At home half a world away from home

So far, so good.

Visiting America from Shenzhen, China, Tommy has been here for 4 days so far and has adapted quite well. He was a bit reserved the first couple of days, but by last night we had him up and dancing in the living room with us. Yes, silliness abounds. He's an old pro at homestays--this is his third (he's also been to Britain and Korea)--and has mad English skills (according to S.). Both boys are the same age, born only 6 weeks apart, and have gotten along quite well. Last night they spent hours on S.'s Nintendo playing Yugioh and Brain Academy, then watching America's Got Talent (we were all appalled at the audience choice, as usual-hmmph).

He hasn't fallen in love with American food, to say the least, but is always willing to try it. So I took us all out for dinner at Legin, a local Chinese restaurant where he was quite happy to order in Chinese. At home, it's been typical American fare of sandwiches, spaghetti and pancakes. Yesterday we had rice in the morning and he was adorably surprised that we had chopsticks to use. "What, what? Chopsticks? What you have these for?" I explained that it was part of a promise to learn to use them before visiting Asia and hopefully, practice makes perfect.

Everything I had hoped for my kids (and me!) to gain from hosting exchange students has happened. They are more excited about living in SE Asia, interested in other cultures and tolerant of other's differences. Really, it's been all I could hope for.