Our Farewell to hosting International Students

Before I knew how full my weekend was going to be otherwise, I signed up to host a group of international students as our farewell to the program. For the past three years, we have hosted students from around the world in our home for meals, evenings, and special occasions. It has been a great way for us to show hospitality to strangers (Hebrews 13:2), it has brought international cuisine to our kitchen, and it has given us friends from a variety of nationalities, all of which are excellent reasons to host international students.

Sometimes we try to do fun things and have taken some of them to Longwood Gardens.

We enjoyed introducing them to our holiday traditions. In the picture below, we took them with us to my sister's place for Thanksgiving. They brought along a Turkish soup to accompany our traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

One afternoon we went apple picking at an orchard during an apple festival where our friends got to taste apple sauce, apple butter, and cider for the first time in their lives.

Once, we attended the graduation of three of our students (and were unaware until we got there that it was a china plate, goblet, and cloth napkin affair which wasn't what we expected when we included our toddler and baby. The white-shirted waiter cleared Tyler's plate before he was quite finished with it and Tyler talked for weeks about the "man who grabbed my plate.")

One of our students delighted us to no end by calling months after he was done with the program to say he was about to return to Indonesia and wanted us to meet his wife and daughter. They came over for lunch and brought an Indonesian meal along with them.

Many of our students have met us for coffee at Panera Bread within walking distance of their apartments or have invited us over to their houses for a meal or Arabic coffee and dates. Others have come to our house for a game of croquet and a meal or just to chat in our living room.

Here is a list of countries we have friends in:

• Brazil
• South Korea
• Indonesia
• Turkey
• Saudi Arabia
• Cambodia
• Bahrain
• Venezuela
• Syria
• Iraq
• Japan

The majority of our students have been studying English at the University of Delaware and have signed up for an American host. Having an American host means that once or twice a month, they get to spend time with an American family, practice their English, and learn some American culture. We, in turn, love seeing pictures of their families, hearing stories of their homelands, and tasting foods they prepare.

So, as our "farewell for now" to hosting, we signed up to host four students who only are in the program for three weeks before moving on to colleges across the States. We met them at a park for supper and sat around the picnic table talking until it grew dusky and time to reluctantly pack our stuff up. Only then did I think of a group picture which resulted in terrible lighting and a quick cell-phone picture.

If you are interested in getting involved with international students, contact a college near you to see if they have many international students or a program that teaches English as a second language. If they don't have a host program, you might be able to start one or at least make contacts to befriend students on your own.

International students are so appreciative and friendly. Some of them have few American friends and love getting a chance to visit an American home. So, go out and befriend them. Here's your chance to be blessed.