On the fourth of July, our little family was at the Lake having a picnic with our friends and family and to watch the fireworks show. We were just sitting there and this women comes up to us and asks us if we would like to host a Chinese exchange student. At first, I thought I would just be polite and listen to what she had to say and then tell her we weren't interested but, it didn't work out that way. She said they were in desperate need of host families, the students arrive on the 9th (of July) and they still have 6 kids that need to be placed with families. She asked me if I would like to look at the book with the students application and photos...I said yes and I followed her to her booth. When I read Sherry's profile and letter to the host family I knew she was the one for us. I asked Eric if we could host her and surprisingly he said yes, I asked Megan and she was so excited she said, " I always wanted a big sister". Sherry's schedule was, she would arrive on the 9th and leave on the 30th, she would be in school Monday-Friday 8:30-4:30.
When Megan and I picked up Sherry we were even more sure we had done the right thing by hosting her. She is wonderfully sweet, polite, smart, fun, talented and serious about education and her future. She is also very mature at the of age 15, but not to serious that she wouldn't play with Megan. They had a really good time with each other. She loves music and she plays the piano very well.
Sherry is from the Sichuan province of China in the capital city of Chengdu, her real name is Xiruo...all the kids take American names, that way we can pronounce them...I tried so hard to pronounce Xiruo but, I just couldn't do it correctly. Sherry goes to boarding school 6 days a week, I have forgotten the exact hours our her school day but, it's something like 7:30 am - 9:00 pm. If Megan ever complains about school I'm going to be sure to bring that up.
Sherry is off touring a few other states and she will be back home to Chengdu in a week or so. I miss her already and I hope I get to see her again soon. She is part of our family now, I love her very much and I'm so glad that she was brought into our lives. She has confirmed for me that we really are more alike than we are different.
I will be posting more pictures soon, we have so many...
3 comments:
Oh Mel!
How exciting! That is just about the coolest thing I've heard in a long time. I was wondering what you and Megan had been up to this summer, sounds like you had a wonderful experience with Sherry! Too,too cool!
Hugs,
Jenn
Thanks, it really was wonderful :)!
Now that is really cool-- your daugther got to really experience culture by meeting her "chinese big sister"... really neat.
Kay
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