Hosting to a different culture

1. Tell us about your foreign exchange students. Donna: We have Diana Hain, who is from Germany. She’s been with us the whole school year. And Andy Bahari, from Indonesia, joined us in February.  2. How did you become a host family? Donna: Gary and I were looking for a way to kind of give back. Neither one of us ever had children of our own. We just started doing some research, and the next thing we knew we were calling EF. It seemed so quick that we were going through profiles and picked Diana.   3. You can pick your student? Gary: You get profiles of different students from different countries, so we’re allowed to pick what country students come from. You can pick whether you want a boy or girl. In their profile, they list what their interests are, what their hobbies are. They also write short essays, so we could see how good their English writing skills are.   4. What’s the process like? Donna: It’s a very thorough screening and you do have to submit to a background check, but the process itself is streamlined to the point where it seems easy.  5. How can someone start the process?  Donna: Call us at 419-604-0113. We have spots in most of the local schools.   6. What stands out about the experience so far? Gary: There are a lot of things. For one, it is a lot of fun. It’s very interesting. They share what their life is like in their home country, and they get to experience and we get to share what our life is like here.  7. What would you say to other families to get them to host a student? Donna: There really is no better way to share what’s good about America than to host someone in your home. It’s a real intimate experience. It’s hard to describe. Gary: It is a great opportunity to be able to share your culture with somebody else from another part of the world, and for you to be able to share into what their culture is like also. You don’t have that opportunity every day. Sometimes their whole life is totally different.  8. What’s been the most important for you to show them about our country? Gary: I think just our everyday way of life. The way we work, the way we play, just our everyday living.  9. How did your first meeting go? Donna: I made her [Diana] a little teddy bear with the German flag in one hand and the American flag in the other. We hugged. It was maybe a little awkward at first, and then we talked and just kind of started in from there.  10. Any surprises so far? Donna: We did a lot of reading and research. We were as ready as two old foggies could be for teenagers in the house. As long as you go into it with your eyes open.  11. How tough will it be when they go back home? Donna: That is going to be the hard part. The time is very short, Andy has about five weeks left and then Diana will be here a little bit longer. It’s not going to be easy.