New Holstein

So yesterday I went to New Holstein again to check on May, Jan, Gird and Sky. This time I actually got their before school was over, so I managed to take a few pictures of them in class.

Gird and Sky are in the middle school, which is almost brand new. They just built it two years ago and it is very modern. All the 8th grade classes are on one floor and they share a common area so the kids can have some free time together to study or do projects.

I talked with their principal for a bit, and he told me the girls are doing very well. He said that they have blended in so well that it's almost as if they aren't any different than all the other students. Later in the day, when I talked with Mrs. Konen about May and Jan, she said almost the same thing. She had been expecting kids with a radically different lifestyle and culture, but she found that May and Jan were remarkably similar to American kids. The biggest difference being that Thai kids are a lot more polite than American kids, hahah! However, that's a comment I've been getting from many teachers and host families. They all can't get over how much these kids have in common with American kids. Which I think is great.

I stopped by Gird and Sky's Spanish class to take a few pictures and some video. They were sitting with Abbey Brill and seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were a little surprised to see me there, but they quickly went back to listening to their teacher. I even saw Gird taking some notes. What a good student! :-)

After that, I went over to the elementary school to check in on May and Jan. They were in a Language Arts class and when I walked in they shouted out, "Teacher George!" So I guess they were happy to see me, haha! Their teacher had given the class some free reading time, but May and Jan were in the back playing games on the computer. I talked with their teacher for a bit and she said that their best subject was Math! She actually said that they were near the top of the class in Math. Can you believe it? I'm sure their parents will be as shocked as I was to hear that, hahah!

After school I met with Mrs. Konen because she teaches second grade at New Holstein as well. We talked for quite a while about May and Jan and her experiences with them. We both joked about how sad the girls looked in their first photos from the ice rink at the beginning of their home-stay experience. Mrs. Konen said, "When I picked them up, they were crying, but now when I drop them off next week, I'll be the one crying."

The girls looked very happy and they seemed to be doing very well at school. Although they did tell me that they missed their friends at Hilbert (they spent a week there before Easter). I told May that I sent snow to her for her birthday, but she didn't believe me, hahah! Jan was silly as always, so she doing just fine. It's quite a big change from the last time I saw them. When I put them in Mrs. Konen's van before the meet-and-greet picnic on the March 27th, they were crying. Now they were laughing, joking and being as silly as ever.