Hostfamily08's Weblog

A Final Post

Jessica — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:23:54 +0000

“Katereina” should have made it home to Russia now. So I am writing a few concluding thoughts on the year, as well as some advice for new host families.

Sharing a room got old. She would sleep in later than me on the weekends, so I spent a lot of time in the living room instead of my bedroom so that I didn’t have to be quiet.
We don’t have a public transportation system here, so driving her around sometimes wasn’t very practical.
She had excellent English, however when a conversation pushed the limits her vocabulary (such as the day we were trying to talk about marsupials), we figured out that it was easiest to look up the subject on Wikipedia and then translate the page using BabelFish. The grammar was a little off, but it got the idea across.
Some of our agency’s representatives changed midyear. We didn’t get a lot of support or information from the new representative, but luckily we didn’t really have any problems so it wasn’t a big deal. The new representative never held the end of year meeting for the students to go over Reverse Culture Shock and that sort of thing. But oh well.

Well, I think that about wraps it up. If you have any questions feel free to email me at: hostfamily08 (at) gmail (dot) com. Additionally, please check out my other blog: Adventures of a College Student

Last Day

Jessica — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:49:49 +0000

Today was “Katereina’s” last full day in the United States. She has an early flight tomorrow morning.

I think she successfully get everything packed (that was doubtful for a while). She also managed to watch all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls in these last few weeks.

Overall, its been fun having her around, and I wold recommend the hosting experience.

Edit: Ok, I was wrong… still not done packing… 2 hours left…

Packing

Jessica — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:21:07 +0000

Our room is a disaster. “Katereina” is in the midst of packing and getting ready to go back home in two days. I think she has bought more this year than she realized, because it’s become a bit of a puzzle to try to get everything on her luggage. It is a little weird to only see my stuff on the bathroom counter or the closet nearly empty…

Today we had a little going away party for her with some friends. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but for me it would seem weird to go some place or see people knowing that in all likelyhood (only about 10% of exchange students ever return to their host country) you will never see them again other than in pictures (which reminds me I need to make some prints for her tomorrow). I guess this year has been full of a lot of firsts followed by a lot of lasts.

Last Week

Jessica — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:44:09 +0000

Well, “Katereina” will be on her way home this time next week.

Over the weekend, we went to a little old mining town called Jerome. It was fun (I think its a neat little town) but not as fun as it would have been if we had more time to actually go to the museum there.

Coming to the End

Jessica — Sun, 31 May 2009 06:49:54 +0000

Yesterday, “Katereina” went to graduation for her high school. She, as a junior, did not graduate however had many friends who did. She was very upset to not see most of them again.

Then today, she got out her suitcase to begin to pack to go home. There is no way everything will fit in the bags she packed, so sometime in the next two weeks we’ll go to goodwill to get another bag for her to take with her. However, she is reluctant to close out her American bank account just yet.

We have a couple other fun things to fit in these last two weeks.

“Katereina” is still a little concerned about getting home… She flies out of Phoneix to Washington, DC and then to Moscow, RU. However, thats still nearly 1000 miles from her home, and she hasn’t heard if that transportation will be arranged or if her parents need to figure something out…

Quick update

Jessica — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:07:55 +0000

Well, its “Katereina’s” last week of school. She and I are both sick right now. She recently discovered the TV show Gilmore Girls and is trying to watch all 7 seasons before she leaves.

I’ll write more soon!

One Month

Jessica — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:24:56 +0000

“Katereina” will be going home in one month.

In that time, we are trying to a couple more fun things – doing to Jerome, have a party, stuff like that.

Photography

Jessica — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:01:36 +0000

I have loved photography and taking pictures as long as I can remember. Well, I am finally trying to make at least a partial shift from amateur to professional photography. So I have a website set up where you can purchase prints, puzzles, mugs, mouse pads and other fun stuff. So please take a look and let me know what you think. Also, it would be wonderful if you pass the link on to anyone you think may be interested.

http://oneshotphoto.shutterfly.com

Computer

Jessica — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:39:03 +0000

Today, “Katereina” got a new laptop. Its pretty neat; she’s been setting it up all evening. She seems really excited about it, and really likes it.

I just got home from being gone for a week, so I don’t have too much else to write about…

But its Tradition

Jessica — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:48:50 +0000

So today, “Katereina” was saying that some of her friends at school are really gullible. If they ever why she does something, she tells them its a Russian tradition. Like one day, she scrunched her shoulders when saying hello, and that became a Russian Tradition…….