This week we will add an extra member to our family. But only for the week. We are welcoming a Japanese exchange student into our home for a one week program. A whole year would be very daunting, but a week we can handle. I hope. I keep telling my kids every night at dinner that when we have our Japanese student, “this kind of behavior” will not be acceptable. I’m hoping we don’t a)SCARE the kid, or b) SCAR the kid for life. He comes on Thursday night and he will be with us for one week. Mostly they have field trips and activities around the city every day. They are going to work on a farm, go up to Park City, and to this is the place state park. We just have to take him and pick him up from BYU every school day, (we have a carpool in place), then we’ll get to entertain him in the evening and on the weekend.
But what to do? If you were only in Utah for 6 days, what are the essential things to do?
Temple Square?
Thanksgiving Point?
A Corn Maze?
Boondocks?
We have some different options, but we’re not exactly sure what to take him to. We kind of want to ask him what he thinks and let him decide. The kids want to take him EVERYWHERE and do EVERYTHING, but I think they are just using him as an excuse to go out to eat at their favorite restaurants.
What would YOU want to do if you had only a few days to see Utah?
We had the best time last year when we hosted an Australian girl for two weeks. One of the funnest things we did was just go to the grocery store and let her pick out foods she wanted to try. She completely fell for hot fudge, which I thought was funny. And I don’t think she could even swallow one bite of a twinkie! McDonald’s was a fun adventure, because they have them worldwide, but they’re all so different.
I don’t think you need to do a million exotic things. Real life in America is different enough for them. But I would think that the corn maze would be very foreign to them.
One thing that I was very conscious of for the whole week was the example my family set for Alex of an LDS home. She’d never heard of the Church, and probably won’t have any interaction with it again the rest of her life. But she was there for family prayer, scripture study, and Church. And that, I felt, was the most important thing we could do for her. And it’t practically a no-brainer.
Good luck, and enjoy the week. It will speed by!
Visit you!! Have fun with your exchange student. I am glad you have some great friends who helped you out!!