I am using Elisa blog because for some reason we could not get mine to work. My name is Kendra Nerad.
The first day that we picked the girls up at our school was extremely exciting!! It was bout nine o'clock at night, and I got a text saying that the Germans were here! FINALLY! I picked Elisa up, and took her to my home that was out in the country. I knew right away that she was going to like it here with me. It has been 22 days since that day. Where has time gone? In less then 72 hours she will be leaving me, and making her way to Chicago. Man oh man am I going to miss her!
In my house it is only me, my dad and his girlfriend, so it has been incredibly amazing having someone here to finally talk to and come home and have fun with every day. She is like a sister to me, and I am going to miss her sooooooo much. I sure hope I don't ball like a baby.
Elisa and I have done so much together! We have gone to see the Amish, gone out to eat at Paradise Pizza, had fun at school during home coming week and even won twin day!!! We dressed up as Willy Wonka Nerds! We have also gone to the school play which was completely awesome, went to football games, both Saint Ansgar football games, and a UNI football game. We have gone shopping, which was obviously fun, because it was at the Mall of America. We literally "shopped until we dropped!!" We also ate at HuHots Mongolian Grill with Sommer Beland and Emily Debower. It was New for both Elisa and I!! It was delicious! We have had a lot of fun times at home as well, baking, and cooking new things. Baking german cakes, failing at some, and succeeding at some! We have shared some good laughs from saying silly things, to watching American comedy movies, and just surfing on the internet.
I love having this girl around. We share a common interest, which makes things even better. We both want to be doctors, and we love to sleep in on the weekends. But what teen doesn't?
But our fun doesn't end there! Tomorrow we are going to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings, which i'm excited for, and after wards we will be heading to ValleySCARE!! Yay! I can not wait to show Elisa what Halloween is all about. Haunted houses, scary costumes, fog, screams, ghosts and goblins, I just can't wait! Then on Sunday comes a sad day. Our last full day together.... :( We will be going to church and sing in the choir, then we are going to a Orchestra concert in the Austin, Minnesota High School to watch Frau Larson. That takes up half of our day. The other half will consist of a good bye pot luck in Charles City. I am not looking forward to that at all. Only because that means that the next morning I will finally have to say good bye. I hate good byes, but I know someday we will meet again!
Till it is time to say good bye, her and I are going to have a blast, but typing this very long blog post is taking up a lot of precious time, so here it is. Good bye, and thanks for reading!!
-Kendra Nerad :)
The lifelong friendships that some are fortunate to develop is the best result of this exchange, I feel. Over 15 years ago, when our son was a senior, we hosted a boy from the GAPP exchange. He and his sister have become extended family for us. We phone frequently, exchange Christmas gifts and his sister and her husband have visited us in Charles City and I have stayed at her house in Germany when I have been there now as the GAPP teacher. The world will benefit more when these types of exchanges are participated in by more and more youth of different cultures, so we learn about each other one to one, in friendship.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn B