Our family had the most incredible experience this summer!!! I was asked by a group out of Portland to organize 27 exchange students from China who were coming to the US for a month. They needed homes for 3 of those weeks. I found amazing families (who we created great friendships with) to host the families. I also was in charge of overseeing the program and planning the daily activies. It was so much fun. I loved organizing it all and making sure everything went as planned.
We thought it would be a good way to bring a bit of China into our home without having to leave home. Our family got so much more out of this experience than we ever imagined. Meili has always noticed that her looks are different than most people around her... she'll talk about her "chubby nose" (not sure where she came up with that term) and asks when her eyes will look like mine.... two days after these kids arrived she looked in the mirror and said, "mom, I'm pretty" ... that was worth all of the work right then. But, our family got so emotionally attached to all of these kids that it was so sad and hard to see them go. We hosted Amy in our home. She is a fantastic 14 year old girl who we e-mail regularly and hope to visit at her home and have her back to our home again. She taught us so much about China and the culture.
When we pulled in the garage from dropping off the kids at the airport to boys both asked, "mom, can we do that again next year".
We loved it and are so thrilled to have the memories of these fantastic children and families here in this area.
