Anyone who knows me knows I like to live with one toe just outside the box. Nothing too risky. I’m not a gambler or a daredevil but I like to push myself and those around me to do things they might not normally consider doing.
One great experience our family has had is hosting exchange students. I was a domestic exchange student in high school and decided our family should give it a try several years ago when I read about it in the Epiphany church bulletin.
They were looking for families to host 40 children from Guatemala. I was naive. I told my children we would get a little girl from the poor side of Guatemala who would love to come to our beautiful home in Coon Rapids. I should have known better; poor children from Guatemala do not come to the United States as exchange students.
She arrived two weeks after 9/11. She was not impressed with the lack of “staff” in our home. (No cook, no maid and no driver.) She taught my daughter about cashmere sweaters, designer jeans and Bebe clothes. At the age of 11 she could work a mall like a pro! We loved her and we learned that we should never have preconceived ideas about anyone from anywhere.
Our second student was 17 and came from Germany. She was very tall and true to her German heritage, very reserved. I think she thought our family was loud and busy but she did a great job fitting in and making friends in Annandale. She even went out for basketball and track, something she had never done before in her home country. Her family came to visit during her stay. We were amazed as they got out of the car and they were all even taller than she was! Our kids had learned some German phrases to make them feel welcome. We laughed when my youngest son said, “Guten Tag!” and then whispered, “I don’t speak Spanish very well.”
Our third student was a real hoot! She got off the plane dragging her suitcase with one foot and texting like a madwoman. As we got in the van she told the boys to “move their arses”… it was funny to hear it the first time in a New Zealand accent… not so much three months later when we’d heard this and other foreign curses several times a day. We started saying watch your mouth so often my friend Patty from In Hot Water gave my son a small mirror to hold up every time she swore. (A friendly reminder to really “Watch your mouth…”) To this day we smile and shake our heads at our kiwi exchange student and all the color she brought to our home.
We have decided to host again this year now that our daughter is away at college. Our sons wanted a boy this time. He had to be someone who snowboards and plays sports from someplace really cool “like Colorado.” I explained Colorado wasn’t exactly foreign…so we picked a boy from Germany.
We are excited to meet him and see what he’s like. He plans to play American football for the Annandale Cards this season. It doesn’t sound like he shops or curses with an accent, but then again I haven’t met him yet, have I?
You don’t have to be the perfect family to host. God knows we are far from being the Brady Bunch! I think we might be a little more Malcolm in the Middle. You just have to be open to meeting someone new and sharing what you have. The benefits far outweigh the time and commitment of having an additional child in your home for nine months.
Take a small trip outside your box of comfort and you will have an experience that will last a lifetime.
I want to keep meeting new
people, enlarging my circle of
friends. I have great friends
now… really good people. But
I’m always ready for what
comes next.
Paula Danziger
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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