A Host Story

At first this venture was a way for me to make a little extra money as a stay at home mom. I prepared our spare bedroom/bathroom and anxiously awaited the arrival of our first home stay student who came to us from Mexico City. I remember being worried about bringing this foreigner into our home. Then I put myself her shoes and wondered how it would feel to sleep in the home of complete strangers in a country I had never before visited.

We very quickly got to know Sonja as she did speak a little bit of English. We learned about the Mexican taste for spicy foods and soon the hottest peppers we could find became a staple on our grocery list. She made me aware of the fact that so many places in this world are not as safe as the place in which we live. One of her first questions upon seeing her new accommodations was "is it safe here?" We have no bars on our windows or doors. She told me stories of family members taking turns staying up all night to guard the house, being robbed at gun point.

Our next student was a young woman from Japan who also spoke some English. She was amazingly polite and would marvel at how much my husband helped around the house.

Our third was a young woman from Korea who spoke almost no English. Eun-woo lived with us for 9 months and where ever we went, we introduced her as our Korean daughter because that's how we began to see her. We soon acquired a taste for Kimchee and my daughters learned how to sing in Korean.

Next the very beautiful Trina from Venezuela stayed with us. We soon found out that South Americans have a zest for life that infuses everything they do. We opened our house and our kitchen to Trina and other South American ESL students and traveling visitors. They made the most wonderful pulled chicken and pepper dishes, introduced us to some great music and taught my daughters how to dance.

We hosted ESL students for three years in total. It became less of a way to make a little extra money and more of a way to experience the world at a time when we could not afford to travel.

Frances C
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