Host Family Experience

Over the past few days Tim and I had our first host family experience.  A German band was performing at the Community College and they had asked families around the area to host.  Tim and I were nervous to do so at first because we had never done such a thing and it was the weekend right before school begins but we decided to go ahead and host.

On Thursday night we met at the park for a pot luck and to meet our band members.  We had two young girls who play clarinet staying with us: Sabrina (14) and Vanessa (15).  At the pot luck we shared our first meal and Lincoln and Douglas came to talk and share the history of the Lincoln/Douglas debate in Freeport.  We ended the evening with giant portions of ice cream from Union Dairy, a Freeport staple.  The girls were shocked at the amount of ice cream they were served.  They said the amount would have been 5 servings in Germany.  The four of us ate it all.

On Friday we simply had donuts and fruit for breakfast and then the girls had to be dropped off for the day at the school for their own adventures on the Mississippi River and to prepare for the concert.  The concert that night was AMAZING!  The whole band was so talented and they songs they played were so much fun.  One of the fan favorites was a song where two boys came out front and played cow bells.  I wish I had a video of it because it was so much fun to watch.  We also really enjoyed Grandfather's Clock, the Lion Kind Medley, and a few others that we don't remember the name of because they are more German.

Saturday was host family day.  We really got off too easy on Saturday because Sabrina went with another group to the water park and I went with a group (Julia and Natalie, both 19) to Oakbrook for some shopping.  The girls wanted to go to Tiffany's & Co. (a place I have never been either).  Before we all left though I made a big breakfast of waffles, bacon, and fruit.  None of the girls even touched the bacon, I was surprised. They went off on their own and we met for lunch at Red Robin.  The girls said they wanted burgers for lunch but two of them got chicken sandwiches and one got the bacon burger.  That night we went to a cookout with three other host families and their band members.  We met a married couple (Fabian and Katrin) and two other men.  They had such great stories to share.  Tim and I had to leave earlier to go pick up Sabrina.  On our drive home with her we had a great bonding moment.  She taught us more about Germany and her life and she even taught us a few German words.  When we got home Sabrina taught Tim and I how to play Skip-bo and we stayed up till 11 doing so.  The girls were also very sweet and presented us with host family gifts of thanks.  We received a CD of many of the concert songs, a bag from Sabrina's hometown and a snow globe of the largest church in the world.  They were all so neat and I plan to use the bag as my new school bag :)

Today was our last day.  The girls wanted eggs and bacon for breakfast and then we went back to the school to say good-bye.  It was sad to see the girls leave so early but we really did enjoy the time we had together to share experiences and some culture.  Tim and I would definitely be a host family again.