[Angel0226]

My BIL and SIL are on their 3rd foreign exchange student right now. First year... good experience for the most part. She was a 16 year old from Germany... a little spoiled, but at least respectable. Last year, they hosted a 16 year old boy from Brazil... what a disaster! He was soooo rude and definetely didn't respect any members of their family. He spoke English just fine when it was convenient for him, but when he didn't want to talk to you... he pretended he didn't understand. He was sent back to Brazil in just under two months. It was hard for them to do, but you have to put your family first and he was beginning to become a real problem.

This year they are hosting a young lady that is 16 from Vietnam. She is such a pleasure to have around... so far. She has been here for a little over a month and really seems to fit in.

I know that some of the FES come over from very wealthy families and expect a lot more than they are going to get. I believe that they should definetely try and adapt to the household rules and respect each and every family member... even if that would be an animal! I also know that a lot of these FES come over and their grades do not count in school... it's just play time for some. While this isn't always the case, it was for the first two FES that my BIL and SIL hosted. They didn't do their schoolwork... they didn't even try. Now with the young girl they have now, she is working so hard. This counts as her last year of school and she is hoping to attend college in the states next year. She is currently studying to take her SAT's right now. I do think she comes from an underpriveleged family too. I don't know if that makes that big of a difference, but she is very appreciative to be here... to have a family take her in and let her study here.

I know each and every FES is different, ecspecially depending on the countries they come from and the type of family they come from. But they should still be respectable. Being a host family is extremely difficult. We hosted three FES ourselves when I was growing up. We were lucky... we had good experiences, but it took a lot of effort. Ground rules were set and they were followed. They followed the same rules my brother and I did... and if they didn't, there were consequences. The first student that came to stay with us was used to drinking alcohol with her family at dinner... and she expected that she would do the same with us. My mom was having a glass of wine one evening and she asked to have some. When my mom told her no, she was very puzzled. Upon explanation, it was fine... but she didn't realize that wasn't acceptable for children our age.

It's tough, very tough to be a host family. And it's even more rough when you have a good experience... it was hard to say good bye to some of these people. They live with you for a year and then they are gone. We keep in touch with one of them quite often still, but have lost touch with the other two.

Regardless, I have rambled and rambled... this girl should have been more respectful to you and your family. Just be glad that she is not in your house and try and look past and beyond it.