I was surprised when Anneke broke the news to me. She had been assigned as my "peer mentor" for my exchange as she was an exchange student in Taiwan last year through my district. We'd been exchanging messages on Facebook regarding various happenings in Osnabrück, how I was doing with school, and so on. One day, we were talking online, and she asked me if I wanted to visit. I was quite confused. Why exactly would I visit, I wondered. Well, then she alerted me that her family, the Kirsches of Ibbenbürren (diekirschen.de), would be my host family starting in early 2010. I guess I didn't get the message; either way, I was happy to have the opportunity to visit my next host family last Saturday.
We went as a family to the fair taking place throughout the downtown area. The family consists of 17-year-old Anneke, 15-year-old Konstantin, 5-year-old Frida, and my two host parents Arne and Judith. After coming back to the house from the fair, I toured the house, played a board game with my future host father, and laughed at my future host sister Frida's pirate party costume. When I stay in Ibbenbüren with the Kirsch family, I'll take a train into Osnabrück every day for school, which will still be the Gymnsium Carolinum.
View of Ibbenbüren from Ferris wheel
My future living room and pirate/host sister Frida
In other news, I'll be starting a language school three hours per day, four days per week starting Monday, September 7. I bought a huge container of 20 Stabilo pens of varied colors and a USB hub that will allow me to plug all of my computing necessities into my laptop (this means I'll always have my webcam on for Skype, so call me! Skype I.D.: alex.farris). Between October 5 and 8, I'll stay in Berlin on my Rotary district's Germany tour; I'm looking forward to it!
Servus,
Alex
