Sonnets

     So.  It's been pretty busy around here!  School started.  After school sports started.  AND we have had some rain (which means the rivers have been flowing!).
     School has been a challenge.  Veritas is a very academically rigorous school and most students find the first few weeks very challenging. In Humane letters, James read Henry the V by Shakespeare and Laches and Charmides by Plato (IN THE FIRST 3wks PEOPLE!!!!).
     One of the other classes that James takes is Poetry.  The students read, analyze and discuss various works.

 They also write their own poetry.  So, the first assignment of the week was to write a Shakespearean sonnet with iambic pentameter (I am sure I am slaughtering the terminology here...).  What a challenge!  I don't even know how to adequately explain how difficult this was.  I worked with him on it for 2 hours.  I know he really understood the format of the sonnet and what iambic pentameter was because he had teach them to me!  Although he knew what he wanted to say in the poem, finding the right words in English was difficult...and then they needed to rhyme...   In the end, he had a pretty darn good poem-and an excellent understanding of the intricacies of Shakespearean sonnets.  And I decided that I don't want to know any more about iambic pentameter or sonnets or ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG, or stressed and unstressed syllables...
   One of the biggest challenges as a host mom is how to best support and encourage James while making sure that the burden is not too great.  I have been keeping in contact with the Academic Director and also some of the teachers at the school by email .  James started out the school year taking Algebra and Calculus (in addition to Poetry, Humane Letters, and Physics). The homework situation was was quickly getting out of control.  I negotiated with the school and now James is only taking Algebra and replaced the calculus class with a study hall.  In theory, this should make for less home work after school and more time for recreation.
   Enough about school.  We did have some time for fun.  It has been raining around here and the rivers are flowing.  We got a kayaking run on the Upper Salt river 2 weeks ago.  We started out the day with James and Allan in the tandem inflatable kayak and Ted and I were in our own boats.  The rapids went well.  No one flipped or went for a swim.  At lunch I asked James if he wanted to try paddling my single kayak and I would tandem with Allan.  He jumped on the idea and off we went.  He is a natural.  He already very athletic..but he showed a lot of skill in handling the boat and maneuvering down the rapids.

This is James at Exhibition rapid

This is me at Exhibition rapid (no-there is NO boat...I swam!)

Here is the view from Ted's helmet cam as he surfs a wave.

Here is a video that Ted took while he was kayaking.  James and Allan are in the blue boat at 1:20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4tILo7O8mE#t=30

To sum up: the last weeks have been busy and stressful and fun.  I love my life :)

COMING SOON: What has been the most difficult part of hosting a foreign exchange student?
                               What has been the best part of hosting?
                                What has been the most difficult thing about being an exchange student?
                                 What has been the most difficult thing about being an exchange student?

First Days of School

     "It's the most wonderful time of the year...with the kids jingle belling..." -or going back to school, anyway.  Monday was the very eagerly awaited, much anticipated, first day of school!  The boys had shiny new shoes, freshly cut hair,loaded back packs and big smiles.

    The high school that the boys attend is a charter school.  They wear uniforms and have a very strict dress code.  

     The classes are also a little different than at most high schools. They do not get to pick an elective and a foreign language is mandatory.  The language choices are Latin, French and Spanish.  English/language arts is combined with history for a 2 hour class: Humane Letters. In Humane Letters, they will focus on the Rise of Modern Europe with readings that include Locke's Second Treatise, Rousseaus's Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Dicken's A take of Two Citites, Shakespeare's Henry V, Marx's The Communist Manifesto, Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch. 

     So, apparently it is not COOL to have mom show a high school student around.  Ted insisted that I just drop them off at the office and he and James would handle it from there.  Well! I am like-seriously?  What if he can't find the cafeteria?  What if his locker doesn't open?  What if he can't find the bathroom? OMG...are you going to explain the bells? And what about...    Yep, it was hard to leave-so got in the car and parked/hid it between 2 SUVs and just waited for their call. (NO! I DID NOT DO THAT...I wanted to...but I didn't).       I picked them up after school and there were smiles all around.  Everything went well-or so I am told.

    

 This week, James also got to meet my brother Mike, my daughter Maya, my oldest son Wesley and my father and stepmother.  

     Here we are at the end of the first week.  When I picked 

James up from school I asked how it was going and he said that it was going pretty well.  He is enjoying his algebra, calculus and physics and getting used to the flow of Humane Letters.  This clearly called for some

froyo!   

  

As a celebration for the first week we decided to go out to dinner to a new Thai restaurant: Thai Lotus (19th avenue just north of Glendale).

The owner of the restaurant was very sweet and spoke to James in Thai for quite a while.  I loved hearing the beautiful Thai language.  We all went home happy and full.

The First Few Days

     The first few days have been a whirlwind of activity!  I have been falling into bed exhausted.  I know it must be worse for James.  When the AFS volunteers told us that this would happen, I never imagined how intense it would be.  And I wouldn't give it up for the world!  Let me start at the beginning.
     After we picked up James at the hotel, we went home and showed him around and helped him bring his stuff up to his room.  (He has his own room on the west end of our home and shares a bathroom with Ted. )  Then we prepared and ate dinner.  Now, I must tell you that I agonized over what to feed him for his first American meal!  It took much discussion and debating with my friends and family until I finally decided that a nice grilled steak, potatoes and a green salad would be the best choice.  Here are some pics:

I didn't actually take the pictures, James did - which I thought was really sweet :)  He seemed to enjoy it and thanked me profusely.  Interesting factoid: In Thailand it is not common to use a knife at the table (the food is usually cut to bite size pieces before it hits the table).  Typically a place setting will only include a spoon and fork.  The fork is used to push food onto the spoon and the spoon is what is placed in the mouth.  Meals are eaten family style, so, the food is placed in the center and everyone serves themselves from the common dishes. Rice is commonly served at every meal...even breakfast.

During dinner we discussed what was going to happen over the next couple of days and just generally began to get to know each other.  After dinner, James gave us some presents.  He gave Allan a very nice tie. 

He gave me a beautiful scarf and Ted a Thai boxing outfit.  

Then he gave us a book on Thailand.  This was wonderful because we spent some time going through the pictures as a family.  We were able to see the beautiful city where he lives, Ayutthaya. I am just amazed at the history and rich culture.  As James spoke, I could hear how much he loved his country and feel his eagerness to share it with us.  He made the pictures really come alive.  Here is a link if you want to learn a little more  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_(city)  

     On Saturday, we ran around all morning doing back to school shopping for uniforms and school supplies.  It went well and we got everything done before lunch!  That meant that we had time for play!!!  Ted took James to the climbing gym for a couple of hours and then they came home and went swimming.  Allan took that opportunity to blow up one of our inflatable kayaks and throw it in the pool.  And yes, less than 24 hours after arriving to our home...we got him in a boat...and the next day...

...onto moving water!

     He did fantastic.  There is really only one rapid on the Lower Salt river.  James cruised right down it without a problem.  At the bottom of the rapid he asked, "Is there more like that?"  ooh!!!! Just what this kayaking family wanted to hear :)  It was fun to share our love of kayaking with our new son.

Next installment:  The First days of school

He's Here!

Well,  we picked James up last night.  How fun!  The students flew to Phoenix from all over the world.  There were 3 young men from Thailand.  When they got to Phoenix, the local AFS volunteers picked them up from the airport and took them to a hotel in Tempe for the night.  Then, on Friday, they had an orientation and Friday afternoon all of the host families came to pick up their new children.  (Oh, and if you were wondering...we were 10 minutes early!) It was so cool.  The volunteers had all of the students in a big conference room to wait for their families.  You could hear them eagerly chatting with each other from down the hall.  And then, as we approached the room, I heard one of the volunteers announce, "Here comes another host family!!!"  The whole room got quiet and the anticipation and excitement of the students was palpable.  We felt like movie stars.  Or maybe new parents :)
     Where do I start?  He is such a nice young man.  He is smart and handsome (really tall) and his English is excellent!  Did I already mention that he is really sweet?  It will be fun to get to know him.

      Today we are headed out to buy uniforms and school supplies because school start in 2 days.  If  we get all of our chores done today, we might have time to go kayaking tomorrow.  Welcome to Phoenix!

He Is Almost Here

Well, James is starting his journey to Phoenix as I type.  He has to travel from his home city in the northern part of Thailand, to the capital, Bangkok.  From there he will fly to Phoenix.  It is a pretty long flight and I am sure he will be exhausted.  AFS has all of the exchange students fly in to Phoenix and then takes them to a hotel for a group orientation.  The individual families come and pick up their students on Friday from 2-5 pm.  My whole goal is to not be the last family to pick up their student!!! (Wouldn’t it suck if you were the very last kid?  I mean, you travel days to get here and probably only understand half of what people are saying to you and on top of that you have some serious jet lag! …gonna be on time, gonna be on time, gonna be on time…)

     We are working hard to be ready for his arrival: new comforter and desk, school registration, lots of cleaning, and trying to fill out the “Participant & Host Family Questionnaire”!  

     …the questionnaire…WOW!  It really makes you think about the amount of adjusting that he will have to do.  AFS recommends that the host family fill out the questionnaire and review it with the student upon arrival and again in a few weeks.  The hope is that it will minimize confusion and clarify expectations, “Some of the questions below may seem obvious to you, but daily life sometimes differs in surprising ways around the world.”  Below are some of the questions.

·         How should I leave the bathroom after I am finished (door open or closed, fan, lights, heater off/on etc.)?  I don’t really know how to answer this…door open-unless…really? Can’t we just wait and see if there is a problem and address it then???

·         At what times do family members wake up (weekday/weekends)? UMMM…we seek to optimize the amount of hours spent sleeping-any way we can????

·         At what times may I and how long may I spend when I: watch TV, do my homework, shower/bathe, listen to music, use the computer? I don’t know!  -I get to watch TV when I want…I’m just gonna leave it at that.

·         Is there anything I should know about safety in certain parts of town?  I don’t really know. I have never felt unsafe.

·         Is there anything I should know about high school culture, school rules, peer relations, social tensions? Ok-You couldn’t pay me enough to go back to high school! I get queasy just thinking about this stuff.   

So this got me to thinking about teenage stereotypes.  Here is a list of current stereotypes from Wikipedia. 

• Bad boy
• Bitch
• Boy next door
• Bully
• Chav
• Cholo
• Drama Queen/Drama king
• Druggy
• Emo
• Floaters
• Gangsters
• Geek
• Girl next door
• Goth
• Hunk
• Jock
• Know-it-all
• Mut
• Nerd
• Indie
• Outcast
• Overachiever
• Party animal
• Player
• Queen Bee
• Skater
• Stoner
• Tomboy
• Wannabe
• Whiny

Where do you think you fit in?  I think I was a combination girl next door/nerd/overachiever...

OK-back to the questionnaire.

Let's Get a New Kid

    It seemed simple enough and sounded like a good idea, but...how?  Well, we had done foster care before and that was an option.  Recently, however, my two nieces participated in a foreign exchange program and that sounded really interesting, too. So, we did some investigation and learned about both the Rotary International program and AFS.  We ultimately decided to go with AFS.

   The application process was very interesting and thought provoking.  There were plenty of basic questions like: Where will they sleep?  What school will they attend? and Can you feed them 3 meals a day?   But there were also things like: How do I describe our family?  What are the things that we value?  It was difficult to condense into just a few sentences.  We also had to include a few pictures.  Wow!  How do you narrow that down?  What do I want potential kids and their family to see or not see?  

  But, long story short...Apparently it was good enough and AFS approved us as a host family.  In 2 weeks we should be meeting our new Thai son!