SCHOOL!!!!

Yikes, I just realized it's been over a week since I last posted. Let's see how well I can backtrack.

So I mentioned last Monday already. We got Carlotta enrolled in school and met with the tennis coach.

Tuesday was a slow day. Carlotta had her first tennis practice. I was VERY proud of her. When we got there she walked up to the girls and introduced herself right away. She has started to make some friends on the team. More on that later.

Wednesday was a chaotic day. We went to school in the morning and got her classes set up. She has a good balance between levels. She has one 9th grade class (honors biology), two 10th grade classes (English and US History), and the rest are upperclassmen classes (French 4, psychology, algebra II). Next semester she'll have photography and sociology. Those are upper level classes as well. I'm glad that she will be exposed to multiple levels and may different students. That night she had tennis practice.

Thursday was Carlotta's first tennis match. That morning we went out to buy her some clothes for her uniform (tennis skirt etc) and we got to school for the match. We were originally told that she needed to be at school at 1:30. We get to school and no one was there. We walked around looking for someone on the team and didn't find anyone. When we got back to the car, for some reason or another it would not start. I called my grandfather to jump the battery in the car. Stupid car - He gets into the car turns the key and it starts right up. Go figure.

There must have been some sort of divine intervention in that whole event. Just as we were about to leave, I see someone drive up who is wearing a tennis uniform. A few seconds later and I see some girls walk up in tennis uniforms and rackets. I asked them if they were on the JV team and they said yes they were there for the game starting at 3. YAY!!!! So Carlotta didn't miss her first game.

Friday was our plan to do a few things around town, but we never really got around to it. We were getting ready to go to the store when I got a phone call from a parent on the tennis team. One of the girls was throwing a party and wanted to know if Carlotta could come (!). She's in the country for a week and gets invited to her first pool party! She went and had a good time.

Saturday we went to Cincinnati. We went to Krohn Conservatory and then went to Findlay Market. We got pretty lost on the way to Findlay. William pointed out a drug dealer on the street. Carlotta asked how he knew that, and William said why else would a guy be standing in the middle of the street doing nothing? She was pretty impressed. She also got to see Findlay Market and how William gets all excited to buy fresh meat, fruits and veggies. She also got to see me go a little nuts over spices.

Sunday we went to Will's parent's house for dinner. We think Clayton, Will's brother, has a crush on Carlotta. Why else would a 15-year-old boy jump up to get a girl cantaloupe? Surely not because he's nice ;-) I honestly would not be surprised if he has a bit of a crush on her.

Monday we got school supplies and got ready for school. Not a big day. Tuesday was the first day of school. I don't think Carlotta slept at all that night. It wasn't the best day for her. She got lost, couldn't get into her locker, got lost again, got tons of papers and directions thrown at her - it was a mess. I think practice was what kept her going that day. I won't lie, she came home and cried. I tried very hard to calm her down and make her feel better.

My biggest message to her was that every exchange student was having the same problems she was having. It didn't matter how confident or outgoing they were, they were still having the same problems. I told her at least one of them was standing in the middle of the hallway totally lost, another fought with their locker and never got it opened even though they practiced over and over again during open house, another was late to every class, another one stood in the cafeteria looking for a place to eat but didn't know who to eat with. I think realizing that every student has those problems made her feel better.

My other message to her was that it gets better.

And each day got better for her.

Wednesday she had another match. I thought she had early release and was totally wrong. I drove to school to drop her tennis stuff off to her. Had I known she couldn't open her locker and eat all her lunch I would have left it with her. Needless to say, she was HUNGRY when she got home. I bought a pizza, I had a very happy Carlotta.

Yesterday was a VERY good day, in fact I believe she said that it was awesome. She got into the car and told me about the bus getting a flat tire, then got very excited because she got her locker open several times. She even managed to open it and have enough time to eat her lunch :-) She was so happy with how the day went and she was so proud of herself. I was a proud momma too. She was also very excited because she was invited to go to the football (not soccer) game on Friday night, a movie Saturday, and a pool party on Sunday.

Today was another good day. She caught the bus home for the first time (yay again!). She said she was really excited about biology because she volunteered to show her homework in front of the class as an example. She said she shocked the teacher. Frankly she shocked me. She went from baby steps to one giant jump! I'm very proud of her. Tonight she is going out to dinner (Mexican food) and going to the football game! I think she'll have a lot of fun.

It seems that Carlotta is doing well over all. She's figuring out school and getting some confidence there. She's finding friends and getting invited to be a part of a group. The tennis team has an awesome group of girls.

I'm very happy with how things are going.

School, sports, and dinner! OH MY!

I think the title says it all. Today was a really busy day!

I actually got up at 5:30 today. I'm proud of myself. The bright side to this is that I was half way done with my work day by 10am. It will be nice if I can keep doing it. I think it will be easier once I get everyone out of the house!

So today we enrolled Carlotta in school, and had very few problems. The person doing enrollment told her to stay away from the boys. She gave Carlotta several complements, but I don't know what she made of it. She also asked if she was interested in playing any sports, which was a really good thing that she asked us! After we told her yes, she sent us over to the high school to meet with the AD and get paperwork for Carlotta to play sports. In a 10 minute conversation we found out that she is eligible to play sports while she is here. I had emailed the tennis and track coaches over the weekend and hadn't heard anything back. When I told the AD this, she pulled out his phone and called the tennis coach. Long story short, we met with the coach and Carlotta starts practice with the team tomorrow! I am so excited that she gets to play tennis while she is here! She's worried about a few things, but understandably so.

Tonight, Carlotta came into the kitchen and asked if she could help me cook dinner. I obliged her ;-) Tonight I was making chicken enchiladas and aside from browning the chicken, Carlotta made the whole thing. I told her where to find the measuring cups, what needed to be poured in and when, and she just followed along. It was quite fun. William took pictures. I'll put those in later.

Forgot - We went to Skyline for lunch today, found out that Carlotta does not care for it. I honestly did not expect her to. On the bright side, will bought a tub of UDF peanut butter cup ice cream. Carlotta squealed in delight. Need to get that girl of peanut butter cups. Can't wait until Christmas when I make dozens of cookies - peanut butter being one one them :-)

Overall, a very good and very exciting day.

The End of a Great Weekend

I can't believe that Carlotta has been here for 4 days already. Okay, three full days and four nights, just a minor thing.

This morning we went to Frisch's for lunch and Carlotta had her first Super Big Boy. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's a rather large hamburger (double decker) with tarter sauce as a topping. Will gets them all the time, and I have never had one because I just don't like tarter sauce. Carlotta said she really liked it.

After we went to Monster Mini Golf and played a round of mini-golf. It's quite possible that Carlotta won. It's a close match between her and William. If the pencil had lead in it, then perhaps I would know the score. Regardless, we had a lot of fun playing. After we finished, Carlotta and William played a round of table hockey. Carlotta was winning for quite a while until William took over. I think the final score was 7-4. I think they both had a good time playing.

We were going to go to Will's parent's house tonight for dinner, but plans fell though. We spent the afternoon and evening at home. Carlotta made her Mii and played some Wii sports and Mario Party with William. It was really funny watching them playing together. I think them playing canoeing was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. After, we put in Harry Potter (She's only seen the first one, I don't think she's a huge fan and I'm okay with that!) and Will bought the wrestling pay-per-view (Carlotta said she was interested in watching it, brave brave girl that she is).

Tomorrow Will goes back to work :-( and I'm going to start getting up early again just to get used to it. We're going to school tomorrow to get Carlotta enrolled, and Wednesday she gets her classes setup. Crossing my fingers that it goes well and she doesn't get all freshmen classes.

Hopefully with me getting up early I will get done with work early so we can go do a few things about town. I'm feeling super guilty about her being bored. She hasn't said anything about it, but I still feel bad. I'm trying to not make the same mistakes that we made last year. Perhaps that is why I'm worried that she's bored.

Regardless, it's going to be a really good year.

Welcome Carlotta!

Perhaps this year I can keep this thing current. Let's cross our fingers!

So for those to know, or don't know, Carlotta arrived on Thursday! She arrived from Germany Thursday evening. Between traffic and her flight getting in 15 minutes early, we were a tad late. We at least beat her luggage ;-)

That evening we went to Toot's, which is a local restaurant. William and Carlotta enjoyed burgers while I ate a salad. My salad was sad looking. I think Carlotta managed to stay awake for about an hour after we got home before she gave in to the need to sleep.

I was shocked Friday morning when we were all up by 8:30. I expected Carlotta to sleep in until noon, but she was awake and cheerful at 8:30. We made a sad attempt at cooking breakfast. The pancakes turned out more like fried biscuits. We had scrambled eggs and bacon for backup. Sadly, this is the third person in my life who eats their eggs with ketchup. I'm outnumbered, but I have no intentions on joining the club. Will and Carlotta drove around for a bit in the morning to show her around the area. We also went out to Mariemont to show her the town square that looks like a German village. It's cute, but totally odd.

We went to my Mom's house and also ran into my Uncle. Carlotta got to meet the twins and play with them for a bit. We went to LaRosa's for lunch and grilled out for dinner.

Today we were expecting it to storm all day so we didn't plan much. Sadly it didn't. Regardless, we went to Jungle Jim's and Best Buy which is always fun. I think Carlotta is starting to feel some jet lag. Better to get it now versus when school starts.

I've contacted some coaches at school and I am crossing my fingers she can participate in a fall sport. It will give her an opportunity to meet some of the kids before school starts and a chance to get involved. Being a young host family has it's up side and down sides. It's nice that we are young and active - I mean we like to go out and explore new things. The major down side is the lack of companionship. Being an only child can be lonely, and even more so for an exchange student. I was so worried that Yuki was bored last year, and I worry about Carlotta too. I'm crossing my fingers that it's not an issue this year.

Tomorrow we'll see where the road takes us! School starts in a little over a week. Hopefully we can get in a few things before school takes over her life!

One month later

Yikes. I just realized that it's been a month since I last posted. Part of it is my fault because I have never been too religious about posting things to a blog or writing in a journal. Double whammy here. The other problem is that we have been beyond busy.

So, what's happened in the past month? A lot...

School started for Yuki in mid August. The first few days were the hardest for her. She was really nervous and ate almost nothing for the first week or so. I don't blame her. She had some issues with teachers talking too fast and that we totally expected. Since a month has passed for school, Yuki has said that it no longer such a big issue. And she's eating more! YAY!!!

The biggest problem that she has at school is making friends. While she has connected with some of the kids in marching band, the vast majority are freshmen and sophomores. Yuki is 18. I can see where she is coming from with the age difference. I've talked to the school and the band director to help us improve things for her, and I'm hoping that things improve after homecoming. The whole problem has left her feeling really depressed and homesick. Culture shock in the worst way. We're trying to stay positive, and trying to get her to think positive.

Marching band was a major stress for her at the beginning of the school year. She has never had to balance school with an extra curricular and she was worried that she wouldn't be able to do it. A month has passed and she has done very well with it. Marching band will be over in a little under two months, and she's going to miss it. At least that is what I am thinking. I think getting her into marching band was the best thing we did for her.

Tomorrow is the homecoming game. Yuki gets to be in the parade and sing the national anthem with the choir. I think we may need to help her with the words! After all that, she also gets to perform at the half time show. Busy, busy girl! This past week has been spirit week, and Yuki has really been getting into dressing up!

Since school started, we really haven't had the opportunity to see and do too many things. Yuki did get to experience a Reds game on a Sunday a few weeks ago with Will. I don't think that was her most favorite activity, but she said she enjoyed it. On Sunday we went dress shopping for her homecoming dress, went to Oxford for shodo materials (who would have thought they would be there!?!), and went to the Cincinnati Museum Center. I'm glad that we're getting this opportunity to share our lives, our culture, and our community with her.

I just hope she can make it though this bout of homesickness and culture shock.

Saturday is Yuki's first school dance. She was invited to go with a group of girls from the band and color guard. Of all places for them to eat, they are going to Montgomery Inn. I told her to order a salad. Friday while Will and I are at the X Moeller game, Yuki will be at the L

oveland homecoming game with Liz. Anything with Liz is an adventure. She'll have fun even if she doesn't like football! Sunday will be a much needed day of rest.

Next weekend, Yuki has her first band competition in Kettering! She'll be gone all day, but the experience will be well worth it! The weekend after that, Yuki is going to New York for a YFU event.

It's hard to believe that she's been with us for one and a half months. I feel like she's been here so much longer. It's been fun to see her grow. Her English has improved so much (Even if she doesn't think so!), and she's beginning to share her life with us. What's really funny is that she's started to joke and play, and throw in some sarcasm. Hopefully the students at the school see this side of her too.

Here's to another great day, and to the hope that I can post something before next month!

Our first minor dispute

So we have run across our first minor dispute with Yuki. While it's a minor issue, it has the ability to turn into a rather large issue. When Yuki applied, she said that she would eat and can eat anything. Somewhere between her applying for the program and getting here, she stopped eating all meat aside from fish, which can turn into a problem with us as we don't have access to good fish and we eat a lot of chicken and pork.

Yuki has tried pork chops, but I don't know what she really thought of it. She had a VERY small bite of steak and was ready to spit it out. We had a grill out, and she only ate veggies and a little bit of mac and cheese. She is very reluctant to try any sort of meat.

I asked her what she would like me to pack in her lunch for school and she told me veggies and an egg sandwich. I can't see her eating that every day for the next year. She wants all of her veggies cooked too. This is the point where I told her that she is going to need to try to eat American food and that I don't have time to cook veggies in the morning plus get us all ready for work and school. It just won't work.

I don't think she understands the need for her to try new foods.

I might need some help on this one.

I have the best exchange student in the world

So earlier I mentioned how Yuki has a friend from her school in Japan who is on program in Kentucky. Yuki asked me tonight if she could call Haruna to see how her first day of school went. I thought it might be a little late so I called her family to see if it was okay. In the short moment that I spoke to her host mom I had found out that she had a really bad first day of school that resulted in her crying at school and when she came home. Her mom said that she went to bed early and was still really upset with what happened and figured talking to Yuki would sheer her up.

In the few seconds that they started talking I could hear them both laughing. Yuki managed to turn a terrible day for her friend into a great one by just talking and listening. I am really proud of her.

Okay, gloating mom time over with.