Homestay daughter(HSD) arrived at the end of August. She was placed in a home and apparently there were issues so she was moved. Needless to say, I was a bit worried about taking a student who had been here less than 2 weeks and wanted to move homes. Especially since we are rookies, really no experience in parenting a teen.
HSD moved in all seemed to be going well. As well as you can imagine having a stranger in your home, yet being a host and attempting to get to know said stranger.
In the "typical" homestay cases, a family is given information about the student before they arrive. Sometimes, the host and student are able to communicate via email prior to arrival. We were doing the "hit the ground running" case. No info, just a name and a county. We had a lot to learn.
HSD didn't unpack for a week, she was living out of her suitcase. Huh? I asked her if she needed me to help her unpack? "No, I unpack when I comfortable."
Oh great, so I'm being test driven like a used car. Ok, don't take it personal just go with it..
The first few weeks HSD lived with us,she was doing things that I had no idea why she was doing them. So why not ask you say?
I felt strange asking her why she was washing her undies in the bathroom sink, and was she eating the toilet paper and tissues because she went through a roll and a box in less than a week? These questions were not ones I wanted to bring up just yet. I thought that would make her more uncomfortable? The first few weeks, I really felt like I had a guest in the house and was waiting on her hand and foot.. BIG MISTAKE!!!! more on that later...
She did unpack, it was after 10 days of being with us. YES! we passed.. so far..
So in blogging about this experience, I hope to hear from other homestays who deal with all the things that come with hosting a student. At this stage in the game, I haven't found a blog that deals with this..
