How our world got a little bit smaller and a WHOLE LOT BRIGHTER!!

Marlton 4th of July Parade

Leading up to the summer of 2017 I wanted to do something BIG! I wanted our family to get out and see the world. Problem is we had very little summer savings. As I’m sure you can guess, no money equals no “world seeing”!

Then I saw a post on social media looking for a host family for a bunch of students from Spain in our area. I remember a lady that I used to work with who told me a story of how she took in some exchange students from China. She told of stories of how it positively changed the course of her whole family. My thinking was if we can’t afford to go see the world, then we can bring a little of the world to us in the form of a Spanish exchange student. I thought it was such an amazing idea. So, I got to work right away.

My first job was to sell this idea to my wife. I have lots of crazy ideas and to her credit she usually goes along with most of them. She did see the same post that I did but I believe she dismissed it is something that is interesting but perhaps not for us. (Perhaps…that left the door open, right?!)

She had lots of questions as you can imagine. What if they don’t get along with our kids? What if they don’t fit in with our family? What if they don’t like our food or don’t follow our rules? What if things don’t go well? Of course, our minds went crazy with all the worst-case scenarios. Then we started asking some positive questions too. What if things go great? What if they get along great with our kids? What if this experience changes our lives forever?

I think we got to do just about everything South Jersey had to offer!

So, I contacted the coordinator and asked some of our questions. She assured me that she would do the best she could to match us up with someone who was compatible with our family. She sent us some letters from some of the boys that were looking for host families. (we have 3 boys, 2 teenagers at the time and we figured bringing a girl into our family mix would not be a good idea – 😉). When we started to look through the letters, my wife and I became completely hooked on the idea.    

Next job was to convince our boys.  When we first brought the idea up to them, not one of our boys thought it was a good idea. Once we were armed with the letters from the prospective Spanish students it was much easier to convince our boys that this was a good idea.  

So how did it go? He stayed with us for four weeks. On his last day it was my job to bring him to the drop off spot so that they can take him to the airport. So, I did what any tough American man would do in my shoes…I had my wife take him because I was a crying, sniffling mess. It was so sad to say goodbye but that showed how much him being here meant to us all.

Philadelphia Union Game

Over the year we stayed in touch through facetime and instant messenger.  In the summer of 2018, his whole family came and stayed with us for two weeks. We did the whole South Jersey, North Jersey, Philly, and NYC tour. The whole trip felt a bit magical to me. I remember one night of their stay more than anything.  It felt surreal sitting around the kitchen table discussing politics, school, friends, electronics…  

Our two families meeting for the first time in Central Park.

What did we learn about them? We learned that they are nothing like us. In Spain they must deal with kids who don’t like doing their homework and use their devices too much. They have sassy teenagers who are quick to challenge adults and don’t always get along with their siblings. They also have political leaders who are completely out of touch with what it is like to be a citizen of their own country.  Hopefully you’ve picked up on up on my sarcasm.

We are separated by 3600 miles and one of the biggest oceans on our planet. When it comes to our daily struggles, our dreams, morals and goals for our family, we are very much the same. We may look different and speak a different language, but we are similar in many more ways than we are different! Most importantly, we laugh and love in the same way!

I am proud to say that I now have an American family and a Spanish family. And that is how our world has gotten a little bit smaller and a whole lot brighter.

Saying good bye to his little buddy!!

My wife is helping to bring 15 French students to the South Jersey area for 3 weeks this summer. If you would be interested in being a host family or know someone who might be, please contact her at compassusa.beccahousel@gmail.com