We have enjoyed our student matches & learning about our students and their home lands & cultures immensely!
We also have great fun helping them experience the "American" culture while visiting our home & doing a variety of activities together.
This is an AMAZING program & opportunity! We encourage you to do something similar if you ever have the chance! It is super fun & you learn so much!
So far all of our past students have stayed in contact w/us after they graduated from NU. It is wonderful to hear from them & we think it is cool to have people we know all over this world/where ever they end up going.
This is a real positive experience for everyone! And know we have been blessed to have been matched with the amazing people we will be telling you about below.
Photo 1: Chris, Laurens & Andrew-at the Rock Climbing wall. 4/25/08
Photo 2: Chris & Laurens in our home. 12/8/07
In the school year 2007-2008, we were matched with Chris (Christiaan) and Laurens from The Netherlands! What fun we had with them! We went shooting, rock climbing, walking in the City Forest, Geo-caching, out to dinner, had them here for dinner, they joined us for church one Sunday, and we spent lots of time chatting around the kitchen table while playing games while nibbling on snacks!
From them we learned a lot about the Netherlands, the Dutch version of Santa Claus, tulips, Queen's Day & we even wore orange clothes on Queen's Day to celebrate along with them & more! They are amazing people!
Photo 1: Thomas, Stephanie & Shannon @ Los Cuatros Amigos. 11/11/06
Photo 2: Thomas, Andrew, Emily & Steven (Thomas' friend) at the IF Graduation Party. 5/18/07
In 2006-2007, we were matched with Thomas from China and Stephanie from Canada. We enjoyed getting to know the both of them greatly! We had fun bowling, going out for dinner, playing board games, & having them spend time with us in our home.
Stephanie graduated in December of 2006, so we didn't get to spend as much time w/her as she moved back to Sarina in Dec. We really had fun talking w/her about the different ways Canadians & Americans say the same "English" words like: "about", "sorry", "out" & more. We laughed our heads off!
Thomas is very pleasant & joined us for church, loved having dinner w/us, attended a basketball game w/us as Emily was Cheering there, invited us to a special Chinese event that took place in Midland, and even invited us over to his apartment where his friends & he made us an delicious authentic Chinese dinner! It was terrific & very thoughtful!!
Photo 1: Yves & Emily in our home. 9/24/06
Photo 2: Yves & Shannon at Graduation. 5/13/06
In the 2005/2006 school year, we were match with Yves from Malaysia. She was our very 1st IF student-family match & we had a fabulous time getting to know her & w/her. Yves was game for everything! We went shopping, to a pumpkin patch, colored Easter eggs, carved pumpkins, rock climbed, went to church w/us several times, she made us traditional dinners several times (Yum, she is a wonderful chef!), went to a Christian concert w/us, joined us for dinner at our home & at restaurants, spent holidays w/us, went on trips w/us to the cites of Muskegon & Ludington, and more! It was a blast!
As you can tell we love our past IF Students & the IF student-family friend matching program! We are looking forward to being matched & meeting our IF student for this school year soon! We'll keep you posted.
-The Banks Family
2 comments:
Hi Bankses!
This is very cool! How neat! Maybe someday you can take a trip around the world visiting your IF friends.
Regarding your last post, too, I made refridgerater pickles for the first time this summer and they were AWESOME. They are garlic dills. Yum yum yum. I think it will become a tradition. Miss you!
I love your blog Shannon. You are so fun!!!! IF is such an awesome ministry. It's so cool to see you guys being such an active part of their lives. I bet the relationships that you build are such a blessing all the way around.
All your pictures are awesome - especially Alaska. How beautiful!
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