Wow! Max has been with us now for three weeks! Where did the time go?! Because he arrived just after school started, he's had a lot of adjusting to do all at once - with our family, making new friends and going to school. After the first weekend, my husband and I agreed that Max fit in so well with our family. It seems like he's already been with us for months. He's a great kid, easy-going and easy to please. Our 9-year-old son had very high expectations for his new big brother, and Max has lived up to those expectations (mainly being willing to play basketball and board games).
Max started school on the Monday after he arrived. He's taking some challenging courses - chemistry, calculus, law-related education. The first few days, he came home exhausted and went to bed early. While he speaks English well, there are still many written words that aren't in his vocabulary. And, a couple of his teachers have thick southern accents, so that probably makes it even more challenging. We try to help him understand his homework, and I've issued many apologies that it's been 18 years since I took calculus and don't remember a lot of it!
Max seems to really enjoy the social aspects of school. The concept of extracurricular activities and school spirit is new to him, and he's really embracing it. We're glad he's been able to make friends pretty easily. He even seems to have his eye on a girl on the dance team, and "she's pretty AND smart!" He's joining the Science & Math Club and he tried out for the soccer team. The try-outs didn't go as well as he wanted because it was about 100 degrees and humid. He hasn't acclimated to the extreme summer temps we have yet.
He has commented numerous times at how nice and helpful everyone is. Yup, that's Southern Hospitality at its finest. The first couple days of school were filled with funny adventures. He got off the bus at the middle school instead of the high school, so a teacher had her daughter drive Max over to the right school. He missed the bus home one day. He had trouble with his locker and was given his first tardy to class. But a teacher helped him get it excused. He started his Spanish II class, and surprised the teacher with his fluency in Spanish (he already had 6 years of it). The things he doesn't seem to like about school are the dress code, all of the rules, and how long the day is.
We've had fun showing him different things around the community. We took him to his first baseball game, and enjoyed the fireworks at the end of the game. We took him to our favorite hamburger joint and he declared that America has the best hamburgers. We went bowling with another host family and their exchange daughter from France. We attended his first high school football game and he said "it was amazing!" Max made his first batch of potatoes gratin for an AFS pool party event. He claims it wasn't as good as what his mom makes. We have always enjoyed showing our son different experiences, so now we have double the joy.
We had no idea how silly and difficult that American language can be until trying to teach it to a foreigner. I told our dog to "back up" and Max looked at me strangely and said "Back. Up?" No, it really doesn't make sense when you stop and think about it. We've been playing word board games on some evenings to help Max expand his vocabulary. And try explaining our government and some of our laws to a foreigner. Forget about it!
Overall we're off to a great start to the year!
Max started school on the Monday after he arrived. He's taking some challenging courses - chemistry, calculus, law-related education. The first few days, he came home exhausted and went to bed early. While he speaks English well, there are still many written words that aren't in his vocabulary. And, a couple of his teachers have thick southern accents, so that probably makes it even more challenging. We try to help him understand his homework, and I've issued many apologies that it's been 18 years since I took calculus and don't remember a lot of it!
Max seems to really enjoy the social aspects of school. The concept of extracurricular activities and school spirit is new to him, and he's really embracing it. We're glad he's been able to make friends pretty easily. He even seems to have his eye on a girl on the dance team, and "she's pretty AND smart!" He's joining the Science & Math Club and he tried out for the soccer team. The try-outs didn't go as well as he wanted because it was about 100 degrees and humid. He hasn't acclimated to the extreme summer temps we have yet.
He has commented numerous times at how nice and helpful everyone is. Yup, that's Southern Hospitality at its finest. The first couple days of school were filled with funny adventures. He got off the bus at the middle school instead of the high school, so a teacher had her daughter drive Max over to the right school. He missed the bus home one day. He had trouble with his locker and was given his first tardy to class. But a teacher helped him get it excused. He started his Spanish II class, and surprised the teacher with his fluency in Spanish (he already had 6 years of it). The things he doesn't seem to like about school are the dress code, all of the rules, and how long the day is.
We've had fun showing him different things around the community. We took him to his first baseball game, and enjoyed the fireworks at the end of the game. We took him to our favorite hamburger joint and he declared that America has the best hamburgers. We went bowling with another host family and their exchange daughter from France. We attended his first high school football game and he said "it was amazing!" Max made his first batch of potatoes gratin for an AFS pool party event. He claims it wasn't as good as what his mom makes. We have always enjoyed showing our son different experiences, so now we have double the joy.
We had no idea how silly and difficult that American language can be until trying to teach it to a foreigner. I told our dog to "back up" and Max looked at me strangely and said "Back. Up?" No, it really doesn't make sense when you stop and think about it. We've been playing word board games on some evenings to help Max expand his vocabulary. And try explaining our government and some of our laws to a foreigner. Forget about it!
Overall we're off to a great start to the year!
No comments:
Post a Comment