A Mechanicsburg-area host family had a wonderful experience with LEC student Eloïse Lambert of Palinges, a small village in central France. While every experience is different, we're happy to say that this one is not uncommon!Here's what Eloïse's host father wrote to us:
"When we agreed to host an exchange student, we were a little apprehensive. We'd heard horror stories about the people who hosted a Spanish boy who never stopped complaining, or the French girls who would only talk to each other, or the British girl who only wanted to hang out with others from her country. What would we talk about with this person? What if she didn't like our quiet life, our food? What if we didn't like her?
"As it turned out, we were the equivalent of the lottery player who won the jackpot, first time out. We got Eloïse.
"Initially, because she spoke very, very quietly, and her English was tentative and halting, we thought this is going to be hard. We managed. We resorted to the French dictionary a lot. We mimed. And we used Google Translate, both for the phrases that a dictionary didn't have, and, through Facebook, to exchange notes with her parents about how she was and what we were doing.
"We took her to Philadelphia to see the Cleopatra exhibit (it fascinated her) and the Liberty Bell (she was mystified). She spent time in the neighbor's pool (turns out, she's part fish), and she went tubing. We baked together (she makes great chocolate meringue cookies), using a recipe she'd brought from home. We took her with friends to Hershey Park, where she exulted in the water slides, and to Indian Echo Cavern.
"As it turned out, we were the equivalent of the lottery player who won the jackpot, first time out. We got Eloïse.
"Initially, because she spoke very, very quietly, and her English was tentative and halting, we thought this is going to be hard. We managed. We resorted to the French dictionary a lot. We mimed. And we used Google Translate, both for the phrases that a dictionary didn't have, and, through Facebook, to exchange notes with her parents about how she was and what we were doing. "We took her to Philadelphia to see the Cleopatra exhibit (it fascinated her) and the Liberty Bell (she was mystified). She spent time in the neighbor's pool (turns out, she's part fish), and she went tubing. We baked together (she makes great chocolate meringue cookies), using a recipe she'd brought from home. We took her with friends to Hershey Park, where she exulted in the water slides, and to Indian Echo Cavern.
"And we took her to Liberty Island, where she looked up at the Statue of Liberty, and said quietly to my wife, 'My dream has been realized.'"
"As time passed, she began to get more confidence in her ability to speak in English (and we learned a little French, too). We figured that we had a breakthrough when she laughed at a joke at the dinner table, even though we hadn't spoken more slowly just so she could understand. She visibly relaxed, and as for us, we almost forgot that she hadn't always been there. We treated her as a member of the family.
"And that's what she became."
LEC Capital Region thinks Eloïse won the lottery, too!
(Photos, top to bottom: Eloïse with New York skyline; crossing Seventh Avenue; at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Click on any photo to enlarge it.)
