It's great you are doing this Kath. You are going to give those girls a wonderful experience.

Anne

Hang in there, Kath! You sound stressed. Go to bed early if you can. I know things will smooth out.

I just know this will turn out to be a great experience for you and the students! It'll all work out and start running smooth. Please keep us updated on how it's going. You're a great Mom, Kath!

will you please, as I have forgotten, tell us where they are from?

hang in there, kathleen, get a good nites rest and up and at 'em tomorrow.

things will settle down and will be an awesome experience for everyone

I'm so excited for you and everyone

As I've said before, it can be a very good experience with life long connections. They'll adjust. The first few weeks are the worse for homesickness. Once they get involved in life here, it'll be better for them. Where are they from? Not sure if you said

How long will they be here? Do they know each other from their home country? Are they friends? We've hosted foreign students a few times, from various countries, from one month to one year. It was always a unique experience. Some kids are just easier to get along with than others, some are better at being away from home; as hard as we tried, nothing helped the homesickness one girl felt.

I think the best advice I can give you is to be aware of and tolerant of cultural differences. Frankly, we were always amazed at those differences. Things we consider polite are intrusive in some cultures. Things we consider rude are commonplace and expected in other cultures. And every individual is different; some are needier than others, some need nothing more emotional than a hearty "good morning!"

Just do your best and try to keep smiling when you encounter odd differences - like truly needing pasta, or rice, or curry, or something else at every meal, or being so amazed at soft toilet tissue that you would sneak it out of the bathroom to mail home in manilla envelopes, among many, many other things!

I wish you good luck and enjoyable experiences.
Sherry

They are from Germany and Spain. They seem to be ok now. Very tired, though. Heading to bed myself in a few.

How old are the girls? I had the impression
that they were older than Lauren.

Relax! I'm sure everything will work out!

Where are they from again? I forgot...

I'm glad they are here. The first night would be the worst plus add jet lag and missing loved ones.
It will get better!

thinking about you and know the experience will be awesome

Our exchange student showed up a couple days before we went to a family reunion 5 hours away. I think she was kind of going through the motions the first couple weeks. We don't realize what a culture shock it is for these young kids.

They will be fine.. just take things slow.

Looking forward to updates!!!!

I admire anyone who sponsors exchange students. I know enough about myself to realize I couldn't participate in this prodram.

Kudos to you Kath and your children! :)

Sherrmann, sorry forgot to answer your questions. They're going to be here 10 months. They're from two different countries. We have all been "talking" on facebook to each other for the past couple of months.

Kat, they are both 15, soon to be 16 this Fall.

Good luck, Kath! I hope they all settle in nicely and have fun at your house.

I was listening to a computer show yesterday and a guy was having webcam problems, they recommended he check his privacy settings. Maybe that will help you all with the Skype thing, I don't know. Just a thought.

Hopefully everyone slept well and is feeling good this morning.

We ahve also had exchange student. The first couple of weeks are hard with adjustments for everyone. I expect some of what you saw was just being overtired!

What program are you going through? Do they have a "counselor" type person who oversees their stay? We went through Rotary and they had a member assigned to them. They took them out to eat and talked about any issues the students were having. They would also sit down with us and go over anything we were concerned about. They did a family meeting within the first few days to go over rules and expectations. It really helped!

Let me know if I can help!

Well, their computers are working now. Maria was crying again this morning. Went to the post office to mail their postcards back home.

to answer questions.

Bunnylover, it's CIEE. They do have a coordinator, the one here locally is brand new at it and has her own exchange student. Then there is another one from another town who is helping her out this first year.

You're to be commended for doing this Kath. It is interesting to read of the cultural differences between countries. I hope everything goes smoothly for all of you.

My cousins family have been doing it for years and they have only had issues with one young woman but it has been a wonderful experience for them...for their whole family.......

I hope poor Maria can adjust soon. Being homesick is such an awful feeling. I know--and you do, too--that it's a cultural shock the first week or so in a foreign country. Hope she embraces the experience she's been fortunate enough to be given. And I hope you all have a great time. Lauren seems to be really happy to have them.