After being a "host family" for the majority of my life, I now find myself on the other end. It was so easy having people come into our house to live for the week. Everything stayed the same for me; there was just an extra "brother" around and I was still the only girl. I never thought about how it must have been for these guys to come into a stranger's home to live for the week. Granted, they were only around for a few hours at night so there wasn't a lot of down time for them, but still. I especially never thought about it when I was younger; I just thought they should play with us because we were so young. Some players I really enjoyed having around because they would play with us and others weren't as fun and aren't as memorable. As I got older things changed, but it was still fun having these guys around.
Now that I'm on the other end I can understand how it weird it might have been. It is awkward. Right now we are just a few days in and I imagine it will start to feel normal pretty soon though, but for now it is still a little weird. We come to the home of strangers living in another country. It's not like Big 33 when we just live in a different part of the state from some of those guys; I am thousands of miles away and people don't even sound like me here. It's not difficult at all and I am completely comfortable. I just feel like I should be doing more, like helping put away the dishes or something after we eat, but they won't let us help and are always asking if we need anything. They are also apologizing for being anti-social when they have work or other things to do, but I don't care if they aren't around, I know they have lives and plenty other things to worry about. Courtney and I are completely content sitting in the living room on our computers watching tv, even though there isn't much on and we had to ask how to turn the tv on because we couldn't do it.
My hosts have been incredibly nice thus far. Their names are Sarah and Scott and they have the cutest 17-month old son, Reuben. I haven't lived with someone that young since I was what, 5 or something? I thought maybe he would be unsure once we showed up since kids don't always do well when strangers are around, but he was fine right away. We were shown our rooms upstairs of the house and ended up talking a little bit in the doorways. Reuben grabbed my hand and took me to his room to show me the cat laying underneath his crib. I knew then that he was going to be a fun kid to be around and though he gets upset at things, he has been enjoyable. Yesterday when he came in with his mom, he walked straight past the living room into the kitchen and immediately came out to the living room, checking to see if we were there, said hi, and went back to the kitchen. I think he enjoys having extra people around to play with.
The accommodations are nice. Courtney and I each have our own room and pretty much have a bathroom to ourselves. Cereal and other breakfast foods are put out every morning for us. I have no idea what cereal I have been eating, but it is delicious so I will continue to eat it. We are the only ones left when we eat breakfast so we put things back away, even though our hosts tell us not to worry about it. Our school is just a short 5 minute walk away. So happy I don't have a 45-minute car ride this time or have to figure out public transportation. And we have had a home-cooked meal every night so far. Again, I have no idea what some of the things I'm eating are, but it tastes good so I don't care. It's also nice living with a friend so things aren't as scary or awkward as they could be alone. It's all working out quite well.
That's all for now. I'll continue again with my trip once I become unlazy again and I've also been trying to apply for some jobs since I have hours of free time at night, so maybe an update tomorrow.
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