Soup dinner

Yesterday we had rice soup with pork, cooked by our expert Thai chef, K. Pat!  It was very delicious and even my dad liked it!  We also took Erng shopping at Piggly Wiggly and she bought some cookies.  I got Cream Soda, which Erng enjoyed.  After dinner, Pat and I went to Manitowoc Lutheran (Jean's school) to meet with their international coordinator to discuss their exchange program.

Movie Night

Yesterday Pat and I went into Manitowoc.  We stopped by a game shop so I could nerd-out over Magic cards, and then we ate wraps for lunch.  We also went to the library and a Thai-Lao market.

Then I had to go pick up my mom who was very late because she fell down on a driveway at her friend's house.  After a two hour wait at the eye doctor to check out her eye (she's fine, just really old), we went home and ate some of Patty's delicious cooking.

After dinner, I took Erng and Patty to the movies.  We saw "Wrath of the Titans" at the Strand Theater in Manitowoc.  What a big difference from Thai movie theaters!  It was so small!

After the movie, we were driving home and Patty noticed that the stars were very bright, so we went to Cato Falls park to find some place very dark so we could see the stars.  After living in Bangkok where you can barely see the moon through all the smog, it was really nice to see the stars again.  I've missed them!

Headaches

I've had a case of jetlag for the past few days so this morning I just laid on the couch, moaning about a nasty headache.  I got NO sympathy from Patty, of course, but I did manage to get a little sleep which helped make my headache go away.

When I finally woke up, I was really hungry, so I made a pizza and some chicken noodle soup for lunch. I put on a little bit of extra cheese, and Patty and Ben helped me eat it!

In spite of the cold temperatures, spring is definitely in the air. The flowers are blooming and the grass is green. Robins are hopping around hunting for worms and the trees have already started to bud.  By the end of the month, these cold temperatures will be replaced by summer weather, and we should have a nice warm visit to Boston.  Meanwhile, there is still beauty to enjoy in Wisconsin.

Erng's First Day

I'm a little bit behind on these updates because I've been a bit sick the past few days. Nothing serious, just a little bit of jetlag which has been giving me some headaches and insomnia.  Oh well, hopefully I can catch up tonight and then I'll be able to get a decent night's rest!

Monday was Erng's first day of school. Patty and I took her to Valders Middle School and dropped her off with her principal. She looked a bit nervous and scared, but she's a strong girl, so we knew she would be OK. She's in the 8th grade and her teacher is Ms. Peggy Kiel.

After school, Erng came home and played some Risk with Patty, my nephew Ben, and I. She started the game controlling "Siam", but eventually I kicked her out and took control of the country.  Thailand is mine now, muwhahahah!  Ben got a little too excited about the game. He kept trying to defend North America from Patty, but eventually she took control of the Eastern United States, so now Wisconsin belongs to Patty!

It was a long day for Erng, and she had a few tears as she talked to friends and family at the end of the day. That's usually when the kids feel the most homesick. They'll be just fine all day long, but once they are alone in their bedrooms in a strange house, that's when they start to miss their family.

The best thing their parents can do is to keep the conversation focused on all the positive things their child did that day, and to avoid talking about the things their child is missing.  For example, asking "What is your host-buddy like at school?" is a good way to stay positive. Even if the child's comments are negative (they might like their buddy just fine, but they might be reacting emotionally to homesickness and so their comments might focus on negative things), the parents can still reply with positive encouragement.  However, it's not a good idea to say things like, "The other kids aren't homesick, so why are you?", or "We're eating your favorite food right now, wish you could join us...", or "We will go to Hua Hin for Songkran, it'll be so much fun! Too bad you can't come with us!"  Saying things like that will only increase anxiety or prolong homesickness.

Fortunately, all the children seem to be adjusting well, and in spite of a few tears, they are happy and enjoying their big American adventure!

Easter

Easter Sunday we all woke up early for sunrise services at Faith Lutheran Church in Valders. The kids dressed in their Sunday clothes and walked over to the church. It was a bit chilly, but the wind made it seem much colder. Faith Lutheran has a unique Easter service.  Every year, they allow the high school students in the congregation to perform skits or sing songs instead of doing a normal worship service. This year, the students did a skit about the commercialization of the holiday (the Easter bunny, candy, etc...). It was actually quite funny, although I don't think the Thai kids understood many of the jokes. The people in church also sang some songs and had the little kids do a noisy little parade.  I'm not sure what the Thai kids thought about it, but it certain was different from a Thai Buddhist temple!

After services, we ate breakfast in the basement of the church. Lin sat with her host family while the rest of us enjoyed scrambled eggs, ham, donuts and candy. When we walked back to the house, the weather was much warmer, and the sky was bright and clear. The perfect weather for saying good-bye to their friends and meeting the host families.

The first to get picked up was Lin.  The Brills drove over from church and picked her up. She seemed quite happy and excited, so I think she'll do fine. Tomorrow she will get to go to school and ride a school bus, what an exciting adventure! Next to go was Fern. Although she was meeting the Konens for the first time, she had already skyped with them quite a bit online, so she wasn't nervous at all. Our tight-knit little group was getting smaller. We had a lot of adventures over the past few days and conquered many challenges, so the kids were a little sad to part ways, but they were also very excited to take this next big step.  The Larsons came next to pick up Jean.  He's really improved and opened up a lot since the beginning of the trip, so I think they will have a great time together.

Finally, the Kupskys came to pick up Jane.  She looked very excited and nervous when she left with them, and in fact later on we received a phone call that the tears had already started.  That's a part of this trip too, and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a few more tears from the other students as well.  This is a big adjustment for the kids, and some handle it better than others. Things almost always smooth out after a few days, but the first night in a new house full of strangers away from all their friends and family can be a bit scary. It's important for parents to be supportive, but they also have to be wary of feeding into inappropriate displays of emotion. A few encouraging words and a focus on the positive aspects of the trip are all that's usually needed to cure homesickness. For the kids, they should push themselves to keep busy and involved with their host families. That will help them fight away the blues. It won't be easy, but after all, that's the whole point of trips like this one. Overcoming challenges, maturing and growing, and expanding one's mind to include new possibilities are all essential aspects of this trip, and each child will handle the experience differently. However, in the end, the overall experience is always a positive one. Important lessons are learned and confidence is improved, even if the way is a little bumpy at first.

After Jane left, Erng was the only one remaining in the house, and so she got a big introduction to the American lifestyle! My older sister and her husband brought five of their six kids over, and my older brother brought two of his four kids over, so we had a very full house! Lots of loud Americans joking and eating and playing... I think Erng was a little bit overwhelmed by it all. However, she handled it like a trooper, and mingled in with the other kids very well.  She showed my nephew Ben how to make bubbles with her bubble sticks and hunted for Easter eggs with Bryce, Cole, Ben and Tim. Easter egg hunts are an American tradition. I'm not sure if Erng understood why we were looking for eggs in the yard, in fact, I bet she was thinking, "If you wanted to find these eggs, why didn't you just keep them in the refrigerator where they belonged, instead of scattering them around the backyard?", but she found her eggs anyway, so good for her!

When the noisy Americans in my family got a bit too much for Erng, she curled up in a chair and read her favorite book. I'm glad that she didn't retreat to her bedroom, that's a good sign. It's OK for the kids to take a break, because listening to everyone rapidly speaking English can be very tiring, especially if they don't get any of the jokes or understand any of the references. However, it's also important that they stay out of their room and be available and willing to participate with the rest of the family. Burying the nose in an iPhone game while at the dinner table or while people are trying to talk to them isn't a good thing, but taking a few minutes to re-energize is perfectly OK. It's all about finding a balance between too much and too little interaction with their host families. Too little interaction can lead to homesickness and an uncomfortable and awkward relationship with their hosts. Too much interaction can lead to stress and cultural burnout.  Since each child and each host family are different, finding that balance is something that they need to work out for themselves.  Usually all that's needed is the right attitude and a bit of common sense. However, if things don't improve that's where I step in. Dealing with the more severe cases of culture shock and homesickness is one of the reasons I come along on these trips.

So Erng took a little time out to read her book, but she also made herself available to participate as well. When it was time to hunt Easter eggs, she put the book down and went outside even though she had no clue what she was supposed to do or why she was doing it. When Ben invited her to play a game of pool on his tablet computer, she put her book down and let him teach her how to play the game, and then she would read her book again while it was his turn to play.

Tomorrow is Erng's first day at school, so we're all very excited for her. It's going to be a big adventure for her, but she's got the right attitude and a strong spirit, so I think she'll do just fine.

Good luck to all the students and their host families! I hope the next two weeks are a rewarding experience for you all!

Eggs and Bowling

Yesterday, I bought some postcards at Walmart for the kids to send home.  So this morning the kids wrote notes to their families on the postcards and then walked down to the post office to mail them.

After they returned, we had tunafish sandwiches for lunch and then we decorated some eggs for Easter.  It's traditional in America to color eggs for Easter, which is a very important religious holiday here. So the kids put together some "spill-proof" egg dying kits and colored a dozen eggs.  It was so much easier than the methods we used when I was a kid!

Then it was time to go bowling.  I took Lin, Fern and Jean into Manitowoc while Jane and Erng waited at the house for the Kupsky family to come pick them up.  Patty and I had to deliver some gifts to the Miller family (who hosted Gam last year). Gam had asked us to bring some gifts for the Millers with us, and so we drove over to their house to drop off the presents.  The Millers really miss Gam and they hope she'll return for another visit next year.

Since the Millers live close to Lake Michigan, I drove the kids over to the lake so they could take a look at the second biggest lake in the world.  Imagine being able to take a boat all the way from Koh Chang to Udon Thani, that's how big Lake Michigan is!!  So it really has a huge impact on local weather.  I keep telling the kids that they need to dress appropriately for ALL kinds of weather when they leave the house, but they never believe me until they get some real experience with Wisconsin's erratic springtime weather.  For example, the temperature near the lake is almost always 5'C cooler than the temperature inland near.  Plus, the wind chill factor can drop the temperature another 5'C to 10'C. Thus, while it might be pretty warm out in Valders, it can be below freezing near Lake Michigan.  So they really missed their jackets!

When we arrived at Meadow Lanes, the kids met the Larson and Kupsky families.  It was pretty clear that the Thai kids were still very shy, and so they bowled on separate teams and didn't talk to the host kids very much.  But that's OK, they will have plenty of time to come out of their shells in the next week or two.  The American and Thai kids both proved to be horrible bowlers, so at least they have that in common! Haha!

Tomorrow morning we will go to Easter Sunrise service at Faith Lutheran Church and then the kids will get picked up by their host families after breakfast at the church. They've really grown closer together over the past few days. Our airline adventure and the low key family time at the Carroll house has really bonded these kids into a tight-knit little group, so I think they'll be a little sad to part ways for the next few weeks.  However, I haven't noticed too much nervousness about meeting their host families, so I think the kids will be just fine.

It's just the start of another new adventure!

Walmart and dogs

Last night I was a little too tired to blog about our day, so I'm playing a little catch-up right now. It was a pretty cold morning. With wind-chill, the temperature was around -4'C when we woke up. So the kids bundled up and eagerly went outside to experience some sub-zero temps.  I gave them my camera so they could take pics themselves, because I'm not excited about the novelty of cold weather any more, haha!

For lunch we went to "The Diner", a little restaurant in Valders. The kids did a great job ordering their food on their own and they really liked the menu choices.  At the end of the meal they were very full!

After lunch, the kids had a little down time before we went into Manitowoc. So they hung around the house and played on their computers. Then we took a ride into the city. Since my parents' Jeep can only seat 5 people, I had to take two trips. We went shopping at Walmart and ran into my brother, Bob, and his family. They had just gotten back from Florida, so they were doing some last-minute Easter shopping. I introduced Erng to my nephew Cole since they will both be going to Valders Middle School.  I told Cole to keep an eye on Erng and help her if she needed help.

The kids didn't buy anything at Walmart, but they did talk A LOT about everything they saw. Apparently the prices on many items were cheaper here than in Thailand, but the thing that got them most excited was the way Bryce (my other nephew) pronounced the word "iPod". It's different than the Thai pronunciation so at first they thought it was a new product. Then they walked around the store saying, "iPod, iPOD, iPood, etc..."  I'm pretty sure everyone thought they were crazy :).

After Walmart, I took Jane and Erng home, but on the way we stopped by the Kupsky house in Whitelaw, which was a good thing because it gave Jane a chance to meet the Kupsky's GIGANTIC dogs! hahah! At first the girls were very afraid, but the dogs are really sweet and we eventually calmed them down enough so the girls could pet them.  One dog was a Black Lab, but the other dog was a young Great Dane. Even though he was only one year old, he was still 90cm tall and 62kgs!!  He's going to get bigger!

After dropping Erng and Jane off at home, I went back to pick up Jean, Fern and Lin at Walmart (they thought I forgot them).  I found out that they had run into Jean's host mom, Kay Larson, or "Momma Kay". She was with her son Joey, and in spite of rambling excitedly, she finally managed to convince the kids that she was a host mom, and not some random crazy stranger. Haha!  The girls were talking about Joey, but they didn't know he learned a few Thai words last year, so when they said "Law", he knew they thought he was handsome! Hahah! They got caught!