2008 Hyundai Chungun High School Summer Program at Portland

Hello guys,

It seems you are experiencing a completely different world. I bet such experiences will enlarge your view of the world and enrich your life. While staying there, forget everything back in Korea and just rejoice.

Let me introduce my host family, The Besser family!

Mitch Besser, my host father is happy person and like joking. My host mother, Diane is good at cook. I really like her food! Arron Besser, their son is kind but trouble maker! He is 20 years old.  They are always very kind to me. They always help me trying something new.

 When I have to choose my sauce, Mitch Besser, my host father make me try many kinds of sauce. Then, I choose the most delicious sauce for me. I can always try new food for breakfast or dinner because of my host parents’ help.

 Last weekend, I and Mitch went OMSI (Oregon museum of science and industry) and Silver Falls State Park. Before our trip, he made a list of some good places to visit. The list was made of name, time to get there and related Internet sites of Seattle, Silver falls state park, Columbia river gorge, Oregon coast and etc. I am very appreciate that my host family always make me do something I want to do.

 This picture above is taken when I and my host mother, Diane Besser made yogurt. I am so sad that I can’t add more pictures of my family because lack of of information capacity. As they are really good and happy person, I love them all. I am happy because I think I met best family!!

In my host family, there are three people. Father, mother and their only child, Noel.
I arrived at host family’s house at Thursday, and I met father at Saturday. He always travels. He works for a restaurant and it spreads very widely all around the U.S.A. I don’t know well him well, but I know that he cooks very well. Mother said he is better than herself. He cook two dinners. Saturday and Sunday. He cooked beef steaks for Saturday and rips and corns for Sunday. It was really delicious, so I agree to mother.
Mother is 52, but she looks younger than that and she lives with young thoughts. She said that she doesn’t like to exercise, so I’m worrying about Jamie’s homework about sports.
Noel is 14 years old and she is really pretty and skinny. She has a boy friend. His name is Harrison. I met him just one time and what we did together is just saying hello to each other. I can’t remember his face. She always wears skinny pants or skirt. Also, she is taller than me. I envy her about that. She makes up herself everyday and it takes about 30 minutes. She will make up me on this weekends. It will be my firstmake-up. Also she likes Japanese comics. She always draws something and she is good at drawing. I saw some of her pictures.
I love them! Wow!

My host family consists of 2 men, grandfather(Jay Brandon) and grandson(Josh Brandon). Grandfather is a consultant who has 5 client companies. My host father, jay seems to be very busy. He almost eats dinner with business partner in weekdays. However, he always gives attention to me. He asks activities in school tome at all times. He is really good cook. His tomato turkey spaghetti was the best food that I has eaten in portland. Grandson is PSU student who majors in International Business, especially about South America. He is interested in Korean culture and eats korean food unreserved.

I think my host family has many human relations so I has eaten luch or dinner with many people for example Jenni(Josh’s girlfriend), David(temporary board resident in my host family house), Matt( jay’s friend). All of them are interested in culture of Korea. When I explains them of Korean food and culture, They listen courteously. Especially with David, I talked a lot of things about culture, ideology, war, election, etc. He had been in korea 2 times. He also eats Korean food unreserved.

Berry’s family is my host family, which consists of Spencer, Kim, and their 2 children Lizabell and Lilly. When I met them for the first time, they were so kind to me that I could feel relief about leaving Korea and home-staying in the unfamiliar country, America for a while.

In short, Berry’s family is so outgoiing and active. They enjoy a wide variety of sports or outdoor activities. For instance, Lizabell and Lilly go swimming almost every morning. As well, their favorite place is Hoodriver because they amuse themselves going wind-surfing. Last weekend, we all went to there and it was one of the windiest place that I had ever gone to. Contrarily, Kim said that she wanted tougher and stronger wind which can give her a thrilling experience. Furthermore, I was shocked that the whole family continued wind-surfing for more than 5 hours without any rest at all. In my point of view, Berry’s family is full of power and energy and they get a pleasure from confirming their life of energy.

On the other hand, they have a delicate sensibility for music. Lizabell and Lilly, they are capable of playing the several music instruments such as a piano, flute, and guitar. Especially, Lilly can write songs and she has lots of concerns about a piano. Yesterday, she played ‘The phantom of the opera’, which attracted my feelings. Also, all the family went to a classical music concert in which we could listen to the sound of a 300-year-old violin. How amazing!

To sum up, Berry’s familiy tries to achieve harmony of both body and mind. Although they are not my blood relatives, they’re the most fundamental helper for me. During my home-staying period, I want to make a wonderful memory that will be remembered forever.

I have been staying in Grimme family since I came to America. In fact, living with Grimme’s house is my fourth home stay experience. Compared with other family I had lived with, this time is best I have ever had.

There are 4 people in our family: Eric, Kim, Will, Catherine.

Eric is my host father and he works in Intel. He is very kind and always helps me whenever I need help. Also, I think he is good husband. He is very handy,so he can repair everything in the house. I’m thankful that he helped  me to use wireless Internet, DVD and so on. Furthermore, playing sports with him is very interesting.

kim is my host mother. She is housewife now, but she was teacher before she delivered Will, Catherine. She is very kind, and provide all of things we need to me. Also, she is interested in Korean culture, and she ask me many customs about Korea.

Now, there are 2 kids in my house. First, will is 9-year-old boy. I’m surprised about that he is good at Taekwondo. He likes to play game and he is very competitive. So, he always tries to win and usually use some tricks to win.

Finally, I want to introduce Catherine to you. She is 6-year-old girl. She usually get punished because of making noise, but she is so cute. Eric and Kim always calls her ’sweety’ or ‘kitty’.

In our family, we talk a lot and play some interesting game together. So I think this time is good chance to exchange another cultures each other. I want to experience a lot from here and hope to make a great rememberance in America.. 

Hello haha I’m Serom. I think you guys wonder my home stay family. OK. I know. I’m going to introduce my family!

 This is my house that located in Lowell St. My family loves green so the house’s color is also green. This is the most nice green in the village. I’ll guarantee it.
 In the garden, there are many kinds of flowers. Daisy, Rose and other etc. Sometimes Kim waters them.
 Oh, don’t you know Kim? Uh~ I’ll introduce members of my family.

This is a my family picture. I took it yesterday. hehehe :o)

 from the right: Kim, Lilly, Spancer, Isabelle.
 Kim is the mother of this family. She is always cheerful and kind. She do many things for me so I appreciate her kindness.
 Lilly is the second daughter. She plays not only piano but also the guitar. She has her own song that has very beautiful melody.
 Spancer is father. He is so erudite. He always knows many knowledge.
 Isabelle is the first daughter. She is slim and a few days ago, she had a big party. I heard that party is for 13-year-old teenagers but I don’t know well.

 They’re all very good at sports. Especially they enjoy wind-surfing in the river. Also, they love nature and they are vegetarians. First time I meet them, I was surprised that they’re vegetarians. Because I didn’t see them in Korea. However, I recognized that they are not that different from others.

 I like my host family. I want to have a good time with them~

 I want to show you all members of my host family, but I could take just one person’s picture. Jackie went to her aunt’s house, and she’ll back today. ms. Hamann is a surgeon in Seattle, so he lives in Seattle. He just spend a weekends with his family in Portland.

 Mr. Homann is a surgeon in Seattle. I saw him just for 3 days, so i don’t know him well. He likes to play musical instruments,  especially piano. He don’t have a piano in his house yet, but he said he’ll buy one after he retire.
 Ms. Homann is a Korean.  She immigranted to the U.S. when she was 16 years old. She was a nurse, and she met his husband in the hospital. She is a homemaker now. She is so kind. I really like her.
 Jakie is 27 years old now. She want to go Korea to learn Korean. She can speak English and French. She want to speak 3 languages. She ask me everyday in Korean grammar. It is interesting to help her. She really like Korea. She can speak Korean little now, but she said she want to speak Korean fluently.

 I love my host family so much. ^^

My host family is Langfus family.

When I met Hank and Josh, I feel strange and little scared. They spoke very fast and look disapointed at us, because we were shy and did not speak English well. It was hard to talk with them. Thus, we hardly talk with them. First meeting, it was very awkward.

Mr. Langfus’ house is very nice place. There are lots of antiques. From Indonesia, China, Japan…. but Korea. For that reason, We gave Korean traditional artifact as gift when the first day. They didn’t like much I think.

Backyard is so nice. There is statue of Ganesa, Buddha. It’s marvelous garden

Fisrt week, we were very awkward, but after trip to beach, we can be more familiar. And then, we talk many time in these days. His daughter is very chattering, his son play the guitar very very well. Jane, his daughter, was adapted. Josh’s girl friend is Chinese and good at music. When Josh and Elizabeth, his girl friend, played music, I was very impressed.

They are so kind and nice people!

Let me introduce my host family to you! In my host family, there is John, the father, Lisa, the mother, Cathy, the mother of John, and Yunji, the kid. So there are 4 members.

John is very handsome. He is tall and likes riding bicycles. He fell in love with the bicycle. He has so many bicycles and uniforms and things about riding. He also loves watching the cycling race ‘Tour de France’. He also has a bicycle that 2 people can ride, called “Tandem”   John and I often go cycling riding the Tandem around the village. He works at a computer company.

- John riding Tandem -

- with John at Safeco Stadium, Seattle(MLB-Seattle Mariners VS Cleveland Indians)

Lisa is very pretty. She works as a professor in PSU. Lisa and Katherine are friends. She allows me eat anything in the refrigerator, including the ice cream. She was born in Korea, but her family moved to the U.S. just after she was born. She can’t speak Korean but she can understand Korean. Of course, a little.

- with Lisa at PGE Park(Timbers VS Tigers) -

Cathy is very beautiful. She is the mother of John and she is staying at John and Lisa’s house until July 16th to take care of the baby Yunji. She really likes reading. Everyday she reads books at almost midnight. She can live without TV. She makes Pancakes very good. Just in the morning today, she made pancakes for me. It was really good. I’m so sad that she is leaving today. She goes back to California, her hometown. I hope I’ll meet her someday in the future.

- with Cathy the day before she left to California -

Yunji is Korean. She is only 1 years old, and last sunday was her birthday. She is really growing fast. She could walk only 2 steps last week, but now she could walk almost 14 steps. She is so cute^^*

- Yunji at her birthday party -

I really love my host family!!!!

Let me introduce my host family to you. I am afraid of you envying me.
First, I want to show our house.

My Host father, Triston took this picture. Is it cool, isn’t it?
When I wake up in the morning, we usually make breakfast ,go veranda and eat breakfast.
Second, I introduce my family to you.

We took this pictures last weekend. We went seaside beach.
As you see, woman who wear blue T-shirts is my host mother, Beckie harris. She owns Lake Oswego academy of dance.
She is dance teacher, too. So I went her dance studio the day before yesterday.
In addition, I took a hip-hop class. It was really funny and interesting.
Man who wear long sleeves jacket is my host father, Triston wear. He is elementary school teacher of P.E
However, Elementary school is on vacation. So he works other company. In addtion, He study math.
Because He wants to be engineer.
I think My host family is very kind, energetic, enthusiastic, funny and considerate of my feelings.
In addition, They stress out “freedom”. So I have to do myself.
I am really happy to live with them.

Here is my host family.

From left, Kalaise, host-mother Kary, host-father Jarod and Ainsley.

Host father is very kind and humorous. Furthermore, he is a nice cook. Almost everyday, he made dinner for us and they are very delicious. Maybe over 10 years ago, he had lived Korea because of the army. At that time, Kary also lived in Korea. Soon they met each other, and they got married. 

Host mother used to teach other international students and teach Korean students at academy, so when I talked with her, I feel very easy and comfortable. In addition, she loves gardening. In backyard, there are lots of flowers and plants which Kary grow.

Kalaise. who we call Kal, is 7 years old. She like to read very much. I think she is very clever.

Ainsley, who we call Boo boo, is 5 years old. She is very cute! She likes to draw and paint something. 

Kal and Boo boo also like to play in backyard. In backyard, there are swings, a slide, a small jeep and so on. Sometimes I play with them with a ball and walk around. Yesterday, we cared Kary’s plants. Peas, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots… We watered vegetables, transplanted broccoli and pull up weeds.

They have cat,Mao, but I can’t pet Mao. Kary said, if I pet Mao first, she scratch without claw and second, she really scratch me.

Here is my host family’s funny picture.

 I spent most time with my host family. After the school, I have nothing to do so daily life with host family is very important to me. They are very kind to me and my partner. I think it is not easy to accept the students who come from another country because it has many problems. It may have a difficulty in communication and it also undertake some responsibility to take care of the students. However, they did and do it very bravely.

 My host-father  is Bob. He is so fun. He always makes atmosphere active. My partner and I sometimes have a difficult time to continue the conversation but we don’t worry because Bob always helps us.  He never feels annoyed when we requestto speak same thing again and again. Also, he is interested in Asian culture so he ask many question to us. After our answering, he usually compares America’s culture to ours and it helps us understand the difference between Korean culture and American culture. Bob promised us making his unique food to us. I remember it!! My host mother is Naomi. She comes from Indonesia. She is Asian so she understands us well. Especially, she is accustomed to eat Asian food such as rice and spicy food so it is comfortable to eat something like that.(Also, my host father likes spicy food.) She sometimes works very late so I am very sorry that she always takes us to the station in the morning. She looked so tired in that morning. I like her food. Her sandwich is good for lunch and Chicken Currie is really best. I love it.

 Picachu and Yosi are also members of family. They’re pets but they have very important parts in home. First time, I was very afraid of them. Because I am afraid of all kinds of animals but now I can play with them. My host family told me that I am not afraid of animals any longer but I don’t think so. I am just familiar with Picachu and Yosi as family. I still avoid animals on the street. Picachu is old so he wants to stay in sofa and is sometimes tired of playing with me. I think he takes me younger than him. Yosi is so fun. He is very young and never feels exhausted. He is always ready to play. It is fun to play with him. However, he is angry with my partner and I because we left him in the house during holiday. I want Yosi good to us. I am a little bit afraid of him now.

 This is my family. I have very good time with them. Maye without them, I might have very hard time in America. I feel comfortable at their house. Bob always confirms that “Out house, your house” to us. Also, they thinks my parents in Korea and suggest to call to my home. I appreciate it very much. I have two weeks in here. It is very short time but I’ll make good memories as many as possible. Again, I thank to my host family to accept us and make us feel comfortable like home. I love them!!!

My host father is Bob and host mother is Naomi. There are two dogs, Yosi and Pikachu.

This is Bob. He is funny and active. He likes to ask about Korean culture. Sometimes, He asks about serious problems in Korea or the world, at that time, I’m very embarrassed. He likes to play ‘NintendoDS’(In this picture, He play it, too.) and to watch Japanese game show. He doesn’t like ‘KIMCHI’, so I can’t eat KIMCHI at home.

This is Naomi and she is an Indonesian. She is kind and cute. She likes to grow plants(In this picture, She hangs watering pot.) Two dogs like her very much. Even 11′o clock, they wait her. She always makes our lunch. I am comfortable during staying with her. I like her very much.

This is Pikachu. He is a maltese and his name named after cartoon ‘pocket monster’ character. He is old, so he usually sleeps. He is gentle, so I can pat his hair. When he is sleeping, He snores. He likes to sniff at soil.

This is Yosi. He is a pekingese. He likes flies, so when a fly appears at home, all of us are shouting ‘Go ! Yosi !’. He is cut and has abundant fur. I like him, but he hates me. Maybe He thinks tnat I take his parent’s love. However, I will try to be loved by him.

I like my host family.^^* Welcome to Poppe’s house!(Poppe is Bob’s last name.)

My host family has taken an exchange student for 16 years. My host mother’s son saw an exchange student when he was 14 years old. Now he is 30 years old and his son is 6 months old who is my best friend in home.
Now, I introduce my host family. There is host mother, Judy, father, Ben, son, Winslow, his wife, Andrea, grandsons and daughter, Raiden, Silas, Jade, Ian. Also, Judy has 2 more daughters and one more son. My host family is so big.
Host mom, Judy, is good at cooking and so funny.

ROBERT is my host grandmather’s grandson ! He loves Ji Min ^ .^

This is “PICKLES” Isn’t she cute?

AND This is our host grandma and Sophie(behind the chair). She lives next door ! : D

  I live with Clarice, 80years old, and Ji Min, one of my best friends.

  In Korea, we had a conversation time with our school senior, and Ji min said that one senior who talked with her may have lived with Clarice. She told that Clarice is a good cookie maker, and she used to go to bed very early. When I first met her, I got very good impression. She greeted us with her utmost sincerity. She made many delicious cookies for us, and I think she loves cooking. She said that there used to be many children in her house before moving to the house in which she lives now. She seems to feel lonely nowadays, and I think this is the reason why she applied for home stay program. She also said that having students in her house makes her to feel younger. Sophie, the 12-year-old girl, who lives next door often comes to my grandmother’s house and plays with her. She is tall and my grandma really likes her because she is humorous. She also treats PICKLES, the dog lives with Clarice very well. She said that she has two more cats in her house. Sometimes, my grandmother’s grandson comes to her house. His name is ‘ROBERT’, and he is so kind that Ji Min fell in love with him. He plays his guitar very well, and also he is a gorgeous singer. He sang a song for us, and it was.. great! (Maybe he can come to grandma’s house today for dinner. Ji Min will be happy!)  Also, grandma has a pretty granddaughter,  Beckie, and she is very KIND ! I really like her because she took care of us, and she is also Seoung Hun’s host mother. She took us to her dance studio so that we could take hip-hop lessons at hers. Her birthday is this Friday, and maybe we’ll have party.

   I really like my host Clarice and I will miss her a lot . I wish we could keep this relationship forever !

This is my third time for me to having host family. But this time is the most interested that
I've ever had.

At the first day of our course, we had a party for us to meet host family and for them to know
about our course and Ulsan. But they didn't come.  I was disappointed just little bit. But
when I met them, It changed a lot.

They have been hosting exchange students for 16 years. Because of that, I suppose, they were
interested at Asian culture and also they had a lot of stuff from Asia, especially from Japan
or China and a little bit from Korea. And also they were attending TaeKwonDo classes! What a
surprise!  

Surprisingly, they were nocturnal! So they got up late and go to sleep late. Moreover, 5 or 7
year old kids slept after we went to bed. Maybe it caused our latency.

Now let me introduce my host family.

My host grandma, Judy, is very active lady. She took TaeKwonDo class, so sometimes she is late.
But she made us GREAT GREAT dinner for us. It tastes good :):):)

My host grandpa, Ben, is likes chemicals. One day, he showed us a small experiment with potassium
and antifreezing liquid. 

My host mother, Andria, and My host father, Winslow is usually busy because they got 6 months
old baby, Noble, whose picture is at bottom. usually Winslow got home late because he works for
the DISH NETWORK. But he'll return to collage soon.

In my host family, there are three kids and two more cousins. There are kids' photo of our host
family.

Silas 

Jade (next to JaeHoon) 

Noble (inside the JaeHoon) 

Usually Silas and Raiden, one of the cousin, is very active and naughty. But It is fun to play with them. (Is it because I'm not that sensible yet?)

I'll add few pictures more at our host family's house  

Our host family members are actually 3 including me but the picture above shows 4. The first one on the left side is David, next to him is Bearcat, next to him is me, and next to him is Tricia.

Bearcat is the friend of my host family. He left now to L.A. to do his own business. He is the member of the CRC which is the organization for the handicapped from Beirut, Lebanon. He is so humorous and his joke makes me laugh all the time.

David & Tricia are the couple and they married 30 years ago. They let me visit some new places. For instance, the river called Columbia Gorge is so huge and long.

 I’ve talked with them from the day I came to PSU about a host of topics. We talked about richness, idioms and so on. Because they have lived longer than I have lived, what they say gives me a lesson for my life and how to evaluate myself One of the things they said was ‘Be more critical. That makes you see the world different’.

Their lifestyle is pretty different from my one. First, they are polite. They always ask permission even if they are family members. Second, they usually have cereal or bread for breakfast. Third, they are still actively working after the age of sixty. I have been experiencing the life of the U.S. and it’s much more helpful with my host family. I always thank for my host family and I hope this relationship can go further in the future.

My host family has a cat named Mercy. She is also a member of the family. At first, she bit me so much that my finger hurt. However, I tried so many times to hang out with her. So much effort was needed to make her follow me. She has some skills that she likes to catch insects. She is so fast and sometimes she jumps at me and makes me frustrated. However, she is so cute and attractive. I like to make her follow me all the time..^^”

I lived with my host family, “Grimme family”.

There are four members in the family: Eric, Kim, William, Catherine.

Eric works in Intel. He always said “Samsung is rival with Intel.” Because my father works in Samsung.

He is so handy that he did many things for house; Painting, fixing, etc….

He is very kind and friendly. when we go outside, we play with Eric.

In the picture, He has long hairs. but he shaved his hair 2 weeks ago.

I think he looks better than the time when he has long hairs. he looks so cool!!!

Kim is now housewife. However, she worked at school and teached children!

Kim always pay attention to us, so ask what we did in school and what we want to do.

Kim likes shopping, like me. When I ask “Could I spend some time to the shopping?”

and she answered “Definitely!!”.

I think she has many attention for us. Thank you, Kim!!

William is 9 years old. he learned Taekwondo for 4 years! Longer than me!!

he loves play outside and play game. However, he also like to read some interest book! (I think.)

When he seat in his seat at the car, He always play with Nintendo DS!!

He stick to winning. He always want to win! even doing some fouls.

But he is so cute! and he has a sort of care for his sister. He could be a nice guy in  the future!

Catherine is 6 years old. She is very cute, for she is the youngest member of Grimme family, Maybe.

She also likes to play out side or some games.

In Grimme’s house, there are so many games that We have played lots of game with her.

Kim said Catherine is too late. I agree with her~ kkk. she have pretty time to prepare.

Moreover, she eat a few of food…. She have to eat some more~!!!

It’s first Home-stay for me. And I surely get contentment!! I love Grimme Family!

I’ll miss them when I go back to the Korea. Thank you, Grimme Family!

Right : Mixie                                          Left: Liz

I really enjoy my homestay experience with my host family. They have many family members. Among them, I met 5 of them ; Chris, Liz, Covy, Mixie, Alias. My host family is blended family, so I’m not sure where other members are.

 But I’m very happy to meet my host family. They are really kind and considerate to me. Even they made rice for me though it is different from what I ate in Korea.

 When we ate outside, I asked them ” Would I pay for myself? “, And then, they said. “NO! We’ll pay. we brought you here.” When I said to them, ” Thank you for bringing me there.” or “Thank you for having me today.” They just said ” Oh, Thank you for coming with us today.” When they said like that, I really appreciate to them.

 They always try to communicate with me, and have fun with me. I went to the baseball game, rugby game, Saturday market, and river to ride a motor-boat with them.

Of course, there is a difference between my Korean family and my host family. Sometimes, the black cat comes up to my stomach when I sleep. And I’m little scared when a big Gold Retriever comes to me. And I miss kimchi and instant noodle I ate in Korea.

But that’s little things I can ignore. Again, I’m really happy to meet them and I think my family is the best family among host families.

Today, I’ll talk about my host family. Langfus, the last name of this family, means ‘a long foot’ in German language. They are Jewish, but one of them is from China. They live in Madison court, making us very hard to attend school by foot because it is located on the top of mountain, which is very far away from PSU. There were used to be 4 people in this family, but 3 people now. They are father(Hank Langfus), son(Josh Langfus), and daughter(Jane Langfus). In that picture, a man with his hat is Hank. The one with brown curly hair is Josh, and the one who wears long white jacket is Jane. The next one who wears green one-piece is Lizz, a girlfriend of Josh. Hank and his wife, Christine, divorced 10 years ago. But children goes to his mother and father’s house very frequently, and they meet each other frequently after divorce. Children live with their father from Sunday to Wednesday morning, and they live with their mother from Wednesday afternoon to Saturday.

Hank does two business, but I don’t remember it exactly. He is very good at cooking, and he is very kind to his strangers. Josh, who was born in September, 1992, is still 15 years old. In Korean age system, he is 17 now. He is very interested in music, and he is also good at playing musical instrument such as guitar or violin. He also likes to listen to music. I think he especially likes classical music. He also likes to draw picture. On the first day we met he showed us some pictures he drew, and we cannot help exclaiming his marvelous drawings. Jane, who was born in may 1995, was adopted when she was 8 month old. Being very weak when adopted, She was posted on the newspaper in the year 1996. Although she had very weak health, Hand and Christine decided to adopt her, and raised by their effort, she got healthy and live without any hardship. Both of children are on vacation, and after vacation they will be on upper grade. There are two cats and two snakes as Langfus’s pets. Cats, named Cloy and Chelsea, are very cute. But, they don’t want to see me yet. Too lazy to be awaken, I haven’t seen snakes moving yet.

Although they are Americans, they like to try foods from another continent, especially desirous to eat spicy food. Josh even says that he can’t understand people who don’t like to eat spicy food. Thanks for this, we eat various kinds of foods like Mexican, Korean, American, Chinese, etc. Also, they enjoy doing many activities. Hank encourages his children to participate in various activities.

Hello! I will introduce my host family!

There are Karen(my mother), Noel(her daughter) and three cats.

But, father(Greg) comes back his house only weekend because he works in San Francisco. He is a good cook. He got a bachelor’s degree about computer in college. He is interested in designing of house. I think he is good at everything.

Karen, my host mother, is very kind. She always takes care of me and she is really considerate. I want to express my gratitude to her. Everyday, she makes my lunch, packs them up and picked me up by car after class as well. I love her!

Noel, 14-year-old girl, is a high school student. She is pretty. She likes Punk Rock and Japanese animation. She wants to be an artist. I think, she will be.

In fact, last Sunday, grandparents- Barbara and Jack, aunt-Gretchen, father’s friend-Mike came the house. So, we had a party! In particular, grandmother, Barbara, talked with me a lot. She had been in Korea, Seoul. In Seoul, she went to shopping in Etaewon. She praised Korean for consideration. She said Korea is beautiful! She also praise me that I speak English very well! I felt such a confidence.

I’ve grown intimate with this home, very much. About a half of this program have gone. I feel sad. I hope to be able to meet them later. I will miss them. I love all of my host family!

Hello! I want to introduce my host grandma to you !

Her name is Clarice Eder and she is 80 years old. She lives in Garden House.

She lives with her cute pet, Pickle. (sorry but I cannot spell the dog’s name exactly.)

Actually, when I fist met her, I was a little disappointed because I thought my host family life would be

boring. However, these days, my host family life is very, very interesting and I experience new things every

day ! That’s probably because she tries hard to make us enjoy our host family life.

We met some of her grandchild and had a very good time ! For example, her grandson, Robert is very

kind and he plays guitar well and we are planning to go Oregon zoo with him!

Her granddaughter, Beckie is nice and she owns her dance studio and we went there and took a hip hop

lesson there. Also, our grandma is very good cook! She always makes delicious food for us.

Every day we eat many many delicious food and I feel like gaining my weight and worried about it a little.

Pickle, grandma’s pet, is very cute and loves to play with me. Actually, I don’t like playing with pets but

I tried to not to be afraid of that Pickle, and I did it ! So now, I’m not that afraid of pets anymore.

I’m so satisfied with it. Now ! Can you see that girl who is hiding behind the chair and wearing and polka dot

pink clothes ? She is our neighbor Sophie, 12 years old girl ! She is important person to our grandma because

she is good friend of grandma and makes her not feel lonely. Anyway, I’m satisfied with my host family and

I try hard to talk more with our grandma, so she doesn’t feel lonely. I think it’s the best thing I can do for

her. Also, I want to keep in touch with grandma even after I go back to Korea.

She is so kind and, whether it is rude to say, but cute ! Don’t you feel like to meet her?

(This is a photo of my host family. )

My host parents are composed of two races, white American and Taiwanese.

Of course, they have two children, Jaeden and Stella.

My host dad is Taiwanese. His name is Eric. I call him Eric. Because, when the first date, he said that he is too young to be called dad. He is only 30. My host mom is white person. Her name is Rebekah. I also call her Rebekah. Her cooking is AWESOME. Even my friend calls her ” the queen of housekeeping”. I think, however, Eric is also good cook!

The little young boy is their son, Jaeden. He is 2 years old. Sometime, he speaks Chinese with their parents. Fortunately, few years ago, I went to Youn-Tai, China for 1 month. Therefore, I can understand their Chinese, but not perfect. ^?^

Last, Stella is only 10 months baby. Unfortunately, she can not speak anything except mam-ma.

After dinner, Jaeden and Stella always take baths. I also help them. This time is maybe short, but I think it’s really good for learnig English and Americans’ life style.

We usually eat Chinese foods for dinner with rice, and sometimes I also eat Kim-chi. They are really interested in Asian culture including Korea and Japan. They have lived in Japan. Therefor, they can Japanese. -Jaeden and Stella can not speak Japanese, yet. -

They can speak English, Chinese, and Japanese.

What a international family !

I am really enjoying Chen family ~~~