Well, it was quite a night :-)
All the Latvian kids, plus one chaperone arrived safe and sound... and early at Akron/Canton Airport last night. And before I go any further, can I just say- here and now- that I LOVE that airport!
SO easy to get in and out of, and easy (and CHEAP) to park.
But let me start at the beginning.
Their flight was due to arrive at 10:15pm. I needed to be there by 9.
I left the house a little after 7 as I was going to stop at Target and do a little Christmas shopping on my way.
So I loaded up the car, and headed out.
15 minutes later, (just north of West Salem for my local readers), OH CRAP!!! I forgot to grab the "Welcome"sign. It was still sitting at home by the refrigerator. So I turned around and went home to get the sign.
No big deal... I still have PLENTY of time.
On the road again, headed to Akron. :-)
I discovered, much to my annoyance, that my Garmin needs a map update; because the "Target" it took me to in Akron was actually a Church's Chicken. Yeah, not gonna find what I was looking for there.
So again... I turned around and headed back towards the airport. On the way I found, WITHOUT the help of the Garmin I might add, the Target I was looking for in the first place.
~~I should mention here that before leaving the house, I checked the Target website to see which stores had the item I was looking for in stock. I went to this particular store because it WAS in stock.
Yeah.... no.
None on the shelves, none in the back. <sigh>
So I continued on to the airport, made it there by 9 and I met up with the other host families. It was neat to see their excitement and their love for these kids!
The kids' flight landed a little early, and since they'd already been through customs at JFK we didn't have long to wait.
After pictures, greetings, medication instructions, a little paperwork, and more pictures, we were all off with a bunch of tired and wired kids by 10:30ish. We only had an hour drive as opposed to the 3 I had this summer, so it seemed like a quick trip.
Mareks and I talked a little on the way home. I wanted to let him sleep- and he was definitely tired... but I think he was a little too keyed up.
I can't even begin to tell you how WONDERFUL it is that he speaks English (and speaks it pretty well). That was probably the hardest thing with hosting Vladik this summer. Not that I couldn't get my point across, but because so often our conversations were one-sided. He spoke/read a mix of Russian/Ukrainian, and google translate usually didn't like it. So more often that not, what he tried to tell me- wouldn't translate.
I'm excited to be able to talk to Mareks without having to use the laptop, but even more excited that he can talk back.
Rick, bless his heart, took the boys to school this morning; and Mareks is still asleep. I'll let him sleep another hour and then get him up, showered etc. so we can pick up Kyle at school by 11.
All the Latvian kids, plus one chaperone arrived safe and sound... and early at Akron/Canton Airport last night. And before I go any further, can I just say- here and now- that I LOVE that airport!
SO easy to get in and out of, and easy (and CHEAP) to park.
But let me start at the beginning.
Their flight was due to arrive at 10:15pm. I needed to be there by 9.
I left the house a little after 7 as I was going to stop at Target and do a little Christmas shopping on my way.
So I loaded up the car, and headed out.
15 minutes later, (just north of West Salem for my local readers), OH CRAP!!! I forgot to grab the "Welcome"sign. It was still sitting at home by the refrigerator. So I turned around and went home to get the sign.
No big deal... I still have PLENTY of time.
On the road again, headed to Akron. :-)
I discovered, much to my annoyance, that my Garmin needs a map update; because the "Target" it took me to in Akron was actually a Church's Chicken. Yeah, not gonna find what I was looking for there.
So again... I turned around and headed back towards the airport. On the way I found, WITHOUT the help of the Garmin I might add, the Target I was looking for in the first place.
~~I should mention here that before leaving the house, I checked the Target website to see which stores had the item I was looking for in stock. I went to this particular store because it WAS in stock.
Yeah.... no.
None on the shelves, none in the back. <sigh>
So I continued on to the airport, made it there by 9 and I met up with the other host families. It was neat to see their excitement and their love for these kids!
The kids' flight landed a little early, and since they'd already been through customs at JFK we didn't have long to wait.
 |
| Group shot of host families, host kids and chaperone. Mareks is on the far right. |
After pictures, greetings, medication instructions, a little paperwork, and more pictures, we were all off with a bunch of tired and wired kids by 10:30ish. We only had an hour drive as opposed to the 3 I had this summer, so it seemed like a quick trip.
Mareks and I talked a little on the way home. I wanted to let him sleep- and he was definitely tired... but I think he was a little too keyed up.
I can't even begin to tell you how WONDERFUL it is that he speaks English (and speaks it pretty well). That was probably the hardest thing with hosting Vladik this summer. Not that I couldn't get my point across, but because so often our conversations were one-sided. He spoke/read a mix of Russian/Ukrainian, and google translate usually didn't like it. So more often that not, what he tried to tell me- wouldn't translate.
I'm excited to be able to talk to Mareks without having to use the laptop, but even more excited that he can talk back.
Rick, bless his heart, took the boys to school this morning; and Mareks is still asleep. I'll let him sleep another hour and then get him up, showered etc. so we can pick up Kyle at school by 11.
No comments:
Post a Comment