Week Nineteen

New year, new family.

I came home from Paris and had one to myself, my last full day with my first host family. It was weird to know that I was leaving. Since I’ve gotten here, this date had been something I had always seen as distant and not something that would happen in the near future. It was strange to be my sharing my last day with this family, as one of their family. The day of the New Years I got up and had to pack. I had to put my life in my suitcases again. Suddenly my stuff was all packed and my room was empty and it was time to eat lunch, which would be my last family meal.

My second host sister and second host mom came and picked me up. They stayed for a little while and talked to my other host family. We had to get going though because we had to pick up Oyku from the train station. It was very strange and sad to say good bye to my family. These were parents that I called mom and dad, and sisters that I spent four months with. I almost started crying.

Went to the train station to pick up Oyku and then it was off to discover the new house. I really like my new house. It’s a little further from downtown but it’s in a nice neighborhood and right next to a park. I haven’t had much time to slackline lately but I’m hoping to get back into it. My room looked like a volcano had gone off while I was in the process of unpacking. It really did look bad, but I think I’ve gotten it mostly pulled together now. The day of New Years I got settled in and then went to a party with my host sister. It was fun and it was nice to see Oyku again.

My new host family has three animals. One dog and two cats. The cats are both Persian, so they’re basically just balls of fur. One of the cats loves my room. He spends probably 80% of his time in there. Just about every time I walk into my room he is in there. The day after I got here I opened the door in the morning and he was waiting outside and came in immediately. Not to say that I mind it. I really like cats so it’s kind of nice. Although the other days I let him lay with me while I was trying to sleep and he purred so much that I gave up and kicked him out of my room.

I haven’t been doing much other than getting adjusted to this new family. It’s weird how you go from sort of uncomfortable and a stranger to a part of the family. I am doing things a little differently now that I know how things work in the land of host families. I feel much more comfortable than I did when I first got here. It’s crazy how I went from not understanding French at all to understanding probably 98% of what is said.  I can’t believe such a huge amount of progress can be made in just four months. I’m making it sound like I didn’t speak any French when I got here. This is not the case, I did have three years of French but I had never had the opportunity or need to actually speak French the way we speak a language.

I’m approaching the halfway point in my exchange, which absolutely blows my mind. I can’t believe so much time has passed in such a small amount of time. It truly is incredible.