My experience with ETC goes way back to 2008 before I worked for them and my family signed up to host a boy from Brazil for the whole school year. We had a little experience hosting girls from Japan, Korea and China for a few weeks in the summer, and now felt we were ready to take a full school year student. Rodolfo arrived in the middle of Labor Day weekend and we took him straight from the Portland airport to a campground on Mt Hood because we were in the middle of a camping trip with extended family! He slept in a tent with our family of 5 his first night, ate spaghetti for dinner by the campfire, and probably thought we were all crazy! Taking a 17 year old boy from Brazil when we had a teenage daughter just starting high school? … perhaps we were!!
Things started off pretty well, but I’m not going to lie, he didn’t always seem like he was here for the right reasons, made some poor choices and broke some rules…. At the time, I didn’t know better, didn’t know I could’ve had his LC step in with some disciplinary action, and my husband and I didn’t want to have him sent home. We looked at it like, he’s here, he’s only a kid, we need to talk to him and offer guidance. So we tried that. Meanwhile I was already emailing his mom who was coming for his graduation. She came in June, stayed in our home for a week, and spoke not a bit of English! Despite the conflict & disappointment, I can still look back and see some positive things about our time with him. Everyone in my family helped Rodolfo learn about American culture & improve his English, he saw snow for the first time, we showed him places and foods he’d never seen before, and despite it ending with some bad feelings, I was proud of us all for getting through it.
– Mary Frances (host mom and local coordinator)
support@edutrav.org
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(503) 222-9803 in Portland
(877) 222-9803 Toll Free
Fax: (503) 227-7224
1029 SW Washington Street Portland, OR 97205