Sometimes American college sweatshirts and tshirts can be fun gifts. On a funny note, I once asked some people in Japan what they would like for me to bring fo them? They excitedly explained that they had never smelled a skunk, and could I bring them a skunk smell sample? So, I went to a hunting store, bought a small bottle of skunk-on, or whatever it was called. Even wrapped in multiple plastic zip locks, it seeped odor, so I froze the vial of oil inside a small bag of water, then placed that inside a closed thermos flask. I delivered the vial and a small stuffed animal skunk without incident. My friends greatly enjoyed anointing the skunk and sharing the experience. I do realize that i would never ever be able to bring that thru security now, can you imagine the stink homeland security would raise : )

We hosted a 13 year old Japanese boy back in 1981. He and his 15 year old sister came to CA to learn English at our local university. It was a summer thing. The boy was forced to participate in the program by his mother and he wasn't the least bit interested or happy to be here. His sister on the other hand was thrilled. She was staying with another family. We asked the family if we could host the sister so that we could deal a little better with her brother. What a difference it made to have both of them. After that, we had a delightful time and even visited them in Japan a couple years later where the mother apologized repeatedly for the behavior of her son and showered us with gifts. :-) I'd love to do it again but I work too many hours and hate to plan and cook meals anymore. Can't wait to hear more about your new students Kathleen. Jodi-

Kat, yes, in fact I talked to and played Scrabble with Maria earlier today. We have an on-going couple of games going on Facebook, just whenever we have time to take our turn. She's planning to come back to visit this summer or in the fall if she gets accepted to a college here. She still hasn't heard from them. She's still engaged to her boyfriend she met here last year. I invited him to spend yesterday with us celebrating Sola's birthday because he sent me a message Friday about the tornado warnings and said he wanted to hang out with us sometime. The last I heard from Johanna was when Luther died, she posted on my facebook page. She doesn't keep in contact with any of us, including Maria, which kind of makes me sad. And, no, not at my goal weight. I gained a few pounds over the Winter, I think from eating too many carbs that I wasn't supposed to eat. I added bread back into my diet and am cutting it back out again so I'm back down to what I was before now. I'd like to lose another 25 pounds even though everyone tells me I'm too skinny now. We did try a college student, not one that lives with us just to spend time with the family and do things with. The one we started with was a graduate student from China who was always too busy. We finally had dinner together and she barely spoke to us and when I invited her to have Thanksgiving dinner with us she said she was going to the university's dinner. So, I took that as she didn't really want to spend time with us. She was older, around 27 so that may have been part of the problem. The program called me about a month ago to see if I wanted another student so I said ok. This one is an undergraduate student, same age as Alex, from China again. Our first outing didn't happen because she got drunk with her boyfriend the night before and didn't answer my text messages or calls when we went to pick her up because she was asleep. LOL! That's kind of sad, Ellendi, that's the whole point of the exchange programs to get to know the host family and their culture. Maybe that's why they don't pay us. Maybe they think people who aren't paid will be doing it for the right reasons, not just the money.

I was just thinking the other day that it would probably be time for your guests to be leaving soon. From the things you've posted, you seem to have enjoyed having them share your home the past few months. And of course, you will miss them. When does the other one leave? Also, when do your other two arrive? Shirley