What were you grateful for this week?
Having boys, not girls.

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
The parents went out of town from Wednesday-Sunday.

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.
Taking care of my kids AND the cousins while they were away in New York (and the building we live in didn’t burn down).

Tell us about your week!
Well, [my host parents] went away to New York for the weekend. [My host mom]  loves New York and hadn’t been for a few years, so I know that she was really wanting to go. And it’s Christmas time, so there really is no better place but NY to get the shopping that you need to get done, done. 

 

BUT, this meant that I was alone with the children. Alone being a very relative term because I can’t actually think of a single time that I have truly been alone with the kids. It actually went really well. [My host family’s older son] was good to me, I’m really happy with the progress that I’ve made with him. The relationship that we have now is 100% worth the effort that it took to get there. And [the younger son] brightens every dark corner of my heart if I am ever having a bad day. 

Something amazing happened this weekend though. I really progressed with my Italian, and it was one of the prouder moments in my life. I have been really hard on myself with learning this language for some reason (I think it’s just because I haven’t done anything school orientated in a while so I was having issues adjusting), but I realized that I have genuinely made a lot of progress. 

 

I was having some issues with receiving a package from home, and I was incredibly stressed out because of course this happened the day after [my host mom] left and I had no one that could help me in English. But something happened, and all of the sudden things just started to click. It made me feel like I had actually accomplished something! 

 

I’m so happy that I haven’t lost my ability to learn because for a second there, I actually thought that I had.