Today is my last day with my first host family. I’m really
going to miss them. It feels a bit like I’m leaving my family all over again, I
got so close to them. It’s always sad to leave anything behind, but I’m also looking
forward to moving on to my second family and the second step in my exchange. As
I savor my last moments with my family I've been thinking back to all the
wonderful times they've given me, and questioning "how do you thank people who
took you in so willingly and helped you so through some of the best and toughest
times of your life?" Well I started with dinner. I made them all dinner last
night from an Oregon cook book I brought with me. The recipe was called
Malfatti with pumpkin, and it was supposed to be this fancy ordeal, I bought a
bottle of wine for them and everything. (The sentence “I’ll buy a bottle of
wine,” still feels so weird for me to say.) Unfortunately, it didnt turn out as
I imagined. Being the brilliant cook that I am, I sat down to read the instructions
a bit before beginning cooking so I would be prepared and know what to do. "First step: Prepare malfatti the day before and refrigerate overnight." I’m
sorry host family that you had to live through that. In the end they turned out
okay, I guess. After dinner, my host sister, Lili and I went down stairs to watch
a movie, Tron, and eat Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ben & Jerry’s ice cream out
the carton. It was the sister bonding experience I’ve always dreamed of. After
tron we still weren’t tired so we also saw Dispicable me, what an awesome film.
After the films I realized I still had to pack up my whole room so I stuffed
everything into my suitcase, it’s easier when you don’t have to worry about a
weight limit. Going home is going to be a small problem. I’m all ready to go
now, my feelings of sadness and excitement mixing to make just plain anxious. I
know I’ll get along great in this next family; they’re all really nice people.
It’s just hard sometimes having to start all over again, learn new bus systems
and family habits right when you’ve finally settled into the first one.
But before I go I just want to say thank you so much, to my
first family, for the past three months. Thank you for welcoming me into your
beautiful house, for all the wonderful meals I had there, thank you for taking
me to Slovenia and to the Zotter’s Schokoladen Theatre, thanks for the moral
support when I really needed it and your countless lessons of German and
Austrian history. Thank you so much for being my family, I’ve loved my time
with you. I will never forget; waking up to the sound of construction workers,
Ulf’s endless supply of good, and sometimes interesting, music and sarcastic
jokes, probably making fun of me, no doubt, all of us sitting around the dinner
table laughing about something I don’t completely understand, watching the
Grosse Chance, lili ridding her horse, all your dysfunction whenever we all had
to go somewhere, and how we were always late, and most of all, your endless
patience with me as I struggled my way through learning German. I couldn’t have
asked for a better family.
I know this isn’t goodbye, so I’ll just say “bis nächsten
mal,” thank you for being a part of my exchange I will take with me for the
rest of my life.
Liebe Grüße
Sam
