Writings for YFU

[Honeylioness]

Just a small collection of essays and writings I have been asked to do in association with my being a Host Mother for Youth For Understanding

[Honeylioness]

Application essay - March 2011


Hello -

My name is M* D** and I am looking forward to hosting you this year! I am certain that the local YFU office has given you some of my basic information, but I thought you would like some additional information about myself and where I live.

* I am 47 years old, studied biology and mathematics in college and currently work for a large medical device company called C.R. Bard. My company is a sponsor of YFU Scholarships which help students have the exchange experience. This is how I first learned of YFU.

* I have one younger brother who is married and he has two daughters ages 9 and 11. They live in Mesa, Arizona.

* My parents live in Seattle, Washington where I went to High School and college. I moved back to the East Coast because I was born here and this to me is "home". Growing up my family moved every few years due to my father's job so I have lived all over the United States and seen most of it during our travels.

* I share my home with four cats: Naomi who is 8, Tigger who is 7, Jericho who is 8 and David who we think is about 10. They are very friendly once they get to know you and will sleep on your bed if you let them.

* I enjoy doing many creative things, but my favorite is quilting which I have been doing since 1986. I have made over 65 quilts and smaller projects since then - many as gifts for special occasions such as weddings or for a new baby.

* I also enjoy activities that not many people do anymore - such as making bread, jams, jellies and pickles. Some of which I give to my friends and family as presents.


I was asked to write a message to you about why I host exchange students. When I lived in Seattle I was a host parent for six years with another program. All the young ladies came from one of two schools in Japan. I enjoyed learning about a culture and a country I knew very little about up to that time. And I found I very much enjoyed showing someone new my country and all the things I love, and even those things I don't, about America.

America is not only a very complex country with widely varying ways of doing things depending on what part you live in - America is also a very complex idea. The idea that people of different races, faiths and cultures can come together in a unified way to identify themselves as one nationality with one goal.

By helping a young person begin to fully understand how to work with and among a very diverse society I think it is a small step towards getting larger societies as a whole to stop focusing so much on what makes us all different, and pay more attention to those things we have in common. Yes, we speak different languages and enjoy different, or odd to us, foods. But at the center of it all is the love we have for our family, our traditions and our basic humanness.

Plus - it's fun! I like learning about what you consider "normal" for Christmas. Trying to learn some words in your language and mis-pronouncing them terribly so that you laugh. Nervously tasting some special food you made to share, then wondering how to politely tell you that I am not a big fan of chicken feet or fish eyes. Helping you understand that Americans live rather normal lives ... and outside of the movies or television you have seen - we do not all live in mansions with luxury cars and spend all our time shopping at the mall.

I also get the chance to learn first hand more about parts of me. Like most Americans I am a mix of different nationalities who came here for a new life. My family first came to this continent in the 1690s. Having traced my genealogy a few years ago I know that my ancestors came from: Finland, Germany, Holland, Scotland, Ireland, England, France .. and I am part Native American as well. If I was a dog I think they would call me a "mutt"!

And I get to watch the nervous students that I meet at the airport blossom in confidence and maturity - seeing a glimpse of the strong intelligent women they will become with the integrity to make a real difference in their lives and their countries.

[Honeylioness]

Monthly Newsletter - April 2010





Hello, my name is **** and this is my first year hosting an exchange student through YFU though I did host Japanese students for five years when I lived in the Pacific Northwest. I learned about YFU through my current employer, C.R. Bard. They sponsor travel scholarships for dependents of employees to experience an international exchange, and they work exclusively with YFU. Last summer we received a company wide e-mail saying that the local YFU district was in need of more host families for incoming students. Having enjoyed hosting before I thought the time was right for me to do it again. And so three weeks after submitting my application I was at Logan Airport meeting my student from Germany - Anne Tolke.

This has been one of the best hosting experiences I have had. I could not have asked for, nor chosen, a more perfect match for my first re-entry into the world of being a "Mom". While it has not been idyllic or a fairy tale - she is after all a teenager with all the associated challenges that come with the territory - it has been amazingly rich and rewarding. Not only does Anne have a great sense of humor and "got" right away my own brand of sarcasm and irony and could return it in equal measure, but she is incredibly intelligent. Not only giving due consideration to rather serious topics but eager and willing to engage and want to talk about them. We have had some wonderful discussions over the dinner table on subjects ranging from politics, national pride, religion, bigotry, cultural bias and The Big Bang versus Creationism.

I have been able to share with Anne my pride in the towns, states and country where my family roots go back to the 1670s. We have taken trips to Vermont during leaf peeping season, picked pumpkins and apples to make pies and applesauce. Visited RI to see a raptor show. Gone to a Renaissance Festival and seen exotic animals and a live joust on horse back. There have been holidays and small dinner parties, quiet evenings at home & her and a friend practicing a new song on the piano. New foods to try, and fall in love with and negotiations about trips to the Mall. We spent Christmas in Seattle with my parents and then on to Arizona to visit my brother and take a horse back trek through the Sonoran desert and foothills.

Overall I have loved having Anne as part of my family and am trying to not think ahead to the good bye that will come all too soon. If I were asked I would have two pieces of advice for host families:

1. Create a blog or home page for your student and their family back home - teenagers are not usually the best correspondents and this way you can let their families back home see how they are doing as well as have a memory book for yourself. Anne's is located at: honeylioness.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=annet

2. Don't be afraid to open your heart and home to a "temporary" son or daughter. Because while their physical time in your home may be limited, the memories and bonds can last a lifetime and what you learn about, and from, each other is invaluable.