starting over

Not really, but kind of. The month of February brought my first family change. I have been with the same family for 5 months, so it was a big leap to start all over with the 'getting comfortable in my own house' thing again. Normally, exchange students have 3 or 4 families in their year. I am special. I have 3, but go back to my first one in between the next 2. Follow me? It's confusing, I know. I will stay with this family until my Germany tour in April and 2 months, as I've figured out, is not really a lot of time. Once again, I learned the basics of the household- laundry, food, chores, where the toilet paper is. You may not think about it, but that is one of the most important things to learn about a new house. I have a host mom and dad, and I also have siblings this time around. Both daughters have been on exchange; the older one, Claudia, went to Mexico, and Verena just got back from a year in Argentina in July. Claudia doesn't live at home anymore, but she is here this weekend, so I got to know everyone. I get along with the family really well. Along with our shared love of Disney movies and good books, we understand eachother because they have all been through this exchange process before and I am going through it now. We play card games and joke around. It's been a lot of fun so far. I, of course, have to go back to school on Monday, so not everything has changed. It will be interesting to have had one part of my life completely changed and the other remain exactly the same. That's how my exchange is going, nothing is ever better or worse, just different.--sjinternational