Introducing Ah Reum

This being a new blog and all, I thought it would be fitting to bring you up to speed on our newest adventure, that of a host family. I've wanted to host since high school, but for one reason or another the timing was never right--until now.

We decided to host a student next school year, and with Brad being a Rotarian and myself a former Rotary exchange student, hosting through Rotary seemed the natural choice. However, Rotary students live with three families during the course of their exchange and our local club had some difficulty finding other host families, so we began to look at other exchange agencies.

We thought we'd host through AFS since they already have a strong local presence. In fact, we went through the entire application process with them, but just didn't feel drawn to any particular student.

As I browsed through AYUSA's website, I came across Ah Reum's profile and immediately knew she was the student I wanted to host. I called the AYUSA rep who informed me that she had already been assigned to a host family. I was crushed. Does it sound ridiculous to get attached to someone after nothing more than reading their profile? I think it does, but silly as it sounds, that's the way it happened. We continued to pursue AFS and were ready to commit to them when we got a phone call that Ah Reum's host family had cancelled and she was once again available!

So now from our end the application process is complete. I suppose she is busy in Korea applying for her visa, buying her airline ticket, and thinking about what to pack. We've been e-mailing back and forth with her, and she sounds just as sweet as I imagined. I got an e-mail from her this morning asking if she can call us "Mom & Dad". I am so looking forward to her arrival in August!