How cool! What a great opportunity for all of you. I can't wait to read about your adventures – here & abroad! What fun!
MICHAELA
- By : Cynthia
- Category : Family, Vacations - 2009
Family
14
Seven years ago this summer, we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our German foreign exchange student, Michaela, who lived with us for a year from summer 2002 through summer 2003.
I’m guessing many of our blog readers, real life and internet alike, probably don’t know we had an exchange student for a year since this was pre-blogging, before our co-op days not to mention she attended the local public school and wouldn’t have attended (m)any homeschool things with us, and we were very new to our current church so many of our church friends will most likely not even remember us from way back then except our Pastor who did meet Michaela.
The picture above is from the day she arrived. That was quite an event! First, there were numerous phone calls from the Youth For Understanding International Exchange program updating us on her whereabouts as she traveled from her hometown of Wilhelmshaven through Frankfurt and Chicago to our home. I don’t remember now why there were so many problems with the flights, but I do remember being worried about where she was when her luggage arrived on her flight WITHOUT her! We made several trips to town that day whenever there was a flight coming in that she might have been on.
After she finally arrived, we spent the next few weeks getting to know each other and settling into a routine! As you can imagine, there were lots of things to cover – house rules, chores, expectations, etc., as well as having fun showing her around our area.
We went camping and boating…..
hiking and fishing….
to the fair, and other places nearby. Here are Amanda (age 13) and Emily (age 9) with Michaela (age 16).
Here is a family photo from August 2002 including Michaela and minus Nathan who wasn’t born yet.
We have kept in touch with Michaela a few times a year via email since she left seven years ago. We never thought it would be possible to see her again. In one of those emails a month ago, she said she had saved up enough $$ to come visit us again and asked if she could come this summer! Of course, we were all delighted!
I still can’t believe of all the places she could go visit and of all the things she could go do, she has chosen to spend her hard-earned/saved money coming back here to see us. When I asked what she’d like to do and what she’d like to see while here, she said there weren’t any particular things. She said she just wanted to come and be with our family doing the things we do! How sweet is that?
So, we find ourselves this summer in the same state of excited anticipation as we were seven years ago anxiously awaiting her arrival exactly 100 days from today! We’ve made arrangements for her to fly into Canada instead of the US so we can plan a family trip up there to pick her up and do some sightseeing before bringing her home.
In a very spur-of-the-moment decision while helping her figure out the exact dates, most economical flights, etc., I asked what she thought about taking the girls back to Europe with her when she leaves. She thought that was a GREAT idea and the perfect year to do such a thing because she has taken this summer off to visit us and her graduation from college next year won’t leave much of an opportunity for extended travel once she gets a job.
We are so excited to be able to extend our time with her by a couple of weeks since we (Amanda, Emily, both of the grandmas, and I) now have tickets in hand to travel to Europe with her when she goes back home. We will get to meet her family and see her part of the world as she gives us a whirlwind tour of Europe!
We are so excited and we’re counting down the days until she arrives! I thought it best to introduce her here on the blog now since her arrival and our trip is now the center of most of our discussions around here (LOL).
