the visitors are coming!

First, some brief updates:
1) THANK YOU for your many comments and feedback on the the commenting system debate of yesterday! It was a long day of replying, replying, fiddling, and trying to figure things out. I'm not sure how much progress I made, but I can say it was WAY MORE TIME CONSUMING than normal, so...there's that! Keep testing things out today (try hitting the 'subscribe' button if you weren't getting notified of comments posted here...although sources say that may actually mean you get notified of EVERY new comment and not just ones in a particular thread, so...beware, also!) and tomorrow we will settle this thing once and for all by means of a most American institution. Be ready!!

2) Amanda S. generously and hilariously took a picture of her Shetland Sheepdog running ensemble, complete with detailed commentary about each trendy item in the outfit...all of you who plan on running in our 7th-grade-tshirt-themed 5k (1k) seriously need to check it out and get inspired. And laugh your face off.

3) An astute blog reader (and fellow Athens-dweller) informed me that she SAW THE MASCOT for the Brazilian wax place and it is a PINK PANTHER. Seriously. I laughed my head off, while simultaneously pondering the connection. I don't get it. Anyone wanna help me? Pink panthers and Brazilian waxes? Help!

Alright. Enough updates. On with things...

We are currently both nervous and excited about some visitors that will be staying with us at the end of the month. As you probably know, Athens is home to the University of Georgia (obviously my alma mater!), which is a large research university (with a pretty awesome football team). As such, people from all over the world move here to study/teach. So late July tends to be when a whole bunch of smarty-pants foreign students arrive each year, and as it turns out, most of them take a few days or a week to get their American lives really going...and that is where we are going to come in!

The International Student Life office at UGA (not sure if that's the official name, but something like that) networks with a whole bunch of local churches and community groups in order to wrangle a bunch of volunteer 'host families' who will host the foreign students for a week or so when they first arrive in America. The students will have plenty to do on campus during the days, as they get oriented to life both on and off-campus. They'll go to meetings and orientations, as well as get help doing things like setting up bank accounts, getting phones, and finding apartments. In the meantime, though, they need a place to stay-- and two of these very lucky students are going to get the fantastic privilege of calling MY house their home.

Isn't that fun??!!

When we heard about the opportunity (the group basically goes to a ton of churches and makes a presentation and gives people a chance to sign up if they're interested), at first I was like no way. What on earth do I have to offer foreign students? We live out in the sticks...we're boring...we eat really American (and Mexican) food. But after thinking it through for about 4 seconds, I changed my mind. We have guest bedrooms and bathrooms and really that's the main thing they need. We drive to campus (campus is in downtown Athens, where both of us work) every single day, so it doesn't matter that we don't actually live there...the students will still be able to get to UGA. And I have a lifetime of Southern hospitality training and a pretty firm grip on the idea of loving your neighbor as yourself and I know that if myself was being plopped into a new and strange country, myself would be very happy for strangers willing to open their home and show me the ropes a little. And so we said we'd do it. 

And they're coming!! In a little over a week, our two students (one actually a 'visiting scholar,' so maybe he's a little older than typical 'student' age?) will be here! We have two males, both from China. We are nervous and excited. A lot of our friends and other families in our church are also hosting and so it's fun to be nervous and excited together. We're planning things as a group so that our students will get to a) meet other new foreign students, and b) get to experience a bit of the community we love so much and so that is getting us pretty excited. One of our students even specified in his information that he likes playing tennis, so...HOLLA! If all else fails, we can play tennis every night. :) 

The group that is organizing the host families and students sends us information about how to prepare, what to expect, etc. They also send similar information to the students (copying us on the emails) telling them things about what to expect in American homes, what things are culturally acceptable/not acceptable, etc. These emails are SO fun and a wealth of information to me! Here are some of the most interesting tidbits I've learned:

From the email to the visiting students:
-US Americans can seem foolish about their pets. Dogs and cats are often treated like family members, and go throughout the house. Your host(s) may even kiss or hug their pets (UGH)! These pets are tame and (usually) clean and pose no danger. Pets are not eaten in this country.   If the pets make you feel really uncomfortable,  let your host(s) know. Usually the pets can be kept elsewhere for a while.

-US Americans are open about disagreements on particular issues. If they disagree with you about something, it is not considered wrong for them to indicate so.  Again try not to be offended.

-It is not usually acceptable to ask about their ages, how much money they make, how much does the home cost or why they have no children. [HALLELUJAH!!! I think we should send these tips to ALL HUMANS...well, the last one anyway.] 

 -In order to make you more comfortable, your host(s) may joke with you. Try not to be offended by this. If it bothers you, let your hosts know you don’t understand this joking. [Oh God help me. I am the WORST at making awful jokes when I'm nervous. Bless these students that have to live with me....]

In the email to the host families, they give us helpful tips about what kinds of foods to maybe keep on hand, what household things to explain (apparently the American system of shower curtains and sheets/blankets on beds can be particularly confusing to Chinese students?), and other things like that. I love reading through the emails, but I can't decide if it makes me more or less nervous!! I feel like a have a lot of research and planning to do before they arrive...I want to make their stay as comfortable and fun as possible, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about things. 

Anyway. So...if you happen to be Chinese, or know a lot about Chinese culture...give me your tips!! Also, how do you think the Chinese men will feel when they are subject to watching the Bachelorette finale (or second-to-last show, can't figure it out right now) on their 3rd night in America? WELCOME TO AMERICA, BOYS! HERE'S HOW WE ROLL!!!