by Brenda Hornberger, Regional Administrator, SHARE! Northeast
A colleague and friend recently posted a thought on nostalgia that I am borrowing here (thanks Jennifer!).
I find myself making regular trips to visit nostalgia recently. This is the first time since the Fall of 2005 that my family has not welcomed an exchange student into our home in August. Then, we had a reason for it – we were going to Europe for Christmas that year to reconnect with some of our extended family and meet our latest granddaughter for the first time.
Christmas 2005
Now, COVID and all the disruptions to “normal” life it has thrown at us is to blame. I am thinking about what we will be missing this year, what we have gained from all our hosting experiences, and looking forward to future experiences – because we must hold onto our dreams.
What are we missing? The excitement of going to the airport to greet our newest family member for one thing. Or sometimes going to the airport and not finding that person there. Our very first hosting experience had us watching everyone come off the plane (yes it was pre-2001 when you could go to the gate!) and not seeing the face we were looking for. Why? Because our new family member had gotten off the plane at an earlier stop of a continuing flight not realizing planes did that in the U.S.! We found ourselves driving 50 miles to finally meet them and a fellow exchange student they became friends with on the flight (who also left the plane too early) to bring them both “home”.
Or there was the time (post-2001) when we waited…and waited outside the secured area AND went to baggage claim and waited…and waited AND went to the ticket counter to confirm our new family member had been on the plane and that it had landed and that everyone had gotten off of it – only to find that they had somehow made their way to the wrong terminal and had to figure out how to get back to the correct terminal to find their bags and us!
Or there were all the missed and cancelled connections – mostly thanks to weather - that have happened along the way that have resulted in missing luggage, trying to dry tears over the phone, or making longer drives to U.S. entry airports to collect a frazzled, tired, homesick – but still very excited new family member.
I am sure all these issues made me sigh and say to myself “again?” at the time. But you know what? I do not remember that side of these stories right now. Instead they are memories we can laugh about together and ones that I would give almost anything to be reliving right now, this year.
What have we gained from all our experiences? So much that I do not know where to start. We are often asked why we host or people look at us like we are crazy, but I can honestly say that we are not the same people we were when we started this great adventure 25+ years ago. You think you are doing this to give the students the opportunity to experience our culture, improve their language, add to their resumes. But the things you gain from them should be equally noted.
Because of hosting, the travel bug has bitten us BIG TIME! We have explored 49 of the 50 states – and been laughed at, I might add, for our Dust Bowl Trip that encompassed some of those states I would bet a lot of you are missing – the Dakotas, Nebraska & Iowa. I have to say that trip has been one of my favorites – not only for the company we took with us but for the things we saw and the experiences we had. Did you even know there is something called Carhenge in Nebraska?
And our travel has not been limited to the U.S. I am often amazed when I read a “Top 25 List of …” and realize how many of those things we can cross off our bucket list already. We still have many more to experience though, hence the dreams….
Because of hosting, we know the origins of Aldi and shop there regularly (and enjoy being able to find familiar tastes of Germany) and are looking forward to being able to shop at Lidl soon as well. Because of hosting we now incorporate some typical foreign holiday traditions into our yearly celebrations (Advent calendars for one). Because of hosting, we have become more conscious of wastefulness (we use cloth napkins and carry reusable straws, for example). Because of hosting, I cannot wait until we can start to travel safely again. And because of hosting, I cannot wait until we can host again…. Not being able to do something makes it so much more desirable, right?
I know that our story is not the only one out there and hope to be able to share some others over the next few months so stay tuned. Maybe we can shed some light on the often-asked question – Why do you host?