Zuleika's Homestay Experience

At first I have to admit I was a bit scared of staying over someone’s house especially a family that I never meet before. It was comforting that I did not have to stay there alone and it helped us get closer. I remember staying up with Alyssa and talking about the experience. It helped us talk things through and see each others perspectives. Not only did Alyssa and I get close but it surprised me how easy it was to get close to the family. The family acted so normal as if strangers weren’t in there home but they did treat us as guest. By this I mean when we sat down to eat, the family had us choose our food first and let us choose what we wanted to do. They were very open to any questions we had and actually were the ones encouraging us to ask all types of questions. One question that the father asked me was what were my expectations before coming to South Africa and this was a question asked many times. It’s as if everyone knows what Americans been taught except ourselves. The funny thing was my parents and the people around me were the ones with the wrong expectations. After talking with the group their family and friends were more afraid of what South Africa is like then ourselves. The father asked in a joking manner if we expected to see animals walking around and that is what some people asked me when I came back home.

            

Overall, I did enjoy my homestay and a lot of that had to do with the family being so open and loving. Since the family had done this program before they were able to make us feel at home and not as if we were in the way. One of the experiences I did enjoy was going to church with them and because the church did the sermon in english we were able to understand. I especially got excited when I was able to sing along to one of the songs. It showed that with countries so far apart we are still able to share things. If I could do the homestay again I would ask more questions and try to have more conversations with the parents.