Hello to all out there! I am writing to share our recent experience of being a host family for a German girl here in Canada. Due to a tight working schedule starting right after university I never had the time or chance to go abroad and experience different cultures through a stay abroad. But I always wanted to get in touch with other cultures and learn about them. So I decided to bring the cultural experience to me and my family.

Until last week a German girl who took an English course Canada stayed with us. It was a great adventure and a big success for both sides. Her English was already pretty good as she already took a two-week Sprachkurs Hawai” last year and we had no problems at all to communicate with her. While she of course was able to further deepen her language skills and to experience the Canadian culture in a Canadian family we also learned a lot about her culture and Europe as a whole. She cooked typical German meals for us and even taught us a little German! In fact her and my daughter (who are almost the same age) became really good friends so my daughter decided to continue the cultural exchange and visit her in Germany next year! There they will explore Germany and after that they are planning on doing a tour through Great Britain together. Can anyone give me advice on how to travel best through the Great Britain? Does anyone have any experience with the British rail passes (http://www.railpass.com/pds/RPE/bd-Britrail)? I think this is a great chance for my daughter and I was able to see from our guest how much one can gain through such a stay abroad.

All in all this was a great opportunity for us to widen our horizons and I would recommend this to anyone who is open-minded and wants to get in touch with other cultures.

be4 of all thanks your for the post i dnt have really like this experience ,but ,i have an opinion in this subject if u permet
i think that ,is the most wonderful thing in the world is to know what ,or who is the other,coz im sure nd u explained that it has a very good impact for ur family nd u daughter also
for not beeing ,long ,:p
u said an opened mind,nd i say that what we need these times ,
congratulation signora miamyers
,u have it ;)
ciao

It is a wonderful opportunity to get to know another culture, for sure. While I have had the opportunity on several occasions to travel in Europe, there is no better way than to be able to interact on a regular basis with a person from another country. My daughter-in-law is from Poland and I have learned a lot from her. It still amazes me that this is possible since I grew up during the time that Poland was behind the Iron Curtain. Her parents, who speak no English, stayed with me last year for 4 weeks. It was fun!! Luckily, I had Nina and also her sister to translate.

my family once hosted a german lady, Elisabeth back in Malaysia when she came to volunteer for the local church some years ago..

eventually my parents became really close to her and kept in contact for more than 15 years now..even my uncles and aunties knew her and her family and some years back went to Germany to visit her...

she also tries to come and visit malaysia as often as possible and last year she came again but this time with her youngest daughter...

we knew a lot about germany from her, the history, the fall of the berlin wall and much more..

hosting does open up relationship and friendship from coutries we always think as too far/unreachable...i am happy my parents decided to host her and from then on, it has blossomed into a really good relationship between my family and her family

I'm going to Germany at the end of this month, this is my first time to go abroad :). Will stay in Berlin about 10 days, then go to Poland. My teacher said maybe we can live in the local families for couple of days in Poland, hope it coule be true ^_^

My in-laws had an exchange student from Chile live with them back in 1964. He became like family and he still comes to visit them almost every year. A relationship like that is very special and worth it.
Dan

I hosted an Italian lady last year, and she is now one of my dearest friends. Both our families have come closer together because we have kept in touch, and she will possibly visit again this year. She taught me to cook Italian food like minestrone and ragu', and told me so much about the Italian way of life. It was fascinating, and I recommend it as the best way of learning about another culture short of staying within that culture itself.