July 18, 2025 • 55 mins
In this episode of Life Exchanged: Stories of Understanding, host Kelsey Ross welcomes guest host parents Eric and Krystle Wells to share their experiences hosting international exchange students through a high school exchange program.
They discuss their journey to becoming a host family, the importance of open communication, and the supportive role of local coordinators. From celebrating holidays and sharing meals to navigating cultural differences, Eric and Krystle highlight how hosting fosters intercultural learning, builds global understanding, and creates lasting personal connections.
The episode offers practical advice for future host families, including tips on writing host family letters, embracing cultural exchange at home, and making the most of the host family experience.
🎙️ Whether you're considering hosting a student or simply curious about the impact of youth exchange programs, this episode is full of insights, inspiration, and heartwarming stories.
Keywords: host family experience, international exchange students, high school exchange program, cultural exchange, intercultural communication, global citizenship, hosting teens, local coordinator support, host family tips
Connect with Eric & Krystle:
https://www.facebook.com/ewells483https://www.facebook.com/Krystle.Risinger.Wells
For more info on YFU USA: https://yfuusa.org/
Chapters:
00:00 – Meeting the Students: First Impressions & Airport Reunions
00:53 – From Music School to Host Parents: Krystle & Eric’s Story
04:12 – Why Hosting? Building a Family Through Cultural Exchange
07:11 – Choosing Students & Preparing for the Journey
09:45 – Host Letters & Advice for Exchange Students
13:22 – Becoming a Local Coordinator & Supporting Students
14:05 – The FLEX Program & Cultural Presentations
17:49 – School Life, Extracurriculars & Making Connections
23:21 – Funny Moments, Miscommunications & Bonding
25:23 – Travel, Food & Sharing Cultures
30:33 – Holidays, Traditions & Religious Observances
34:24 – Building Trust & Navigating Challenges
42:16 – Lifelong Impact: Family, Growth & Global Understanding
48:28 – Looking Ahead: New Students & Continued Hosting
52:39 – Final Reflections & Favorite Memories
Host & Producer: Kelsey Ross
Editor & Producer: Mel Dyjak
Director: Megan Michels
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What the experience was like picking them up from the airport
and meeting them for the very first time.
So we. Made it a point to choose them
kind of early on in the process so that we could have a good
amount of time to talk to them before they arrived.
Yeah. And I think that made a huge
(00:20):
difference. Yeah.
Because it just built up this anticipation, like, oh, my gosh,
we cannot wait to see them. And this year, let's see, it was
Aitanuk who arrived 1st. And yeah, when she came off the
plane, it was a giant hug. And how was it for Vita?
That was super cool too. She was tired, but still like
just the smile on her face when she saw us is.
(00:42):
I don't think that's anything I'm gonna forget.
Hello and welcome to this wonderful episode of Life
Exchange, Stories of Understanding.
I am your host, Kelsey Ross, andtoday we've got 2 guests joining
(01:03):
us and I'm really excited about it.
And I'm going to turn it over toyou to introduce yourselves.
So I'm Crystal Wells. I'm a host mom and local
coordinator in San Antonio, TX. And I'm Eric Wells, host parent,
married obviously to Crystal here.
Crystal, Eric, thank you both somuch for joining me today and
chatting with me about your experience.
I can't wait to hear more about your story.
(01:24):
I'm so excited, but just thank you for your time.
So to get started, why don't youall tell me a little bit about
yourselves and how the Eric and Crystal came to be?
So we met in music school, actually.
Yeah. But it was a good ten years
before we actually got together as a couple.
And we actually discovered that we're unable to have children of
(01:47):
our own. And hosting exchange students
seemed like a great way to grow our family.
It's been amazing. Like, more than we could have
imagined. It started when I was teaching
high school choir. I had a couple of exchange
students in my choir program, and getting to know them and
what amazing people they were, Idecided I should do this, too.
And then I talked to Eric. Yeah, when she brought it up, it
(02:11):
was an interesting opportunity to learn more about the world.
I've always been fascinated withdifferent cultures and stuff
like that. I remember taking courses in
college that was focused on culture and actually had a
conversation with the students who are hosting right now this
year about that and how that fell into hosting for Disdain
students. Eric, what would how are you
(02:33):
feeling when she first brought the topic up of hosting?
Was there any anxiety or Oh no what is she talking about?
Well, she had talked to me aboutthe students she's been hosting
and how awesome they were and the great interactions.
They had even got to meet them at concerts and stuff.
And you know, the fact that we can't have children have been a
(02:57):
topic of conversation in the past.
And so it was exciting to think about, but also a little bit
intimidating having never been aparent per SE.
But being a teacher myself, bothof us being teachers, we knew we
had the right mindset to become parents in that sense.
That's wonderful. And with teaching, so you're
(03:18):
around students all the time. And Crystal, you had mentioned
that you had had exchange students in your class.
Was that at your first introduction into exchange
students in the world of cultural exchange?
For the most part, yes. I met one when I myself was in
high school. We had a young man from Japan in
(03:38):
our jazz band. Cool.
So yeah. But getting to know the kiddos
in my choir as an adult, it helped me understand even more
what it was all about. Yeah.
So we had familiarity with high school exchange programs a
little bit. I knew somebody I was growing, I
grew up with. They had a foreign exchange
(03:59):
student from Spain for a little while, but we both ended up
getting our master's degrees at the same time and there were
actually several students from China that were in the same
program we were. So that was also an opportunity
to kind of get exposed to foreign exchange type programs.
So was it through these exchangestudents in your choir, Crystal,
that you had first heard about Wyatt, or had you heard about it
(04:22):
prior to that? So actually our first hosting
experience was with a different agency.
After that experience, which with our girls we hosted that
year, we had Maya from Germany and Benedetta from Italy.
Our experience with them was fantastic, but unfortunately we
decided that we wanted to find adifferent agency.
(04:44):
We did some research and found YFU.
Eric can speak to this too, but I think what really drew us to
YFU was how long it's been around, how far it reaches in
the world and its original inception and the reason that it
came to be. Gotcha.
That is a large part of it. There was another aspect because
I remember doing a lot of research at the time when we
(05:05):
were trying to find a new organization.
And one thing I noticed in reading like why should become a
host parent is why, if you actually does put an emphasis on
on the possibility of hosting students that have chronic
health conditions. As a type 1 diabetic myself, I
found that fascinating and we made sure to put that in there
there if there was somebody fromanother country who has type 1
(05:26):
diabetes, we would be comfortable hosting them because
we have experience dealing with it.
And so that was kind of a neat thing that the program really
actually talked about that that's.
Great. You'd be surprised at how many
different organizations aren't comfortable taking on students
with chronic medical conditions or students who I wouldn't say
(05:46):
are outside of the norm, but areoutside of like the typical high
school student experience. And I was something that I've
always really enjoyed about thisplace and glad we found the
common ground there. You, you did your research, you
found YFU and decided to give ita shot.
So after that, how did you startpreparing to take on another
year of hosting? So we met with our local
(06:10):
coordinator, David. Unfortunately, he has since
passed. Yeah, but he was is a huge part
of YFU for many years. And when we attended his
funeral, I mean, some of his former students were there.
So just the impact he had on everybody was kind of amazing.
He's a fantastic guy. I remember I've worked with him
(06:30):
a little bit and he's. Yeah, got quite a bit.
And yes, and when he met with usthe first time, that's kind of
how we knew that YFU was the right choice.
So he was just, so what's the word?
Just so like realistic, open, honest, caring.
Yeah, David could talk to anybody.
That's something that I've heardfrom many people and I myself
(06:53):
have experienced with talking tohim.
It's it's a tremendous loss, unfortunately, but I am glad
that he was able to talk with you and make you feel
comfortable about coming to YFU and hosting.
So after you talked with him, how did you go about choosing
the exchange students that you wanted to host?
I believe you had two students, correct?
Yes, yes. Interesting.
(07:14):
OK, so so why? Why 2?
And I'll, that's, that's actually interesting to talk
about. When we first got into this with
the previous organization, we had gone into thinking, oh,
we'll host one student. The person we were working with
at that time pointed out that having one student at home with
no other kids who would turn into a situation where they're
(07:38):
kind of lonely, there's nobody else in the house their age and
things like that that they can relate to.
And we realized that's kind of important thing be able to for
them to have somebody that's notan adult that they can talk to
and somebody that's on their level.
So at that time we chose to hosttwo students.
And Chris already mentioned thatMaya and Benedetta.
And so going into it this time from the get go, we're like,
(08:00):
we're going to host two in the previous time, Maya was from
Germany, Benedetta was from Italy.
And so as we were going into it this second time this year, we
actually decided to look at other parts of the world and end
up hosting a girl from Germany and a girl from Kyrgyzstan to
kind of explore different cultural, cultural things that
we had never experienced before.Yeah.
(08:21):
Was it just their cultural aspects that drew you to them,
or were there certain traits in their in what you had learned
about them that really inspired you to host them?
So it was honestly, it was just one of those feelings when we
looked at their profiles and went, that's our girl.
So Mitzipka from Germany, it talked a lot about her interest
(08:43):
in music and singing. And that, of course, resonated
with me. And she ended up being in the
choir program at the high schooland ended up being in region
choir, which in Texas is a big deal.
OK, yeah. And I, Tanuk, yeah, is a flexor.
And her host family letter was like, almost like a short story.
Like she's just so imaginative and such a dreamer.
(09:06):
And I think that's what drew us to her.
Yeah, those initial host lettersand things like that are such a
big deal for the families cuz itreally gives you a kind of peek
into the kind of person that thestudent is.
We've talked with the kids, we didn't know what to put in
there. And it's like, well, you did
exactly what you need to do. You put your personality,
(09:27):
yourself into that letter. And that is what drew our
attention and caused us to be interested in hosting you.
The letters always end up being a really big part as to why host
families end up choosing the student that they want to host.
For exchange students who might be watching this and are
preparing to write their own host family letters, do you have
any advice for things that they can include or how they should
(09:49):
approach it to maybe pique the interests of a potential host
family well? I mean, just like every family
United States, a different student applying to be a foreign
exchange, a student is going to be different.
Realistically, what it boils down to is putting your own
personality into there. Yeah.
Talk about it, write it so it's you that's communicating and
(10:14):
definitely talk about the thingsthat interest you.
You know, we're not very sports minded people, but we definitely
support interest in sports. Yeah.
And so it's like talk about those things that you're
interested in, things that you want to try and experience are
important because as host families, we're interested in
(10:35):
you getting the best experience possible.
So if we know what you're looking for, we can determine if
we're going to be the family that can help you experience
that. Gotcha Crystal, anything to add?
That pretty much nailed it, Really.
Yeah. It's it's very helpful when the
letter is written in their own voice.
Yeah. Yeah.
If that makes sense. Yeah.
(10:56):
And not just a narrative of I live here, this is who I am.
Yeah. Right throwing a little bit of
themselves into it. It's not just it's not like
you're not writing a cover letter.
It's essentially to me you're writing a little like I was like
in a book jacket like that biography about the author,
little blurb. It's that that's it.
That is your introduction to these host families.
(11:18):
And if you're not really showingyour personality, they don't get
to know the real you. And that's a shame because we
want we want to know the real you.
That's. That's what makes you because
they're all amazing, you know? Some of the letters that have
piqued our interest the most arethe ones where the student kind
of talks about this is my day, this is how I go through my day,
here's what I do because it gives us perspective on them and
(11:41):
their life. Right.
I appreciate that insight and I'm sure exchange students are
also going to appreciate your insight coming from the people
who are choosing the students toand I appreciate that local
coordinator too. Also pointing out potentially
that a student by themselves maybe a little lonely.
From my perspective, I'm an onlychild, so I definitely
understand that loneliness and not having somebody your own age
(12:03):
to talk to. I was pretty lucky and having
cousins who lived right next door, but you know, we we also
drove each other nuts. Yeah.
And kind of on the flip side of that, as a local coordinator,
I'm working with a family that has two daughters.
Yeah. And so she wanted to host a
student that was used to having siblings because she felt like
(12:25):
maybe hosting an only child, they wouldn't be used to having
that extra responsibility and extra people around.
Right, it makes sense. Yeah.
Just one last thing to add on tothat.
It's like one of the things we end up talking with kids about
is when they're coming over here, they're coming over,
experience things. And maybe it's an opportunity
(12:47):
to, if you are an only child, toexperience living with siblings,
host siblings and getting that experience because maybe you
don't know that yet. And to since you're already
experiencing another country, you can experience other things
at the same time. Perfect.
You had mentioned Crystal, that you were a local coordinator.
Were you a local coordinator before you became a host parent?
(13:08):
No, OK, It was actually David that got me roped into it, so to
say, because he had recommended us to apply because at that time
he was the only one in the area.He, yeah, he had a lot of
students and families under his protection and guidance.
It's he. He was a very busy guy.
(13:29):
Yes, and. For those who may not know, what
is a local coordinator? So we are responsible for being
kind of that first line of defense for the students.
Their host families, of course, are the first one they go to,
but we are there to make sure that they're safe, that they're
happy. And if for whatever reason,
because it does happen, there isa problem with them and the host
(13:51):
family, one way or another, we are there to kind of help
mediate that. Perfect.
And I remember you would saying one of your students that you
chose was part of the flex program.
Would you all be able to give usa little bit of insight as to
what that is for those who may not know?
Yeah. Go for it.
So the Flex program is a scholarship program,
(14:12):
particularly for students in Eurasia countries that we are
trying to build more knowledge and understanding of more
relationships with. Some of their populations are
Muslim, and those students come here very specifically to share
their culture. And that is exactly what Aitanuk
did, and she was all in. I'll, I'll talk about that.
(14:38):
There actually is a requirement for them to put on presentations
about their country, yeah, that they're from to usually to their
school. But I, Tanuk being the
overachiever that she is, asked us if she could do it elsewhere.
So actually I'm a middle school band director.
And so one day she and her host sister and actually another
(14:59):
friend of theirs who is a part of another foreign exchange
program, all came to my school and put on presentations for
students at my school about Kyrgyzstan.
And I mean, she went all out. She wore traditional clothing,
talked about the game. She even did a performance on
their traditional instrument, the comous and things like that.
And yeah, it's very fascinating to be able to learn about that.
(15:21):
And, you know, my students for us a year would always ask me,
well, how are they doing? What are they up to now and
things like that. And actually, I Tuke was also
working on volunteer hours. So sometimes she would come out
and do volunteer events at my district.
Like we have a food bank that runs my district because it's a
very low income district. So my kids always get to check
in and say hi. And it was, it was really neat
(15:42):
connections for them to get to make that way.
And my fellow staff members, like my principal talks to me
all the time. Like how are the girls doing and
stuff like this? And just always checking in and
wondering about them. Their requirement for service
hours is like 35A semester. Chinook was like, no, I'm doing
100. Oh my goodness.
So she did. Now that is an achiever.
(16:05):
My gosh, love the points you were making about how the whole
community ended up rallying around these girls and really
becoming close with them. That's honestly all we could
ever hope for. And it's it's so great that they
were able to make such an impactin the time that they were
there. The instrument that I to Nuke
was playing. What?
What was that called again? It's called a kamus, A kamus
(16:28):
called KOMUZ OK and it's similarin Western music, similar to
like a guitar or almost a banjo without the drumhead part.
She went to school for multiple years learning how to and can
play it really well. That sounds so awesome.
You'd mentioned your German student also was rather
(16:50):
musically inclined and she was part of the region choir and
yeah, big part of that. How long had she been singing
before she came on exchange? Several years, I think she
started in late elementary school, if I remember right.
Yeah. And she was singing in the music
school in Germany because that'show, like, school is a bit
(17:11):
different there. Of course.
I mean, they have all of their core classes during the day.
And then when they want to do something like sports or music
or anything like that, it's a separate after school.
So she studied music for a long time and she's quite talented.
When she came and join the choirprogram like the director put
her in varsity choir. Wow, that's amazing.
(17:35):
Yeah, both the kids got involvedwith multiple things.
I mean, I'd to nuke tried to do sports and stuff like that.
They both were in debate class. They both each of them end up
going to a debate contest at some point.
Of course we could was doing allthe choir stuff.
And yeah. And now it's just that's one
thing that we've come to really encourage the students to do is
(17:56):
get involved with the different things that are going on because
that's how you make your friends.
That's how you make your connections because you you
start doing those things. And both times we've hosted, our
kids we've hosted have managed to make like 1 bestie that's
also a foreign exchange student.And that that kid ended spending
more time at our house than we ever expected.
(18:17):
And they kind of became our third kid.
And this year, they had a friend, Rim from Switzerland,
and she was also heavily involved in things.
She did a lot of swim team, water polo, stuff like that.
Yeah. Just getting involved, all the
different activities. They were both in National Honor
Society, doing things like that.Just.
Yeah, and making those connections.
(18:37):
Very involved girls. That's very impressive.
It's something we've, we noticedquite a bit too with these
exchange students. They're, they tend to be
overachievers. They tend to be people who want
to stay involved and want to be active in their community.
It's so great that they had you both to encourage them to do
that and really get involved in their school community.
So I'm backtracking a little bit, but I would like to hear
(19:01):
what the experience was like picking them up from the airport
and them for the very first time.
So we made it a point to choose them kind of early on in the
process so that we could have a good amount of time to talk to
them before they arrived. Yeah.
And I think that made a huge difference.
(19:22):
Yeah. Because it just built up this
anticipation, like, oh, my gosh,we cannot wait to see them.
And this year, let's see, it wasAitanuk who arrived first.
Yeah. She arrived, like, late morning
one day. And poor Eric could not find a
place to park, you know? So yeah, I got out of the car
and went in to meet her while hewas still trying to park.
(19:44):
And yeah, when she came off the plane, it was a giant hug.
In fact she has video of it, not.
Only does she have video of it? She posted it to Tick Tock and
she was very proud to tell us ithad gotten a whole bunch of
views. Oh, exciting.
We'll have to find her her videoand share it with everybody.
That's so cool. And how was it for Vika?
(20:05):
That was super cool too, just because that was later at night.
We were tired, she was tired, but still like just the smile on
her face when she saw us is I don't think that's anything I'm
going to forget so. Yeah.
And I want to touch on what Crystal talked about, how we
chose these girls. Early communication from the get
go is of paramount importance. Being able to develop
(20:27):
connections in advance, talk with each other, meet each other
as it were from a distance makesthat initial meeting and those
initial days so much easier. The first time we did this, we
didn't know that we had chosen the students that we did.
And thinking like April or May, we had like, I think maybe one
conversation with them prior to their arrival.
(20:50):
And in both instances we have become family.
Like we really view these kids as our kids forever and they
view us as their American parents and things like that.
But the process of getting to know each other was so much
faster when we opened up the communication so much earlier.
It allowed us to all get to knoweach other and kind of figure
(21:12):
out a few quirks here and there.We're still definitely a
learning process. Once they were here, yeah, but
it made it much easier. Gotcha.
And I know obviously with time differences, it's got to be a
little tricky trying to plan howyou're going to talk to one
another. With Germany, I think it's only
like 6 hours ahead of us here inRAR in Michigan.
It's got to be I think like 7 for you all.
(21:32):
Yeah. How far ahead was Kazakhstan?
11 or 12? Depending on daylight savings.
Time, yeah. So.
How did that work? We had to be creative.
Usually it meant that we woke upearly because, like, if we woke
up to talk to her at like 7:00 AM, it was like 7:00 PM for her.
Yeah. So.
(21:53):
Yeah. Wow.
Even now, after she's returned, we still will communicate with
each other and it's like we can usually expect to get like a
message really early in the morning or right around dinner
time we'll start getting some messages because she's just
woken up. Because she's already gone back,
unfortunately. But when she did, like, it took
her a while to get used to that time zone too.
(22:15):
So yeah. I can't imagine trying to wrap
my head around and get used to that new normal.
Were you able to talk to their natural parents a little bit
before too and develop a bond with them?
Yes, I would say Veepka's parents a little bit more than
itanukes because the language barrier was less.
Gotcha. Yeah.
(22:36):
Makes sense. Both her parents had visited the
United States prior to her coming over and in fact, I
believe she told us they have family over in Canada.
OK, so they have some familiarity with English, but I
had a new experience, not a likeEnglish experience at all.
And that's OK. We, I mean you just you use
Google Translate and you messagethrough like WhatsApp, you send
(22:57):
text messages, things like that.Gotcha.
So we. Managed to do that and we would
ask her does this translate right?
You have the second I and make sure you're not saying something
silly because Google Translate will be it be betraying it
betrays people. It can, yeah.
It definitely does. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. Have there been any funny
moments of mistranslation with your girls that you could talk
(23:20):
about? So OK, I have to tell this very
first one. And it's not really a
mistranslation, it's a mispronunciation.
OK, So I turned it from Kyrgyzstan and it's pretty much
across the board. In Kyrgyzstan, they can all
speak Kirghiz and Russian. Gotcha.
So she comes over and we're talking about things and in our
first meal we're having, I was like, so what's everybody's
(23:41):
favorite kind of meal? And I think we were actually
having soup that night, right? I think so.
I Tanuk still figuring out how to pronounce words and stuff
like this, pronounce the word soup as soap.
So she said, oh, I really love soap.
I'm like soap. Really.
Really. Are you sure you mean soap?
And yeah. She's like no, no soup, soap,
(24:05):
like, oh, soup, OK. Yeah, that's one of those core
memories that all of us rememberand will remember forever.
Very close word wise, I get it. It is.
Crystal, do you have any memories like that that you
could share with us? So over New Year's, well,
(24:26):
between Christmas and New Year's, we took the girls to
Disney World. Yeah.
And we had gone with one of my best friends that I've known for
years and years. It was her son's graduation
celebration. So we all went together as a big
family. And this trip cost quite a bit
of money, so it was one that we had to get permission for,
etcetera. And when we messaged itunuke's
(24:50):
parents about it, when they message us back, it was one of
those times that it didn't quitetranslate right.
And we initially thought they said they weren't going to allow
her to go. And it was like, wait, what?
Oh no. Yeah, but I too knew.
Read it again. She's like, no, no, this means
so. And we knew for sure that she
was going because they had signed the paper.
(25:13):
Crisis averted. Yes, that's so cool you got to
show them Disney World. Were there any other places that
you were able to travel with them and allow them to
experience? Some different things here in
Texas, yeah, yeah. Just kind of exploring around,
checking different things out. We went down to the beach, of
course, because. Nice.
(25:34):
Yeah, the first time was really cold, but we all had a good
time. And then the second time was
pretty warm because we went at the end of May, so.
Nice. My skin is still peeling.
Right there with you yeah, yeah,the summer and the pale
complexion does not mix well That's that's awesome that they
(25:54):
were able to check out some new places here in the States and
Disney World was there a sacred attraction or something that
they really were excited about at Disney World that you got to
watch them enjoy my. Goodness.
Which day? All of it.
I will talk about 1 moment that was just, it was very touching
because I know it, you know, around the world pretty much
(26:15):
everybody's familiar with Disneyand y'all have your translations
and stuff like this. And we ended up going to this
like kind of live show about Frozen.
Yeah. And they had actors up on the
stage and stuff like this. And as we walked out, like I
just became just very emotional and she's like, it was like
reliving my childhood kind of thing.
And it was just, it was such a very touching moment and all the
(26:39):
different kind of wondrous things, the feelings that you
get when you go to Disney, despite all the long lines and
stuff like that, there's still that magic that happens when
you're there, so. That's beautiful.
It was. We also discovered that they
love roller coasters, which is good because we have a Six Flags
here in town, so they went several times.
Nice. Awesome.
(27:00):
Yeah. I, I, I can't relate.
I am terrified of, I hated roller coasters.
So I I'm not your girl for that.But everything else with Disney.
Absolutely. So you were able to share quite
a bit about the US culture and certain things that we have
around here. Were there any cultural
traditions or foods that they were able to share with you
while they were with you? Yeah.
(27:20):
Do you remember some? See, that was what it was
called, right? Yeah, that's what Antonuc made
for Thanksgiving. Yeah, it's new.
Made several different dishes from Kyrgyzstan.
Buckwheat soap. Yes, yeah, I was.
I, I was feeling ill one time. And so she decided to make soup.
And I don't know if I have the little thing right now.
(27:43):
She left a little note with it and said here is healing soup
for the best host Dad. She was always very
affectionate, trying to take care of all of us around here.
But yeah, food is the universal language.
One thing we've always looked for in profiles is kids who talk
about, like, cooking food and things like that and baking and
(28:03):
stuff like that. In fact, now both years we've
hosted students and it's going to become a tradition.
We actually invite them to invite all their friends and we
have a big international meal where everybody brings dishes
from their culture and we share it.
Oh cool. Yeah.
So they both, I think Vika made a German chocolate cake.
(28:26):
I'd Snook made her some seed. And then they had friends from
all over. We had a dish from Egypt, we had
dish from the Philippines, we had dish from Switzerland.
Where else I'm missing some? France.
France. That's right.
The lumpia, did you say the Philippines already?
Yeah, yeah, Lumpia we had in there.
I made green chili beef so we could have tacos with that.
(28:47):
I made Navajo fry bread, yeah. So yeah, food is something that
we love sharing and we encouragethem to cook and we invite them
to cook with us. The thing that was kind of cool
about when we did it this year was not all of their friends
from school were foreign exchange students, but they were
American born kids whose parentswere from other countries, which
(29:11):
is why we got to experience all of that.
That's so cool. And obviously of course Itanuke
and Vika got to try out some American foods.
Were there any standouts for them?
They love Mexican food. Elite choice, absolutely.
Top tier. Excellent.
Yes. Tacos, Yeah.
(29:32):
In Texas I can't the Tex mex scene yes on on real.
Well, and of course we want to have them experience all sorts
of different things. They both came to really love
raising canes. Of course.
They absolutely love raising Canes.
We always have the contest each year because I'm a big fan of
Whataburger and Crystals, a big fan in and out.
(29:52):
So we have to figure out which one they prefer.
OK. I'm not sure we ever got a firm
answer this year. Rim was the tie in and outs
winning right now I I for the tiebreaker.
Yeah, yeah. I haven't had a Whataburger yet.
I've had in and out and I I can see why people go nuts over it.
It's really good. Well, say, if you ever come down
to Texas, we can take you to Whataburger.
(30:13):
No, and Whataburger's really Whataburger's really good, don't
get me wrong. It's just there's just something
about in and out. Yeah, it's, I mean, does does
Whataburger have the fun paper hats?
Because that kind of sold me with.
They don't. No, they just have a lot more
variety in their food. OK, well I mean it is about
food, but what about the fashion?
Come on. I also you got to experience
(30:38):
holidays together. Were there any holidays,
especially with Itunuke, that you were able to experience for
the first time with your students?
Yeah, Halloween and Christmas had never been a thing for her
before, and she was really excited about it.
And, of course, the uniquely American one of Thanksgiving.
That's always a big one. Did she bring any holiday
(31:02):
traditions over from Kazakhstan?Not really.
She did talk a lot about, especially in Kyrgyzstan,
they're very big on like Mother's Day, Father's Day kind
of thing. It's a very big deal for them.
Very family oriented kind of thing over there.
She is Muslim but we didn't talktoo much about the Muslim
holidays like she she did participate in.
(31:27):
Ramadan. Ramadan and stuff like that.
But that was her choice. And we just, we, we worked it in
into our schedule. And I'm an always an early
riser. My body doesn't let me sleep
past five most days. Usually I'm up even before that.
And so for during Ramadan, she and I would get to spend time
together in the morning just chatting as she was getting her
meal at the beginning of the day.
(31:47):
Because the way Ramadan works isyou can eat before sunrise and
after sunset, but you can't consume during the day.
Oh, yeah. Getting to have those times
where we just get to sit and chat one-on-one was always
really nice kind of thing. But that's really the extent of
holiday celebrations from her culture that we really
experienced. Gotcha.
Yeah. There was.
(32:07):
She talked a bit about Kyrgyzstan's Independence Day,
because Kyrgyzstan as an independent country is only
about 30 years old. Wow.
Yeah. So on that day she talked about
how it came to be and she she was showing us videos back home
of like their celebrations and fireworks much like the 4th of
(32:30):
July. Yeah, we did spend quite a bit
of time talking about her culture and she would talk about
the significance of like, designs and things.
She gave me a cup book, which isa traditional hat the men wear.
I have it upstairs, or else I'd show it to you right now.
But yeah, and talking about manas and stuff like that, which
is very integral to their culture and stuff.
(32:52):
And yeah, we talked a lot about,like, the yurts and the nomadic
nature of the Kyrgyz culture andeverything, yeah.
Was did she come from a nomadic background too, or was she more?
No, OK, she grew still still lives in a small village up in
the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, although what she told us
(33:13):
because they this year would have been her last year at
school in Kyrgyzstan. So she got back in time to
participate in the graduation celebration and now she's going
to move to the capital city and start working and doing school
and stuff like that. But yeah, no, she's grew up in a
small village. Ever think it was it maybe
10,000 people I think. But in summers she has an uncle
(33:36):
and they would go out and visit them as they moved around the
mountainside with their yurt andstuff.
That's. Cool.
We have a program for adults with Mongolia where they get to
live a week and leave the capital city and then they also
spend a week with people who arenomadic and get to see a lot of
like the Mongolian countryside. So that nomadic way of living
has always been very intriguing to me and I prefer I like being
(33:57):
settled. I'm used to that, so hearing the
other way, it's very interestingto me.
It yeah, it is. So it's like, what is that like
to not really be in one place? Yeah.
It sounds just from hearing you talk about your experiences that
you really built strong connections with these girls.
(34:18):
And how did that happen? I know you had talked quite a
bit in the beginning before theygot there, but as they arrived
and they were settling and how did you still manage to create
such a strong bond with them? Just a lot of spending time with
them, having conversations at dinner, being open and honest.
Like that's the biggest thing with us.
Like when they get here, we kindof tell them, look, you're in a
(34:41):
new setting right now. You're in a new country.
You're teenagers. You're going to have choices,
and you're probably going to mess up, and that's OK.
Yeah. But our job is to keep you safe.
So we need to know, like, you can tell us anything.
And I think that's made a huge difference.
(35:01):
Another part of it is, is encouraging them to talk about
their views, the views that theyhave on political, social
issues. You know, they, they told us
before that in their, before they come over, they're told to
be careful about talking about politics and stuff like that.
The thing is, you don't get to know someone unless you talk
(35:22):
about what matters to them. Yeah, you what, what, what are
their principles? What are their values?
Yeah. How are they different?
How are they similar? And being able to have those
conversations and being open to it and saying, hey, you have
this view. I have this view.
But we're still here. We're making this work.
This is, this is how we want theworld to work.
(35:42):
So this is what we do. We we encourage this kind of
stuff. You know, I'm not a particularly
religious person myself, but both of our girls this year were
religious and we did have conversations about that.
But it's also just because we have the different views on that
stuff. We're still all good people.
We still care about each other and being able to show them that
and show them that we accept them for who they are and they
(36:03):
accept us for who we are, that helps build that connection.
And it's just kind of funny because he made me remember that
one of our first or no, it was our first conversation with
Vivka. We dove into politics almost
right away because she was like,I need to know this.
I need to know. That I I've noticed that a few
(36:26):
with, like the German students in particular, they're very
intrigued with political situations here in the United
States and how it affects the global scale.
Well, they're taught to pay attention now.
Yeah, exactly. It comes down to difference in
education in that regard. But I assume it it was a
sunshine and rainbows when you're hosting.
And I'm sure that there were some challenges to overcome.
(36:48):
And I'm curious if you could give us some insight on to some
of the challenges that you face as a family and how you were
able to overcome that? 1st I mean, sometimes you're not
always going to agree. I mean, these are still
teenagers. And like the first time we
hosted, there was disagreement because I was teaching.
I happened to be teaching at their school.
(37:08):
So unfortunately for them, I knew most of the kids and prom
came and they were like, oh, we want to go to this after party.
And I saw the invitation on Insta and I saw who was hosting
it. And I said absolutely not.
Yep, yeah. The challenges we faced are
(37:32):
really no different than the challenges any family with
teenagers face because they're experiencing things, they have
their views and stuff and they value their own independence.
And sometimes that clashes, likeof course, we're our concern is
making sure they stay safe, but they're still learning.
And sometimes there were times they wanted to do things like
(37:55):
that's probably not the best idea and but creating the bond
that we did at the beginning helped navigate through those
situations because they felt comfortable talking to us about
them. Beyond that, it's, it really
just if conflicts came up, it came down to, hey, we need you
to help out. But I wanted to do this, but we
(38:17):
need to get this stuff taken care of kind of thing that's
really boiled down to the conflicts that did happen
sometimes were between the kids themselves.
And actually this year, I think it really boiled down to
cultural differences because they were from 2 very different
parts of the world and they, they still worked through it.
That's The thing is that they were able to work through it.
(38:39):
And that's one thing I never didforeign exchange when I was a
kid. I can't say enough about how
amazed I am with these kids are willing to put themselves in
this situation going into this. And you have to have an open
mind to be willing to do this. And as long as you keep that in
mind and it's like, hey, we're, we're different from each other,
this is going to happen. It works out in the end.
(39:01):
As long as everybody's coming atit from just being like, we're
still trying to make this work as a fan.
Yeah, and as far as they're concerned, they're still
sisters. Yeah, and that's pretty great.
We did have another challenge this year that we hadn't
experienced before that wasn't aconflict, but Deepika managed to
break her foot. How did that happen?
(39:24):
So she was at her friend's houseand it was dark outside and they
have dogs so they were letting the dogs out and she stepped
wrong off the step and that's all it took.
Yeah, poor thing. Navigating all of that?
Like advice to future host families?
Make sure you know all the insurance and outs of the
(39:45):
insurance. Yes, they do come with
insurance. Right, but make sure you know
how to navigate it. Right.
International insurance sometimes works different than
what we're used to here in the United States.
So it just it involves contacting them and stay in
communication with the insuranceagency.
(40:05):
How's how's her foot now? Is she peeled up in bed?
It's good. It was, it was kind of a
hairline fracture, so it was oneof those situations where she
had to be in a boot for a few weeks.
Yep. And now she's good to go.
Good. Well, happy ending there at
least. Yes.
So thankfully, yeah, no surgery.Thank God.
(40:25):
Oh. Yeah, that have been a mess.
So I mean it just from hearing how you're overcoming challenges
you it seems like a lot of open communication building that
trust to begin with. Do you have any other advice for
host families who may be facing challenges with their exchange
suited and trying to work through them?
Definitely, like it seems obvious to me, but it might not
(40:46):
be obvious to everyone. Talk about it first.
Like if you're having an issue with something that's happening
with the student, talk to them. Yeah.
Like, I mean, and as a local coordinator, we're supposed to
be the second option, yeah. Yeah.
Right. Yeah, It's also, when you talk
about it, it's this is how I'm viewing this.
(41:08):
This is what I see, This is whatI'm experiencing.
Because the other side may not be interpreting, may not
realize. And that's, that's very common
even amongst Americans, to Americans, but even more so when
you're talking to somebody who comes from a different cultural
background, they may not may notview things the same as you.
And so you have to talk about itin terms of, look, here is what
(41:32):
I'm used to, here's how I do things.
And here's what I'm hoping we can get out of this.
And encouraging them to be upfront and honest about how
they feeling. Well, you know, maybe they're
not used to taking care of thesethings in this way.
And it's like, OK, well, now that we both know where we're
coming from, we're, we're we're living here together.
So let's come to a compromise. Let's come to a solution that
(41:55):
works for both of us to being comfortable here.
Thank you for your insights and your advice.
I think that can be very helpful, especially for first
time host parents. It could be quite intimidating.
Yeah. So what would you say has been
the most rewarding aspect of being host parents?
The extended family, we developed these family
(42:18):
relationships. It's not that we spent a year
with these kids and they're moving off and they're doing
their own thing and that's that We still talk to our kids from
our first year doing this. We talk to their families and
we've actually become close to the aunt of one of our kids from
the first year because we share similar views on things.
And you know, whenever the kids go home, we always get this
(42:40):
message of you always have a place to stay if you ever come
here. It's having family connections
everywhere. That is the biggest thing for me
is being able to have that connection and not because, oh,
I have a place to stay. No, it's, I know somebody from
that culture. I, I now know more about Islam
(43:01):
than I ever knew before. And quite frankly, it's much
different than way many people here in the United States
purport Islam to be. So it's that better
understanding of what's going onelsewhere that open up that
worldview for me. That's the biggest thing that
I've gained out of this. How about for you, Crystal?
(43:22):
Definitely the same thing. I mean, just knowing that these
kids are our kids for life. So and just when their parents
contact us and express their gratitude for doing what we did
for the year, like it is just really special.
Hey, have you? Ever thought about bringing the
world to your home? I have YFUUSA.
(43:46):
You can. By hosting an exchange student,
you'll experience a brand new culture right in your own home.
It's an incredible opportunity to make lifelong connections and
help a young student discover the American way of life.
Want more info? Visit yfuusa.org to learn more
about how you can become a host family today.
(44:06):
So that being said, it should beacknowledged that we have been
very fortunate in the kids that we have been matched up with,
right? It doesn't always happen.
There are times that conflicts happen.
Hopefully the families and the kids and the local coordinator
can work through it and make sure it all works.
But be aware that the potential for any outcome is possible and
(44:32):
just be prepared for that as well.
Because it's like, like I said, we've been very lucky and we
hope to continue being lucky in how how things go.
And we put a lot of thought intowho we try and host for that
very reason. But in the end, you still have
learned more about the world. Even if you didn't develop the a
(44:53):
strong connection with the kid, you still, you know more and
they know more. So everybody's still benefited
in some way. I appreciate you touching on it.
It isn't always the greatest situation, yeah.
And, and because our girls have met so many other students,
like, I mean, we've, we've seen it happen unfortunately, like
(45:14):
we've seen instances where things weren't working well.
Yeah. And the important thing to
remember for people who maybe beconsidering hosting and hear
that and they're like, I'm not sure about that.
There, there are support systemshere for you.
There are people who are going to help you.
And if it doesn't work out, we find other arrangements, we make
it work. That's just what you have to do.
(45:36):
But how would you say personallyhosting has changed you or
helped you to grow? It's definitely helped me.
I always have been a pretty openminded person, but I think that
this has brought it to a whole new level, just learning about
things from other perspectives. As an educator, because I am a
(45:58):
teacher, I will say that it has opened up my understanding of I
have a better understanding where some of my kids come from.
I live across town for where my kids go to school and I, I've
lived my own life. I've had my own experiences.
And so being able to learn aboutthe experiences that these kids
have around from around the world has helped me better
(46:19):
connect with my own students even and understand where
they're coming from. And like, OK, that's different
from me, but I still care about you and I can find ways to help
you understand that I care aboutyou.
And, and quite frankly, there are some teachers that struggle
with that and it this kind of stuff really helps with that.
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Eric.
(46:40):
That was going to be my next question is how it helped you to
grow in your professional lives as teachers.
Oh, absolutely, yeah. Just because, like, having the
experience of kind of being a parent definitely shapes how you
teach. Yeah.
So now, on the other hand, that's not to say that teachers
who don't have children can't begood teachers because that's a
(47:03):
hill I will die on. That's a whole nother story.
But it does add another layer ofunderstanding I think.
Absolutely. And would you say that hosting
has given you a a nice taste of parenthood and being parents to
these wonderful students? Absolutely.
Yes, the good and the bad, yeah.That's fantastic.
(47:28):
And would you say that it's giving you a different
perspective on your own dynamic together as a family and as a
couple? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. We were married for several
years prior to getting involved with this.
But when we started hosting, it helped us.
Like, we've learned our own parenting styles and how we have
(47:48):
to work together to help our kids succeed but also help each
other succeed in doing things. You learn about the thing of
like, the kids figure out which parent is the one to go to when
you want something and when. Yeah.
And things like that. And so it's, we've always been
strong proponents of open communication between each
(48:09):
other, but it has just exemplified that and helped us
be even better at communicating with each other because we have
to communicate with them. We have to stay in communication
with each other to make it all work.
So that's helped us tremendouslyin that regard.
Wonderful. Definitely.
Absolutely wonderful. I'm curious, are you planning on
hosting again in the future? Yes, we are.
(48:30):
I'll talk. I'll talk about 1, you talk
about the other. OK, go for it.
All right, so we don't always try to find kids who are
musically inclined, but sometimes it happens.
This year we hosted Bibkov from Germany and she's a singer and
stuff like this. For both times we've hosted now,
it's been girls and we even we've even talked about each
other like we're always hosting girls and that have to be
(48:54):
upfront. We host girls because they tend
to be the ones that are more willing to talk.
In our experience, the foreign exchange boys who talk to are
like typical teenage boys and don't always talk.
So we are inclined more towards girls.
But we had thought we had lookedstrongly at some of the guys
that were available and really thinking about that.
And then we came across the profile of a young lady from
(49:16):
Belgium and it was very clear inthere that she's been heavily
involved in music and playing the clarinet.
Nice. Through a little slew thing, I
did manage to figure out what group she played with and stuff
like this. And it was just, it was an
immediate match. So we ended up putting in that
we wanted to host her and we are, we're hosting this young
(49:39):
lady from Belgium. I'm not going to say names
because she's not over here yet.So we'll just keep the privacy
there. But I will say she is joining
the marching band at her school.All the stuff we've already been
in contact with band director and stuff like this.
But yeah, we're going to be hosting her and it's she's
actually coming in so she can participate in all the pre year
stuff that they have to do and what not.
(49:59):
But yes, we got a clarinet player from Belgium coming over.
So, and once we knew right away that we wanted to host her,
finding her sister was a little more challenging only because we
would find somebody that we werelike, oh, that's a great fit.
And then our school district is pretty strict about how many
(50:20):
credits they need to have. So finding somebody who was old
enough, it was a little harder, but we managed to choose a girl
coming from Finland, so and she's an animal lover and we
ourselves have a small zoo so. One of our cats made a cameo
behind me during this so. Yeah, I saw that Kitty.
(50:42):
Yeah, yeah. And she is one of those people
who has like a whole bunch of interests and can't focus on
one. So that fits perfectly with my
ADHD brain. So.
Oh, that, that is fantastic. And I wish you and your students
(51:02):
a fantastic exchange year together and thank you.
From the sounds of it, I I thinkthey're they're in good hands
with the both of you. They're very lucky.
And we're lucky to be able to. Host you, would you?
Do you have any advice for any people who may be considering
hosting who are listening? I'll I'll quote the old ad from
(51:24):
Nike back in the day. Just do it.
That's been a very common sentiment with these podcasts.
And The thing is, hopefully you're doing it with the right
mindset, that you're wanting to expand your awareness of the
world, you're wanting to expand your connections.
It is a life changing experiencein many good ways and it helps
(51:47):
you understand things better. And it's worthwhile.
It's not always easy and it's not 100% positive.
This is amazing the entire time,but it is what you make of it.
If you go into it with the mindset of I'm going to grow,
I'm going to help them grow, more than likely you're going to
find success. Yeah, because not everything
(52:09):
that's worth doing is always easy.
You come or it's very fair to have some anxieties about it.
It's very fair to think about, oh, well, what if this happens?
What if that happens? Of course, because that could
happen, but just do it. Never know until you try.
Yeah, exactly. Perfect.
And for my final question, are there any, is there a memory or
(52:32):
a story that really sticks out to you and your time of hosting
that we didn't get to share and talk about?
So with our first two, the way that cuz we talked about how we
didn't talk to them as long before they arrived.
So bonding took just a little bit longer, but we took them on
a road trip from Texas to our home state of Arizona, and
(52:57):
during that trip we learned a lot about each other.
Awesome. And there's one memory from this
year that just sticks out my mind.
There was an evening that Crystal and Bibka had something
to do, so it was just me and Itanuk for the night and we went
out for dinner and we just went and kind of around and did
(53:17):
things. And she's like, because she is
the kid who wants to be on TikTok, She wants to be a Kirgis
influencer. She's like, let's record a
video. So she pulled up that old song
just the two of us, and there's video of me and her just kind of
dancing and and lip synching along to just the two of us.
And that one will always stick in my memory.
That's so sweet, yeah. That same night, my students, my
(53:43):
my middle school choir students were at the San Antonio Opera
because the San Antonio Opera has a program where they do a
free dress rehearsal for schools.
So I was there and so was Veep does choir.
So then afterwards we got to talk about the opera and that
was really cool. Awesome.
Eric Crystal, thank you so, so much for your time, for your
(54:06):
stories, for your wisdom. I've had such a pleasure talking
to both of you and I wish you nothing but happiness and
success for this hosting year coming up and all your years in
the future. And for people who might be
interested in following along with the Wells family, are you
on social medias? There's somewhere where they
(54:27):
could keep up with you. Yeah.
Facebook. Instagram.
Snapchat. Awesome.
Thank you. Basically all the things.
Perfect. Well, make sure to get that and
we can put them in the show notes in case people want to
follow along because it'd be great to also have them have you
to answer with questions for personal experience too, if
(54:48):
you're up for that. But of course, I'm not the
force. Absolutely.
And thank you for having us on. Thank you for giving us an
opportunity to share our experiences.
We've we like sharing and talking about this stuff.
So. You do.
It's the pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much.
And that has been this episode of Life Exchange Stories of
(55:08):
Understanding. I'm your host, Kelsey Ross.
Until next time, bye. Listen to Life Exchange Stories
of Understanding now on Spotify,Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and
wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
What the experience was like picking them up from the airport
and meeting them for the very first time.
So we. Made it a point to choose them
kind of early on in the process so that we could have a good
amount of time to talk to them before they arrived.
Yeah. And I think that made a huge
(00:20):
difference. Yeah.
Because it just built up this anticipation, like, oh, my gosh,
we cannot wait to see them. And this year, let's see, it was
Aitanuk who arrived 1st. And yeah, when she came off the
plane, it was a giant hug. And how was it for Vita?
That was super cool too. She was tired, but still like
just the smile on her face when she saw us is.
(00:42):
I don't think that's anything I'm gonna forget.
Hello and welcome to this wonderful episode of Life
Exchange, Stories of Understanding.
I am your host, Kelsey Ross, andtoday we've got 2 guests joining
(01:03):
us and I'm really excited about it.
And I'm going to turn it over toyou to introduce yourselves.
So I'm Crystal Wells. I'm a host mom and local
coordinator in San Antonio, TX. And I'm Eric Wells, host parent,
married obviously to Crystal here.
Crystal, Eric, thank you both somuch for joining me today and
chatting with me about your experience.
I can't wait to hear more about your story.
(01:24):
I'm so excited, but just thank you for your time.
So to get started, why don't youall tell me a little bit about
yourselves and how the Eric and Crystal came to be?
So we met in music school, actually.
Yeah. But it was a good ten years
before we actually got together as a couple.
And we actually discovered that we're unable to have children of
(01:47):
our own. And hosting exchange students
seemed like a great way to grow our family.
It's been amazing. Like, more than we could have
imagined. It started when I was teaching
high school choir. I had a couple of exchange
students in my choir program, and getting to know them and
what amazing people they were, Idecided I should do this, too.
And then I talked to Eric. Yeah, when she brought it up, it
(02:11):
was an interesting opportunity to learn more about the world.
I've always been fascinated withdifferent cultures and stuff
like that. I remember taking courses in
college that was focused on culture and actually had a
conversation with the students who are hosting right now this
year about that and how that fell into hosting for Disdain
students. Eric, what would how are you
(02:33):
feeling when she first brought the topic up of hosting?
Was there any anxiety or Oh no what is she talking about?
Well, she had talked to me aboutthe students she's been hosting
and how awesome they were and the great interactions.
They had even got to meet them at concerts and stuff.
And you know, the fact that we can't have children have been a
(02:57):
topic of conversation in the past.
And so it was exciting to think about, but also a little bit
intimidating having never been aparent per SE.
But being a teacher myself, bothof us being teachers, we knew we
had the right mindset to become parents in that sense.
That's wonderful. And with teaching, so you're
(03:18):
around students all the time. And Crystal, you had mentioned
that you had had exchange students in your class.
Was that at your first introduction into exchange
students in the world of cultural exchange?
For the most part, yes. I met one when I myself was in
high school. We had a young man from Japan in
(03:38):
our jazz band. Cool.
So yeah. But getting to know the kiddos
in my choir as an adult, it helped me understand even more
what it was all about. Yeah.
So we had familiarity with high school exchange programs a
little bit. I knew somebody I was growing, I
grew up with. They had a foreign exchange
(03:59):
student from Spain for a little while, but we both ended up
getting our master's degrees at the same time and there were
actually several students from China that were in the same
program we were. So that was also an opportunity
to kind of get exposed to foreign exchange type programs.
So was it through these exchangestudents in your choir, Crystal,
that you had first heard about Wyatt, or had you heard about it
(04:22):
prior to that? So actually our first hosting
experience was with a different agency.
After that experience, which with our girls we hosted that
year, we had Maya from Germany and Benedetta from Italy.
Our experience with them was fantastic, but unfortunately we
decided that we wanted to find adifferent agency.
(04:44):
We did some research and found YFU.
Eric can speak to this too, but I think what really drew us to
YFU was how long it's been around, how far it reaches in
the world and its original inception and the reason that it
came to be. Gotcha.
That is a large part of it. There was another aspect because
I remember doing a lot of research at the time when we
(05:05):
were trying to find a new organization.
And one thing I noticed in reading like why should become a
host parent is why, if you actually does put an emphasis on
on the possibility of hosting students that have chronic
health conditions. As a type 1 diabetic myself, I
found that fascinating and we made sure to put that in there
there if there was somebody fromanother country who has type 1
(05:26):
diabetes, we would be comfortable hosting them because
we have experience dealing with it.
And so that was kind of a neat thing that the program really
actually talked about that that's.
Great. You'd be surprised at how many
different organizations aren't comfortable taking on students
with chronic medical conditions or students who I wouldn't say
(05:46):
are outside of the norm, but areoutside of like the typical high
school student experience. And I was something that I've
always really enjoyed about thisplace and glad we found the
common ground there. You, you did your research, you
found YFU and decided to give ita shot.
So after that, how did you startpreparing to take on another
year of hosting? So we met with our local
(06:10):
coordinator, David. Unfortunately, he has since
passed. Yeah, but he was is a huge part
of YFU for many years. And when we attended his
funeral, I mean, some of his former students were there.
So just the impact he had on everybody was kind of amazing.
He's a fantastic guy. I remember I've worked with him
(06:30):
a little bit and he's. Yeah, got quite a bit.
And yes, and when he met with usthe first time, that's kind of
how we knew that YFU was the right choice.
So he was just, so what's the word?
Just so like realistic, open, honest, caring.
Yeah, David could talk to anybody.
That's something that I've heardfrom many people and I myself
(06:53):
have experienced with talking tohim.
It's it's a tremendous loss, unfortunately, but I am glad
that he was able to talk with you and make you feel
comfortable about coming to YFU and hosting.
So after you talked with him, how did you go about choosing
the exchange students that you wanted to host?
I believe you had two students, correct?
Yes, yes. Interesting.
(07:14):
OK, so so why? Why 2?
And I'll, that's, that's actually interesting to talk
about. When we first got into this with
the previous organization, we had gone into thinking, oh,
we'll host one student. The person we were working with
at that time pointed out that having one student at home with
no other kids who would turn into a situation where they're
(07:38):
kind of lonely, there's nobody else in the house their age and
things like that that they can relate to.
And we realized that's kind of important thing be able to for
them to have somebody that's notan adult that they can talk to
and somebody that's on their level.
So at that time we chose to hosttwo students.
And Chris already mentioned thatMaya and Benedetta.
And so going into it this time from the get go, we're like,
(08:00):
we're going to host two in the previous time, Maya was from
Germany, Benedetta was from Italy.
And so as we were going into it this second time this year, we
actually decided to look at other parts of the world and end
up hosting a girl from Germany and a girl from Kyrgyzstan to
kind of explore different cultural, cultural things that
we had never experienced before.Yeah.
(08:21):
Was it just their cultural aspects that drew you to them,
or were there certain traits in their in what you had learned
about them that really inspired you to host them?
So it was honestly, it was just one of those feelings when we
looked at their profiles and went, that's our girl.
So Mitzipka from Germany, it talked a lot about her interest
(08:43):
in music and singing. And that, of course, resonated
with me. And she ended up being in the
choir program at the high schooland ended up being in region
choir, which in Texas is a big deal.
OK, yeah. And I, Tanuk, yeah, is a flexor.
And her host family letter was like, almost like a short story.
Like she's just so imaginative and such a dreamer.
(09:06):
And I think that's what drew us to her.
Yeah, those initial host lettersand things like that are such a
big deal for the families cuz itreally gives you a kind of peek
into the kind of person that thestudent is.
We've talked with the kids, we didn't know what to put in
there. And it's like, well, you did
exactly what you need to do. You put your personality,
(09:27):
yourself into that letter. And that is what drew our
attention and caused us to be interested in hosting you.
The letters always end up being a really big part as to why host
families end up choosing the student that they want to host.
For exchange students who might be watching this and are
preparing to write their own host family letters, do you have
any advice for things that they can include or how they should
(09:49):
approach it to maybe pique the interests of a potential host
family well? I mean, just like every family
United States, a different student applying to be a foreign
exchange, a student is going to be different.
Realistically, what it boils down to is putting your own
personality into there. Yeah.
Talk about it, write it so it's you that's communicating and
(10:14):
definitely talk about the thingsthat interest you.
You know, we're not very sports minded people, but we definitely
support interest in sports. Yeah.
And so it's like talk about those things that you're
interested in, things that you want to try and experience are
important because as host families, we're interested in
(10:35):
you getting the best experience possible.
So if we know what you're looking for, we can determine if
we're going to be the family that can help you experience
that. Gotcha Crystal, anything to add?
That pretty much nailed it, Really.
Yeah. It's it's very helpful when the
letter is written in their own voice.
Yeah. Yeah.
If that makes sense. Yeah.
(10:56):
And not just a narrative of I live here, this is who I am.
Yeah. Right throwing a little bit of
themselves into it. It's not just it's not like
you're not writing a cover letter.
It's essentially to me you're writing a little like I was like
in a book jacket like that biography about the author,
little blurb. It's that that's it.
That is your introduction to these host families.
(11:18):
And if you're not really showingyour personality, they don't get
to know the real you. And that's a shame because we
want we want to know the real you.
That's. That's what makes you because
they're all amazing, you know? Some of the letters that have
piqued our interest the most arethe ones where the student kind
of talks about this is my day, this is how I go through my day,
here's what I do because it gives us perspective on them and
(11:41):
their life. Right.
I appreciate that insight and I'm sure exchange students are
also going to appreciate your insight coming from the people
who are choosing the students toand I appreciate that local
coordinator too. Also pointing out potentially
that a student by themselves maybe a little lonely.
From my perspective, I'm an onlychild, so I definitely
understand that loneliness and not having somebody your own age
(12:03):
to talk to. I was pretty lucky and having
cousins who lived right next door, but you know, we we also
drove each other nuts. Yeah.
And kind of on the flip side of that, as a local coordinator,
I'm working with a family that has two daughters.
Yeah. And so she wanted to host a
student that was used to having siblings because she felt like
(12:25):
maybe hosting an only child, they wouldn't be used to having
that extra responsibility and extra people around.
Right, it makes sense. Yeah.
Just one last thing to add on tothat.
It's like one of the things we end up talking with kids about
is when they're coming over here, they're coming over,
experience things. And maybe it's an opportunity
(12:47):
to, if you are an only child, toexperience living with siblings,
host siblings and getting that experience because maybe you
don't know that yet. And to since you're already
experiencing another country, you can experience other things
at the same time. Perfect.
You had mentioned Crystal, that you were a local coordinator.
Were you a local coordinator before you became a host parent?
(13:08):
No, OK, It was actually David that got me roped into it, so to
say, because he had recommended us to apply because at that time
he was the only one in the area.He, yeah, he had a lot of
students and families under his protection and guidance.
It's he. He was a very busy guy.
(13:29):
Yes, and. For those who may not know, what
is a local coordinator? So we are responsible for being
kind of that first line of defense for the students.
Their host families, of course, are the first one they go to,
but we are there to make sure that they're safe, that they're
happy. And if for whatever reason,
because it does happen, there isa problem with them and the host
(13:51):
family, one way or another, we are there to kind of help
mediate that. Perfect.
And I remember you would saying one of your students that you
chose was part of the flex program.
Would you all be able to give usa little bit of insight as to
what that is for those who may not know?
Yeah. Go for it.
So the Flex program is a scholarship program,
(14:12):
particularly for students in Eurasia countries that we are
trying to build more knowledge and understanding of more
relationships with. Some of their populations are
Muslim, and those students come here very specifically to share
their culture. And that is exactly what Aitanuk
did, and she was all in. I'll, I'll talk about that.
(14:38):
There actually is a requirement for them to put on presentations
about their country, yeah, that they're from to usually to their
school. But I, Tanuk being the
overachiever that she is, asked us if she could do it elsewhere.
So actually I'm a middle school band director.
And so one day she and her host sister and actually another
(14:59):
friend of theirs who is a part of another foreign exchange
program, all came to my school and put on presentations for
students at my school about Kyrgyzstan.
And I mean, she went all out. She wore traditional clothing,
talked about the game. She even did a performance on
their traditional instrument, the comous and things like that.
And yeah, it's very fascinating to be able to learn about that.
(15:21):
And, you know, my students for us a year would always ask me,
well, how are they doing? What are they up to now and
things like that. And actually, I Tuke was also
working on volunteer hours. So sometimes she would come out
and do volunteer events at my district.
Like we have a food bank that runs my district because it's a
very low income district. So my kids always get to check
in and say hi. And it was, it was really neat
(15:42):
connections for them to get to make that way.
And my fellow staff members, like my principal talks to me
all the time. Like how are the girls doing and
stuff like this? And just always checking in and
wondering about them. Their requirement for service
hours is like 35A semester. Chinook was like, no, I'm doing
100. Oh my goodness.
So she did. Now that is an achiever.
(16:05):
My gosh, love the points you were making about how the whole
community ended up rallying around these girls and really
becoming close with them. That's honestly all we could
ever hope for. And it's it's so great that they
were able to make such an impactin the time that they were
there. The instrument that I to Nuke
was playing. What?
What was that called again? It's called a kamus, A kamus
(16:28):
called KOMUZ OK and it's similarin Western music, similar to
like a guitar or almost a banjo without the drumhead part.
She went to school for multiple years learning how to and can
play it really well. That sounds so awesome.
You'd mentioned your German student also was rather
(16:50):
musically inclined and she was part of the region choir and
yeah, big part of that. How long had she been singing
before she came on exchange? Several years, I think she
started in late elementary school, if I remember right.
Yeah. And she was singing in the music
school in Germany because that'show, like, school is a bit
(17:11):
different there. Of course.
I mean, they have all of their core classes during the day.
And then when they want to do something like sports or music
or anything like that, it's a separate after school.
So she studied music for a long time and she's quite talented.
When she came and join the choirprogram like the director put
her in varsity choir. Wow, that's amazing.
(17:35):
Yeah, both the kids got involvedwith multiple things.
I mean, I'd to nuke tried to do sports and stuff like that.
They both were in debate class. They both each of them end up
going to a debate contest at some point.
Of course we could was doing allthe choir stuff.
And yeah. And now it's just that's one
thing that we've come to really encourage the students to do is
(17:56):
get involved with the different things that are going on because
that's how you make your friends.
That's how you make your connections because you you
start doing those things. And both times we've hosted, our
kids we've hosted have managed to make like 1 bestie that's
also a foreign exchange student.And that that kid ended spending
more time at our house than we ever expected.
(18:17):
And they kind of became our third kid.
And this year, they had a friend, Rim from Switzerland,
and she was also heavily involved in things.
She did a lot of swim team, water polo, stuff like that.
Yeah. Just getting involved, all the
different activities. They were both in National Honor
Society, doing things like that.Just.
Yeah, and making those connections.
(18:37):
Very involved girls. That's very impressive.
It's something we've, we noticedquite a bit too with these
exchange students. They're, they tend to be
overachievers. They tend to be people who want
to stay involved and want to be active in their community.
It's so great that they had you both to encourage them to do
that and really get involved in their school community.
So I'm backtracking a little bit, but I would like to hear
(19:01):
what the experience was like picking them up from the airport
and them for the very first time.
So we made it a point to choose them kind of early on in the
process so that we could have a good amount of time to talk to
them before they arrived. Yeah.
And I think that made a huge difference.
(19:22):
Yeah. Because it just built up this
anticipation, like, oh, my gosh,we cannot wait to see them.
And this year, let's see, it wasAitanuk who arrived first.
Yeah. She arrived, like, late morning
one day. And poor Eric could not find a
place to park, you know? So yeah, I got out of the car
and went in to meet her while hewas still trying to park.
(19:44):
And yeah, when she came off the plane, it was a giant hug.
In fact she has video of it, not.
Only does she have video of it? She posted it to Tick Tock and
she was very proud to tell us ithad gotten a whole bunch of
views. Oh, exciting.
We'll have to find her her videoand share it with everybody.
That's so cool. And how was it for Vika?
(20:05):
That was super cool too, just because that was later at night.
We were tired, she was tired, but still like just the smile on
her face when she saw us is I don't think that's anything I'm
going to forget so. Yeah.
And I want to touch on what Crystal talked about, how we
chose these girls. Early communication from the get
go is of paramount importance. Being able to develop
(20:27):
connections in advance, talk with each other, meet each other
as it were from a distance makesthat initial meeting and those
initial days so much easier. The first time we did this, we
didn't know that we had chosen the students that we did.
And thinking like April or May, we had like, I think maybe one
conversation with them prior to their arrival.
(20:50):
And in both instances we have become family.
Like we really view these kids as our kids forever and they
view us as their American parents and things like that.
But the process of getting to know each other was so much
faster when we opened up the communication so much earlier.
It allowed us to all get to knoweach other and kind of figure
(21:12):
out a few quirks here and there.We're still definitely a
learning process. Once they were here, yeah, but
it made it much easier. Gotcha.
And I know obviously with time differences, it's got to be a
little tricky trying to plan howyou're going to talk to one
another. With Germany, I think it's only
like 6 hours ahead of us here inRAR in Michigan.
It's got to be I think like 7 for you all.
(21:32):
Yeah. How far ahead was Kazakhstan?
11 or 12? Depending on daylight savings.
Time, yeah. So.
How did that work? We had to be creative.
Usually it meant that we woke upearly because, like, if we woke
up to talk to her at like 7:00 AM, it was like 7:00 PM for her.
Yeah. So.
(21:53):
Yeah. Wow.
Even now, after she's returned, we still will communicate with
each other and it's like we can usually expect to get like a
message really early in the morning or right around dinner
time we'll start getting some messages because she's just
woken up. Because she's already gone back,
unfortunately. But when she did, like, it took
her a while to get used to that time zone too.
(22:15):
So yeah. I can't imagine trying to wrap
my head around and get used to that new normal.
Were you able to talk to their natural parents a little bit
before too and develop a bond with them?
Yes, I would say Veepka's parents a little bit more than
itanukes because the language barrier was less.
Gotcha. Yeah.
(22:36):
Makes sense. Both her parents had visited the
United States prior to her coming over and in fact, I
believe she told us they have family over in Canada.
OK, so they have some familiarity with English, but I
had a new experience, not a likeEnglish experience at all.
And that's OK. We, I mean you just you use
Google Translate and you messagethrough like WhatsApp, you send
(22:57):
text messages, things like that.Gotcha.
So we. Managed to do that and we would
ask her does this translate right?
You have the second I and make sure you're not saying something
silly because Google Translate will be it be betraying it
betrays people. It can, yeah.
It definitely does. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah. Have there been any funny
moments of mistranslation with your girls that you could talk
(23:20):
about? So OK, I have to tell this very
first one. And it's not really a
mistranslation, it's a mispronunciation.
OK, So I turned it from Kyrgyzstan and it's pretty much
across the board. In Kyrgyzstan, they can all
speak Kirghiz and Russian. Gotcha.
So she comes over and we're talking about things and in our
first meal we're having, I was like, so what's everybody's
(23:41):
favorite kind of meal? And I think we were actually
having soup that night, right? I think so.
I Tanuk still figuring out how to pronounce words and stuff
like this, pronounce the word soup as soap.
So she said, oh, I really love soap.
I'm like soap. Really.
Really. Are you sure you mean soap?
And yeah. She's like no, no soup, soap,
(24:05):
like, oh, soup, OK. Yeah, that's one of those core
memories that all of us rememberand will remember forever.
Very close word wise, I get it. It is.
Crystal, do you have any memories like that that you
could share with us? So over New Year's, well,
(24:26):
between Christmas and New Year's, we took the girls to
Disney World. Yeah.
And we had gone with one of my best friends that I've known for
years and years. It was her son's graduation
celebration. So we all went together as a big
family. And this trip cost quite a bit
of money, so it was one that we had to get permission for,
etcetera. And when we messaged itunuke's
(24:50):
parents about it, when they message us back, it was one of
those times that it didn't quitetranslate right.
And we initially thought they said they weren't going to allow
her to go. And it was like, wait, what?
Oh no. Yeah, but I too knew.
Read it again. She's like, no, no, this means
so. And we knew for sure that she
was going because they had signed the paper.
(25:13):
Crisis averted. Yes, that's so cool you got to
show them Disney World. Were there any other places that
you were able to travel with them and allow them to
experience? Some different things here in
Texas, yeah, yeah. Just kind of exploring around,
checking different things out. We went down to the beach, of
course, because. Nice.
(25:34):
Yeah, the first time was really cold, but we all had a good
time. And then the second time was
pretty warm because we went at the end of May, so.
Nice. My skin is still peeling.
Right there with you yeah, yeah,the summer and the pale
complexion does not mix well That's that's awesome that they
(25:54):
were able to check out some new places here in the States and
Disney World was there a sacred attraction or something that
they really were excited about at Disney World that you got to
watch them enjoy my. Goodness.
Which day? All of it.
I will talk about 1 moment that was just, it was very touching
because I know it, you know, around the world pretty much
(26:15):
everybody's familiar with Disneyand y'all have your translations
and stuff like this. And we ended up going to this
like kind of live show about Frozen.
Yeah. And they had actors up on the
stage and stuff like this. And as we walked out, like I
just became just very emotional and she's like, it was like
reliving my childhood kind of thing.
And it was just, it was such a very touching moment and all the
(26:39):
different kind of wondrous things, the feelings that you
get when you go to Disney, despite all the long lines and
stuff like that, there's still that magic that happens when
you're there, so. That's beautiful.
It was. We also discovered that they
love roller coasters, which is good because we have a Six Flags
here in town, so they went several times.
Nice. Awesome.
(27:00):
Yeah. I, I, I can't relate.
I am terrified of, I hated roller coasters.
So I I'm not your girl for that.But everything else with Disney.
Absolutely. So you were able to share quite
a bit about the US culture and certain things that we have
around here. Were there any cultural
traditions or foods that they were able to share with you
while they were with you? Yeah.
(27:20):
Do you remember some? See, that was what it was
called, right? Yeah, that's what Antonuc made
for Thanksgiving. Yeah, it's new.
Made several different dishes from Kyrgyzstan.
Buckwheat soap. Yes, yeah, I was.
I, I was feeling ill one time. And so she decided to make soup.
And I don't know if I have the little thing right now.
(27:43):
She left a little note with it and said here is healing soup
for the best host Dad. She was always very
affectionate, trying to take care of all of us around here.
But yeah, food is the universal language.
One thing we've always looked for in profiles is kids who talk
about, like, cooking food and things like that and baking and
(28:03):
stuff like that. In fact, now both years we've
hosted students and it's going to become a tradition.
We actually invite them to invite all their friends and we
have a big international meal where everybody brings dishes
from their culture and we share it.
Oh cool. Yeah.
So they both, I think Vika made a German chocolate cake.
(28:26):
I'd Snook made her some seed. And then they had friends from
all over. We had a dish from Egypt, we had
dish from the Philippines, we had dish from Switzerland.
Where else I'm missing some? France.
France. That's right.
The lumpia, did you say the Philippines already?
Yeah, yeah, Lumpia we had in there.
I made green chili beef so we could have tacos with that.
(28:47):
I made Navajo fry bread, yeah. So yeah, food is something that
we love sharing and we encouragethem to cook and we invite them
to cook with us. The thing that was kind of cool
about when we did it this year was not all of their friends
from school were foreign exchange students, but they were
American born kids whose parentswere from other countries, which
(29:11):
is why we got to experience all of that.
That's so cool. And obviously of course Itanuke
and Vika got to try out some American foods.
Were there any standouts for them?
They love Mexican food. Elite choice, absolutely.
Top tier. Excellent.
Yes. Tacos, Yeah.
(29:32):
In Texas I can't the Tex mex scene yes on on real.
Well, and of course we want to have them experience all sorts
of different things. They both came to really love
raising canes. Of course.
They absolutely love raising Canes.
We always have the contest each year because I'm a big fan of
Whataburger and Crystals, a big fan in and out.
(29:52):
So we have to figure out which one they prefer.
OK. I'm not sure we ever got a firm
answer this year. Rim was the tie in and outs
winning right now I I for the tiebreaker.
Yeah, yeah. I haven't had a Whataburger yet.
I've had in and out and I I can see why people go nuts over it.
It's really good. Well, say, if you ever come down
to Texas, we can take you to Whataburger.
(30:13):
No, and Whataburger's really Whataburger's really good, don't
get me wrong. It's just there's just something
about in and out. Yeah, it's, I mean, does does
Whataburger have the fun paper hats?
Because that kind of sold me with.
They don't. No, they just have a lot more
variety in their food. OK, well I mean it is about
food, but what about the fashion?
Come on. I also you got to experience
(30:38):
holidays together. Were there any holidays,
especially with Itunuke, that you were able to experience for
the first time with your students?
Yeah, Halloween and Christmas had never been a thing for her
before, and she was really excited about it.
And, of course, the uniquely American one of Thanksgiving.
That's always a big one. Did she bring any holiday
(31:02):
traditions over from Kazakhstan?Not really.
She did talk a lot about, especially in Kyrgyzstan,
they're very big on like Mother's Day, Father's Day kind
of thing. It's a very big deal for them.
Very family oriented kind of thing over there.
She is Muslim but we didn't talktoo much about the Muslim
holidays like she she did participate in.
(31:27):
Ramadan. Ramadan and stuff like that.
But that was her choice. And we just, we, we worked it in
into our schedule. And I'm an always an early
riser. My body doesn't let me sleep
past five most days. Usually I'm up even before that.
And so for during Ramadan, she and I would get to spend time
together in the morning just chatting as she was getting her
meal at the beginning of the day.
(31:47):
Because the way Ramadan works isyou can eat before sunrise and
after sunset, but you can't consume during the day.
Oh, yeah. Getting to have those times
where we just get to sit and chat one-on-one was always
really nice kind of thing. But that's really the extent of
holiday celebrations from her culture that we really
experienced. Gotcha.
Yeah. There was.
(32:07):
She talked a bit about Kyrgyzstan's Independence Day,
because Kyrgyzstan as an independent country is only
about 30 years old. Wow.
Yeah. So on that day she talked about
how it came to be and she she was showing us videos back home
of like their celebrations and fireworks much like the 4th of
(32:30):
July. Yeah, we did spend quite a bit
of time talking about her culture and she would talk about
the significance of like, designs and things.
She gave me a cup book, which isa traditional hat the men wear.
I have it upstairs, or else I'd show it to you right now.
But yeah, and talking about manas and stuff like that, which
is very integral to their culture and stuff.
(32:52):
And yeah, we talked a lot about,like, the yurts and the nomadic
nature of the Kyrgyz culture andeverything, yeah.
Was did she come from a nomadic background too, or was she more?
No, OK, she grew still still lives in a small village up in
the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, although what she told us
(33:13):
because they this year would have been her last year at
school in Kyrgyzstan. So she got back in time to
participate in the graduation celebration and now she's going
to move to the capital city and start working and doing school
and stuff like that. But yeah, no, she's grew up in a
small village. Ever think it was it maybe
10,000 people I think. But in summers she has an uncle
(33:36):
and they would go out and visit them as they moved around the
mountainside with their yurt andstuff.
That's. Cool.
We have a program for adults with Mongolia where they get to
live a week and leave the capital city and then they also
spend a week with people who arenomadic and get to see a lot of
like the Mongolian countryside. So that nomadic way of living
has always been very intriguing to me and I prefer I like being
(33:57):
settled. I'm used to that, so hearing the
other way, it's very interestingto me.
It yeah, it is. So it's like, what is that like
to not really be in one place? Yeah.
It sounds just from hearing you talk about your experiences that
you really built strong connections with these girls.
(34:18):
And how did that happen? I know you had talked quite a
bit in the beginning before theygot there, but as they arrived
and they were settling and how did you still manage to create
such a strong bond with them? Just a lot of spending time with
them, having conversations at dinner, being open and honest.
Like that's the biggest thing with us.
Like when they get here, we kindof tell them, look, you're in a
(34:41):
new setting right now. You're in a new country.
You're teenagers. You're going to have choices,
and you're probably going to mess up, and that's OK.
Yeah. But our job is to keep you safe.
So we need to know, like, you can tell us anything.
And I think that's made a huge difference.
(35:01):
Another part of it is, is encouraging them to talk about
their views, the views that theyhave on political, social
issues. You know, they, they told us
before that in their, before they come over, they're told to
be careful about talking about politics and stuff like that.
The thing is, you don't get to know someone unless you talk
(35:22):
about what matters to them. Yeah, you what, what, what are
their principles? What are their values?
Yeah. How are they different?
How are they similar? And being able to have those
conversations and being open to it and saying, hey, you have
this view. I have this view.
But we're still here. We're making this work.
This is, this is how we want theworld to work.
(35:42):
So this is what we do. We we encourage this kind of
stuff. You know, I'm not a particularly
religious person myself, but both of our girls this year were
religious and we did have conversations about that.
But it's also just because we have the different views on that
stuff. We're still all good people.
We still care about each other and being able to show them that
and show them that we accept them for who they are and they
(36:03):
accept us for who we are, that helps build that connection.
And it's just kind of funny because he made me remember that
one of our first or no, it was our first conversation with
Vivka. We dove into politics almost
right away because she was like,I need to know this.
I need to know. That I I've noticed that a few
(36:26):
with, like the German students in particular, they're very
intrigued with political situations here in the United
States and how it affects the global scale.
Well, they're taught to pay attention now.
Yeah, exactly. It comes down to difference in
education in that regard. But I assume it it was a
sunshine and rainbows when you're hosting.
And I'm sure that there were some challenges to overcome.
(36:48):
And I'm curious if you could give us some insight on to some
of the challenges that you face as a family and how you were
able to overcome that? 1st I mean, sometimes you're not
always going to agree. I mean, these are still
teenagers. And like the first time we
hosted, there was disagreement because I was teaching.
I happened to be teaching at their school.
(37:08):
So unfortunately for them, I knew most of the kids and prom
came and they were like, oh, we want to go to this after party.
And I saw the invitation on Insta and I saw who was hosting
it. And I said absolutely not.
Yep, yeah. The challenges we faced are
(37:32):
really no different than the challenges any family with
teenagers face because they're experiencing things, they have
their views and stuff and they value their own independence.
And sometimes that clashes, likeof course, we're our concern is
making sure they stay safe, but they're still learning.
And sometimes there were times they wanted to do things like
(37:55):
that's probably not the best idea and but creating the bond
that we did at the beginning helped navigate through those
situations because they felt comfortable talking to us about
them. Beyond that, it's, it really
just if conflicts came up, it came down to, hey, we need you
to help out. But I wanted to do this, but we
(38:17):
need to get this stuff taken care of kind of thing that's
really boiled down to the conflicts that did happen
sometimes were between the kids themselves.
And actually this year, I think it really boiled down to
cultural differences because they were from 2 very different
parts of the world and they, they still worked through it.
That's The thing is that they were able to work through it.
(38:39):
And that's one thing I never didforeign exchange when I was a
kid. I can't say enough about how
amazed I am with these kids are willing to put themselves in
this situation going into this. And you have to have an open
mind to be willing to do this. And as long as you keep that in
mind and it's like, hey, we're, we're different from each other,
this is going to happen. It works out in the end.
(39:01):
As long as everybody's coming atit from just being like, we're
still trying to make this work as a fan.
Yeah, and as far as they're concerned, they're still
sisters. Yeah, and that's pretty great.
We did have another challenge this year that we hadn't
experienced before that wasn't aconflict, but Deepika managed to
break her foot. How did that happen?
(39:24):
So she was at her friend's houseand it was dark outside and they
have dogs so they were letting the dogs out and she stepped
wrong off the step and that's all it took.
Yeah, poor thing. Navigating all of that?
Like advice to future host families?
Make sure you know all the insurance and outs of the
(39:45):
insurance. Yes, they do come with
insurance. Right, but make sure you know
how to navigate it. Right.
International insurance sometimes works different than
what we're used to here in the United States.
So it just it involves contacting them and stay in
communication with the insuranceagency.
(40:05):
How's how's her foot now? Is she peeled up in bed?
It's good. It was, it was kind of a
hairline fracture, so it was oneof those situations where she
had to be in a boot for a few weeks.
Yep. And now she's good to go.
Good. Well, happy ending there at
least. Yes.
So thankfully, yeah, no surgery.Thank God.
(40:25):
Oh. Yeah, that have been a mess.
So I mean it just from hearing how you're overcoming challenges
you it seems like a lot of open communication building that
trust to begin with. Do you have any other advice for
host families who may be facing challenges with their exchange
suited and trying to work through them?
Definitely, like it seems obvious to me, but it might not
(40:46):
be obvious to everyone. Talk about it first.
Like if you're having an issue with something that's happening
with the student, talk to them. Yeah.
Like, I mean, and as a local coordinator, we're supposed to
be the second option, yeah. Yeah.
Right. Yeah, It's also, when you talk
about it, it's this is how I'm viewing this.
(41:08):
This is what I see, This is whatI'm experiencing.
Because the other side may not be interpreting, may not
realize. And that's, that's very common
even amongst Americans, to Americans, but even more so when
you're talking to somebody who comes from a different cultural
background, they may not may notview things the same as you.
And so you have to talk about itin terms of, look, here is what
(41:32):
I'm used to, here's how I do things.
And here's what I'm hoping we can get out of this.
And encouraging them to be upfront and honest about how
they feeling. Well, you know, maybe they're
not used to taking care of thesethings in this way.
And it's like, OK, well, now that we both know where we're
coming from, we're, we're we're living here together.
So let's come to a compromise. Let's come to a solution that
(41:55):
works for both of us to being comfortable here.
Thank you for your insights and your advice.
I think that can be very helpful, especially for first
time host parents. It could be quite intimidating.
Yeah. So what would you say has been
the most rewarding aspect of being host parents?
The extended family, we developed these family
(42:18):
relationships. It's not that we spent a year
with these kids and they're moving off and they're doing
their own thing and that's that We still talk to our kids from
our first year doing this. We talk to their families and
we've actually become close to the aunt of one of our kids from
the first year because we share similar views on things.
And you know, whenever the kids go home, we always get this
(42:40):
message of you always have a place to stay if you ever come
here. It's having family connections
everywhere. That is the biggest thing for me
is being able to have that connection and not because, oh,
I have a place to stay. No, it's, I know somebody from
that culture. I, I now know more about Islam
(43:01):
than I ever knew before. And quite frankly, it's much
different than way many people here in the United States
purport Islam to be. So it's that better
understanding of what's going onelsewhere that open up that
worldview for me. That's the biggest thing that
I've gained out of this. How about for you, Crystal?
(43:22):
Definitely the same thing. I mean, just knowing that these
kids are our kids for life. So and just when their parents
contact us and express their gratitude for doing what we did
for the year, like it is just really special.
Hey, have you? Ever thought about bringing the
world to your home? I have YFUUSA.
(43:46):
You can. By hosting an exchange student,
you'll experience a brand new culture right in your own home.
It's an incredible opportunity to make lifelong connections and
help a young student discover the American way of life.
Want more info? Visit yfuusa.org to learn more
about how you can become a host family today.
(44:06):
So that being said, it should beacknowledged that we have been
very fortunate in the kids that we have been matched up with,
right? It doesn't always happen.
There are times that conflicts happen.
Hopefully the families and the kids and the local coordinator
can work through it and make sure it all works.
But be aware that the potential for any outcome is possible and
(44:32):
just be prepared for that as well.
Because it's like, like I said, we've been very lucky and we
hope to continue being lucky in how how things go.
And we put a lot of thought intowho we try and host for that
very reason. But in the end, you still have
learned more about the world. Even if you didn't develop the a
(44:53):
strong connection with the kid, you still, you know more and
they know more. So everybody's still benefited
in some way. I appreciate you touching on it.
It isn't always the greatest situation, yeah.
And, and because our girls have met so many other students,
like, I mean, we've, we've seen it happen unfortunately, like
(45:14):
we've seen instances where things weren't working well.
Yeah. And the important thing to
remember for people who maybe beconsidering hosting and hear
that and they're like, I'm not sure about that.
There, there are support systemshere for you.
There are people who are going to help you.
And if it doesn't work out, we find other arrangements, we make
it work. That's just what you have to do.
(45:36):
But how would you say personallyhosting has changed you or
helped you to grow? It's definitely helped me.
I always have been a pretty openminded person, but I think that
this has brought it to a whole new level, just learning about
things from other perspectives. As an educator, because I am a
(45:58):
teacher, I will say that it has opened up my understanding of I
have a better understanding where some of my kids come from.
I live across town for where my kids go to school and I, I've
lived my own life. I've had my own experiences.
And so being able to learn aboutthe experiences that these kids
have around from around the world has helped me better
(46:19):
connect with my own students even and understand where
they're coming from. And like, OK, that's different
from me, but I still care about you and I can find ways to help
you understand that I care aboutyou.
And, and quite frankly, there are some teachers that struggle
with that and it this kind of stuff really helps with that.
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Eric.
(46:40):
That was going to be my next question is how it helped you to
grow in your professional lives as teachers.
Oh, absolutely, yeah. Just because, like, having the
experience of kind of being a parent definitely shapes how you
teach. Yeah.
So now, on the other hand, that's not to say that teachers
who don't have children can't begood teachers because that's a
(47:03):
hill I will die on. That's a whole nother story.
But it does add another layer ofunderstanding I think.
Absolutely. And would you say that hosting
has given you a a nice taste of parenthood and being parents to
these wonderful students? Absolutely.
Yes, the good and the bad, yeah.That's fantastic.
(47:28):
And would you say that it's giving you a different
perspective on your own dynamic together as a family and as a
couple? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. We were married for several
years prior to getting involved with this.
But when we started hosting, it helped us.
Like, we've learned our own parenting styles and how we have
(47:48):
to work together to help our kids succeed but also help each
other succeed in doing things. You learn about the thing of
like, the kids figure out which parent is the one to go to when
you want something and when. Yeah.
And things like that. And so it's, we've always been
strong proponents of open communication between each
(48:09):
other, but it has just exemplified that and helped us
be even better at communicating with each other because we have
to communicate with them. We have to stay in communication
with each other to make it all work.
So that's helped us tremendouslyin that regard.
Wonderful. Definitely.
Absolutely wonderful. I'm curious, are you planning on
hosting again in the future? Yes, we are.
(48:30):
I'll talk. I'll talk about 1, you talk
about the other. OK, go for it.
All right, so we don't always try to find kids who are
musically inclined, but sometimes it happens.
This year we hosted Bibkov from Germany and she's a singer and
stuff like this. For both times we've hosted now,
it's been girls and we even we've even talked about each
other like we're always hosting girls and that have to be
(48:54):
upfront. We host girls because they tend
to be the ones that are more willing to talk.
In our experience, the foreign exchange boys who talk to are
like typical teenage boys and don't always talk.
So we are inclined more towards girls.
But we had thought we had lookedstrongly at some of the guys
that were available and really thinking about that.
And then we came across the profile of a young lady from
(49:16):
Belgium and it was very clear inthere that she's been heavily
involved in music and playing the clarinet.
Nice. Through a little slew thing, I
did manage to figure out what group she played with and stuff
like this. And it was just, it was an
immediate match. So we ended up putting in that
we wanted to host her and we are, we're hosting this young
(49:39):
lady from Belgium. I'm not going to say names
because she's not over here yet.So we'll just keep the privacy
there. But I will say she is joining
the marching band at her school.All the stuff we've already been
in contact with band director and stuff like this.
But yeah, we're going to be hosting her and it's she's
actually coming in so she can participate in all the pre year
stuff that they have to do and what not.
(49:59):
But yes, we got a clarinet player from Belgium coming over.
So, and once we knew right away that we wanted to host her,
finding her sister was a little more challenging only because we
would find somebody that we werelike, oh, that's a great fit.
And then our school district is pretty strict about how many
(50:20):
credits they need to have. So finding somebody who was old
enough, it was a little harder, but we managed to choose a girl
coming from Finland, so and she's an animal lover and we
ourselves have a small zoo so. One of our cats made a cameo
behind me during this so. Yeah, I saw that Kitty.
(50:42):
Yeah, yeah. And she is one of those people
who has like a whole bunch of interests and can't focus on
one. So that fits perfectly with my
ADHD brain. So.
Oh, that, that is fantastic. And I wish you and your students
(51:02):
a fantastic exchange year together and thank you.
From the sounds of it, I I thinkthey're they're in good hands
with the both of you. They're very lucky.
And we're lucky to be able to. Host you, would you?
Do you have any advice for any people who may be considering
hosting who are listening? I'll I'll quote the old ad from
(51:24):
Nike back in the day. Just do it.
That's been a very common sentiment with these podcasts.
And The thing is, hopefully you're doing it with the right
mindset, that you're wanting to expand your awareness of the
world, you're wanting to expand your connections.
It is a life changing experiencein many good ways and it helps
(51:47):
you understand things better. And it's worthwhile.
It's not always easy and it's not 100% positive.
This is amazing the entire time,but it is what you make of it.
If you go into it with the mindset of I'm going to grow,
I'm going to help them grow, more than likely you're going to
find success. Yeah, because not everything
(52:09):
that's worth doing is always easy.
You come or it's very fair to have some anxieties about it.
It's very fair to think about, oh, well, what if this happens?
What if that happens? Of course, because that could
happen, but just do it. Never know until you try.
Yeah, exactly. Perfect.
And for my final question, are there any, is there a memory or
(52:32):
a story that really sticks out to you and your time of hosting
that we didn't get to share and talk about?
So with our first two, the way that cuz we talked about how we
didn't talk to them as long before they arrived.
So bonding took just a little bit longer, but we took them on
a road trip from Texas to our home state of Arizona, and
(52:57):
during that trip we learned a lot about each other.
Awesome. And there's one memory from this
year that just sticks out my mind.
There was an evening that Crystal and Bibka had something
to do, so it was just me and Itanuk for the night and we went
out for dinner and we just went and kind of around and did
(53:17):
things. And she's like, because she is
the kid who wants to be on TikTok, She wants to be a Kirgis
influencer. She's like, let's record a
video. So she pulled up that old song
just the two of us, and there's video of me and her just kind of
dancing and and lip synching along to just the two of us.
And that one will always stick in my memory.
That's so sweet, yeah. That same night, my students, my
(53:43):
my middle school choir students were at the San Antonio Opera
because the San Antonio Opera has a program where they do a
free dress rehearsal for schools.
So I was there and so was Veep does choir.
So then afterwards we got to talk about the opera and that
was really cool. Awesome.
Eric Crystal, thank you so, so much for your time, for your
(54:06):
stories, for your wisdom. I've had such a pleasure talking
to both of you and I wish you nothing but happiness and
success for this hosting year coming up and all your years in
the future. And for people who might be
interested in following along with the Wells family, are you
on social medias? There's somewhere where they
(54:27):
could keep up with you. Yeah.
Facebook. Instagram.
Snapchat. Awesome.
Thank you. Basically all the things.
Perfect. Well, make sure to get that and
we can put them in the show notes in case people want to
follow along because it'd be great to also have them have you
to answer with questions for personal experience too, if
(54:48):
you're up for that. But of course, I'm not the
force. Absolutely.
And thank you for having us on. Thank you for giving us an
opportunity to share our experiences.
We've we like sharing and talking about this stuff.
So. You do.
It's the pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much.
And that has been this episode of Life Exchange Stories of
(55:08):
Understanding. I'm your host, Kelsey Ross.
Until next time, bye. Listen to Life Exchange Stories
of Understanding now on Spotify,Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and
wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
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