2011, 10:03 AM

Thanks for the stories and input guys!
Right now we are in preparation of getting her accustom to the weather here in Iowa!
in her home town of Dresden Germany temps rarely dip below zero degrees f. For a low.
Here in the Midwest that may be the high for weeks as we all know.
its a learning process and our whole family enjoys her.

TURBS · 10-26-2011, 11:11 AM

By the way we receive NO compensation for hosting her!
we receive knowledge of another culture. And hopefully walk awaywith a great experience!

The_Stuff · 10-26-2011, 11:37 AM

there is a similar thing going on in my town but its more hosting a individual in your family home and teaching them the ways of our country and getting them a job etc etc. kinda like fostering them. no clue what it is called though.

TURBS · 10-26-2011, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Stuff

there is a similar thing going on in my town but its more hosting a individual in your family home and teaching them the ways of our country and getting them a job etc etc. kinda like fostering them. no clue what it is called though.

So the person someone would host or take in would be out of school?

That's kind of what this is but they will go home after graduation.
But we teach them the life style we are accustom to here in the states.
Her English is pretty good the only real issue is sometimes the meanings of words we use very from there meanings such as grounded in the states means house arrest in Germany.

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