Post by Honeylioness on Sept 5, 2012 12:26:12 GMT -5
10 September 2012[/u]
Well, not off to a very good start if this is my first posting here. Bad host momma.
Oh well there is still plenty of time to get better at it.
I received two phone calls and an e-mail from YFU a few days before the Labor Day weekend. It seems they had a young lady from Thailand and at the last minute her host family had backed out. Without a host parent she would not be able to come to the US at all. One of the ways I really understood just how frantic the YFU office was to place this student was a promise from the Director to take me shopping at BJs on her card for $100 on anything I want.
Yeah - they REALLY were greasing the wheel there.
So after less than a week I was on my way back to Logan Airport for the second time in a month. This girl's name is Chavisa and she is from Thailand. One of the things I knew just from that little piece of information was that she would most likely be arriving late and be very jet lagged because of of the length of the trip. In this case over 28 hours.
After talking with Pauline about this, and the timing of her flights etc, she
eleceted not to come with me to the airport as she had her first exams today.
Actually she had FOUR tests today and I agreed she really needed to study and then
get a good night's sleep.
This meant that I was leaving to go to the airport about the time she was getting
ready for bed. OY. After stopping for an iced coffee - since I had tried and failed
to take a nap earlier - I was on my way. iPOD blasting to help keep me awake.
Once we were on the way home around 12:30 am with her two huge suitcases in the back of the car she fell asleep - which did not surprise me at all.
One of the things we talked about was the logistics of where everyone would sleep the
first night. Trying to wrestle two HUGE suitcases upstairs and into the girls'
bedroom then pull out Chavisa's sleepware without waking up Pauline didn't really
seem all that likely. So I made the decision that C would sleep in my room and for
the one night only I would sleep in the girls' rooom on Chavisa's bed - just for the one night and C would sleep in my bed since I thought she would sleep most of the next day.
Yeah ... that didn't happen.
First - I didn't sleep all that well myself on the second bed in the girls' room. It was incredibly hard and I have become very used to my new pillow topped mattress set. And I learned, the hard way, that Ms. Pauline talks in her sleep. Or more accurately she mumbles. So as she is up and getting ready I was really not sleeping. Dragging myself out of bed I went to the doorway to go to the bathroom - and came face to face with Chavisa. Up, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:00 am - even though she had not gone to bed until almost 2:00 am.
So - new game plan. while I had originally planned on bringing her to school on Monday for registration I called the school office and was able to move her appointment for Friday morning.
However, of course things never do go as planned and such was the case now. While we were in the Nurse's office getting her information into the system they told me that there were two missing vaccinations - a second Varicella and her Tdap. However one of the local hospitals has an Immunization Clinic where any shot is only $15 each.
Over the weekend the three of us went on a brief excursion to Parlee Farms where she could take pictures of the farm animals and then we took the hay ride out to the orchard where we got Macintosh, Honey Crisp and some Cortland apples.
We also made cookies together - though I messed up the recipe and the first batch did NOT come out as it should have. Oh well - mistakes happen.
On Monday September 10th she had her first day of school - and survived!!!
s25.photobucket.com/albums/c72/honey36_/Exchange%20Students/Pauline%20L%20and%20Chavisa%202012-2013/
Well, not off to a very good start if this is my first posting here. Bad host momma.
Oh well there is still plenty of time to get better at it.
I received two phone calls and an e-mail from YFU a few days before the Labor Day weekend. It seems they had a young lady from Thailand and at the last minute her host family had backed out. Without a host parent she would not be able to come to the US at all. One of the ways I really understood just how frantic the YFU office was to place this student was a promise from the Director to take me shopping at BJs on her card for $100 on anything I want.
Yeah - they REALLY were greasing the wheel there.
So after less than a week I was on my way back to Logan Airport for the second time in a month. This girl's name is Chavisa and she is from Thailand. One of the things I knew just from that little piece of information was that she would most likely be arriving late and be very jet lagged because of of the length of the trip. In this case over 28 hours.
After talking with Pauline about this, and the timing of her flights etc, she
eleceted not to come with me to the airport as she had her first exams today.
Actually she had FOUR tests today and I agreed she really needed to study and then
get a good night's sleep.
This meant that I was leaving to go to the airport about the time she was getting
ready for bed. OY. After stopping for an iced coffee - since I had tried and failed
to take a nap earlier - I was on my way. iPOD blasting to help keep me awake.
Once we were on the way home around 12:30 am with her two huge suitcases in the back of the car she fell asleep - which did not surprise me at all.
One of the things we talked about was the logistics of where everyone would sleep the
first night. Trying to wrestle two HUGE suitcases upstairs and into the girls'
bedroom then pull out Chavisa's sleepware without waking up Pauline didn't really
seem all that likely. So I made the decision that C would sleep in my room and for
the one night only I would sleep in the girls' rooom on Chavisa's bed - just for the one night and C would sleep in my bed since I thought she would sleep most of the next day.
Yeah ... that didn't happen.
First - I didn't sleep all that well myself on the second bed in the girls' room. It was incredibly hard and I have become very used to my new pillow topped mattress set. And I learned, the hard way, that Ms. Pauline talks in her sleep. Or more accurately she mumbles. So as she is up and getting ready I was really not sleeping. Dragging myself out of bed I went to the doorway to go to the bathroom - and came face to face with Chavisa. Up, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7:00 am - even though she had not gone to bed until almost 2:00 am.
So - new game plan. while I had originally planned on bringing her to school on Monday for registration I called the school office and was able to move her appointment for Friday morning.
However, of course things never do go as planned and such was the case now. While we were in the Nurse's office getting her information into the system they told me that there were two missing vaccinations - a second Varicella and her Tdap. However one of the local hospitals has an Immunization Clinic where any shot is only $15 each.
Over the weekend the three of us went on a brief excursion to Parlee Farms where she could take pictures of the farm animals and then we took the hay ride out to the orchard where we got Macintosh, Honey Crisp and some Cortland apples.
We also made cookies together - though I messed up the recipe and the first batch did NOT come out as it should have. Oh well - mistakes happen.
On Monday September 10th she had her first day of school - and survived!!!
s25.photobucket.com/albums/c72/honey36_/Exchange%20Students/Pauline%20L%20and%20Chavisa%202012-2013/