I realize, almost 5 months after his departure, that I have never told you about our 6-week experience as a host family/host. Remember last November, a 19-year-old girl landed with us from Guatemala. His first trip to Europe. The one that his parents offered him as a priori it is done a lot in this country at the end of their secondary studies. Here she will have waited one more year of college to do so. But that was what it was:visiting Paris (and a mini part of France) for 6 weeks, staying with a VERY FRIENDLY family (us) therefore and above all, joking aside, was a real delight.
As a reminder, this is an association that I had contacted a few months earlier, still looking for you know, ideas/solutions to introduce children to other cultures and foreign languages. Usually, WEP (this is the name of the association) is mainly looking for families for long periods:several months. Here, even if we are lucky to have a beautiful Parisian apartment, with 2 bathrooms, I couldn't see myself having the children camp for so long. At least not for a first experience. As a result, I did not really believe it until this call one morning:a perfect file for us, beginners, since it was a short stay of 6 weeks and a young adult woman. So no worries about liability. She was going to be independent. We "just" had to house her, feed her morning and evening and of course welcome her as best we could. In exchange, she had to give us English and/or Spanish lessons. We then held a small "family council" to read his long letter of presentation and explain the ins and outs to the children:his reception was voted unanimously. Paola was going to join us in mid-November and would leave just before the Christmas holidays.
We huddled together:the children slept in the same room, the little one under his sister's loft bed, in camping mode. He was very happy with his corner which I had taken care to make as comfortable as possible, of course; he even had trouble leaving it to return to his room, which he had left totally tidy for our young visitor.
So, what do I remember from this experience?
I start with me, for once! I loved it . Really. The anxiety and especially the overwhelmed that I am, really feared the rhythm:one more mouth to feed, being available in the evening (and not commaté in front of a series) to talk with her, help her prepare for her next visits, etc… I was also wondering how I would take the fact that someone lives with us… it's quite strange, but in reality everything flowed naturally. Already because Paola was an absolutely perfect young girl:so kind, smiling, enthusiastic, independent and not at all shy! Which clearly helped me get into the mood from the first evening when she arrived with the man who had left to meet her at the airport. She came into our lives instantly. As if it had always been there.
My evenings have come alive :as the man always comes home very late, instead of being alone once the children are in bed, I had someone to talk to, we spent hours talking – in English ladies and gentlemen – about everything! Paola was very mature for her age, I was amazed.
I devoted a Wednesday to him (his 1st full day in France), I showed him the neighborhood, public transport, I tried to explain as many things as possible to him that morning. I took his Navigo pass, and a French SIM card. Then I took him… to the Eiffel Tower, just to see it from the Champ de Mars. But it was so wonderful to see her eyes sparkle upon discovering her.
Then, she was independent, I just sometimes made sure to wake her up when she asked me for a hand to get her out of sleep. Ah ah ah, it was hard the jet lag for her. As well as the cold!
The children?
It's very simple, they had a big sister . Paola had a lot in common with our 13-year-old:hip-hop in particular. So she was able to go to her dance lessons with her. Same for boxing. She went to their practices. I found them several times playing the game console, laughing…
Of course, they progressed strongly in English (especially in oral comprehension) and my 5th in Spanish a little too (but I would have liked more, I missed the mark on this one I must say). I can tell you that between Paola and the Vivaling classes, the P'tit Grand who really started English in September at college understands conversations perfectly.
As a family, at 5!
She was part of our little life for 6 weeks. We took her to restaurants in Paris, and as we had to try all the French gastronomy, we cooked at home too... much more than usual:pancakes, flambéed bananas, raclette, chocolate fondant, he also had to eat macaroons, pastries and then ice cream (yes, in the middle of winter)…. In short, we gained 3 kilos!
And then, we took him for the weekend to visit some "Châteaux de la Loire" including Chambord. We also got him a seat to come with us to the Stomp show. She was also there for the premiere of Coco and she came to see Paddington 2 with us. At home we had film sessions too!
Solo, she also went to Germany for 3 days with a friend. And she visited Mont Saint-Michel by making a round trip during the day. She obviously succumbed to the charm of this marvel...
In short, it was awfully nice.
If you have any questions about our experience as a host family, please let me know in the comments. I must have forgotten a lot of things!
