Host Family!!

            It’s really funny how good news always comes as a surprise even if I’ve been expecting them. And the day I didn’t check my email for possible updates about my host family is the day I receive them. I was actually slowly eating my breakfast and reading at the same time when my mom stood at the top of the stairs and asked me if I got an email about my host family. And since she had gotten a previous email confused as my host family placement, I kinda just looked at her and said, “If you’re talking about the email from a couple days ago, then no.” She then impatiently said, “no, I mean the one that I just received…” and she went on stating facts about my permanent host family. By that time, I was sprinting up the stairs, heading straight to my laptop, frantically trying to pull up my email (which ironically is pulled up already every other day) to see if I really have gotten my host family info. And guess what? I did. And luckily I actually have two host families, one is my welcoming family since my permanent host family is going to be on vocation when I get there, and the other is the one that I will be living with for the duration of my stay in Germany.

            I’m staying at a place call Oberhausen-Rheinhausen, which consists of two little villages. Oberhausen is where my permanent host family lives, and Rheinhausen, is where my welcoming family lives. Rheinhausen is directly at the Rhein-River (Rhine), and they are both near Speyer , Heidelberg and Mannheim. The funny thing is that my welcoming host mom is actually my local coordinator too, so it’s awesome that I’ll get to know her better during those 10 days that I’ll be staying with her. And there’s also the fact that my permanent host family has 2 daughters age 11 and 3, and my welcoming family has children that are slightly older than me, so it’s a good mix. I was kinda hoping that I would have a host sister around my age so I can just follow her around in school and hang around her friends, but I can see how that would have let me become very complacent and basically lazy, so I’m a little glad that I have to venture out a little (not too much because I think my host sister goes to the same secondary school as me so we’ll go to school together, we just won’t have the same classes.)

            I didn’t find out where I’ll be studying initially when I received my host family placement, however, when I skyped Julitta(local coordinator&host mom) she told me that I’ll most likely be going to the Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Gymnasium in Mannheim, where my host sister attends. And I sincerely hope that’s where I’ll go, cause Bach is my favorite composer, and the opportunity to study at a school that’s named after him is awesome! I’m super excited to be able to find out where I’ll be staying before I leave for DC on the 24^th of this month, since I was able to buy some gifts for both my host families (I originally only have one set of gifts) and I’m super grateful for this opportunity and definitely grateful for both my host families for choosing my as their host daughter!

            Now I just have to learn German…